Black Crickets As Feeder

[N1ghtFire]

Is there any differance between feeding your tarantulas the brown crickets from the pet store or the black ones you find around the house? I would never feed my Ts wild caught food, but I found two females and one male black cricket outside and caught them. So if they lay eggs would the offspring of these guys be okay for my tarantulas and scorpions to eat? Are they better, worse, or the same as the store bought crickets nutrition wise if kept gut loaded? Opinions? Thank you

 

[shining]

Is there any differance between feeding your tarantulas the brown crickets from the pet store or the black ones you find around the house? I would never feed my Ts wild caught food, but I found two females and one male black cricket outside and caught them. So if they lay eggs would the offspring of these guys be okay for my tarantulas and scorpions to eat? Are they better, worse, or the same as the store bought crickets nutrition wise if kept gut loaded? Opinions? Thank you

They should be fine to feed off of when you reach the second or third generation of the colony.

 

[magicmed]

I would assume it's the same insect for the most part, the coloring is probably a condition due to needing camouflage in the different environments, could be wrong.

Not sure if there's anything bad that can be passed from mother to egg, I would assume not but someone may correct me.

Nutrition wise they will probably be about the same, you just have to worry about what the crickets themselves ate, or romped through.

If you bred them, I could see it being ok, once again someone may see a problem I missed though. However, crickets stink and sing, breed roaches

 

[N1ghtFire]

I would assume it's the same insect for the most part, the coloring is probably a condition due to needing camouflage in the different environments, could be wrong.

Not sure if there's anything bad that can be passed from mother to egg, I would assume not but someone may correct me.

Nutrition wise they will probably be about the same, you just have to worry about what the crickets themselves ate, or romped through.

If you bred them, I could see it being ok, once again someone may see a problem I missed though. However, crickets stink and sing, breed roaches

I keep their cages really clean and havent had a stinking problem yet. And hopefully wont. And as for the noise of crickets, i just clip the males wings so they can't get too noisy. Doesn't seem to hurt them at all, and keeps me my sanity.
I am breeding some dubia roaches as well, but the colony isnt up to size to feed off yet. So crickets it is for now.

Another question. Could I keep black crickets and brown crickets together and them get along? Again, I won't keep the WC black ones with my store bought crickets in case they have any kind of parasite or disease, but once they lay eggs can the babies of the brown and black get along?

 

[shining]

I keep their cages really clean and havent had a stinking problem yet. And hopefully wont. And as for the noise of crickets, i just clip the males wings so they can't get too noisy. Doesn't seem to hurt them at all, and keeps me my sanity.
I am breeding some dubia roaches as well, but the colony isnt up to size to feed off yet. So crickets it is for now.

Another question. Could I keep black crickets and brown crickets together and them get along? Again, I won't keep the WC black ones with my store bought crickets in case they have any kind of parasite or disease, but once they lay eggs can the babies of the brown and black get along?

It would probably be best to keep them separated. The Gryllus would eventually win the competition for resources, they are bigger and have a bigger bite. I could be wrong though...

@Hisserdude knows best. Sorry dude, I've tagged you a bit, it's your own fault for knowing so much though. Lol.

 

[Hisserdude]

@Hisserdude knows best. Sorry dude, I've tagged you a bit, it's your own fault for knowing so much though. Lol.

Lol, it's no problem, I enjoy helping out where I can!

The thing about Gryllus sp is that they grow very slowly compared to the Acheta domesticus, and for most species the colony needs a diapause, aka cool period in the winter, otherwise the ova and the crickets themselves develop poorly. Plus they are way more territorial than the common feeder crickets, and need more space for breeding.

If you tried keeping the Gryllus and Acheta together I'd bet the male Gryllus would kill the all male Acheta, and the Gryllus males will probably kill each other too if there aren't sufficient hides and burrowing spaces available. So really I'd advise against it.

Overall Gryllus can make for interesting pets, but they definitely don't make good feeders, and are much trickier to breed over the long term than Acheta domesticus is.

 

[cold blood]

Its not disease or parasites that are the biggest worry...its pesticides...this country is in love with pesticides and spray them everywhere every day....real hard to avoid.

 

[cold blood]

IMO banded crickets make the best feeders.

 

[N1ghtFire]

Lol, it's no problem, I enjoy helping out where I can!

The thing about Gryllus sp is that they grow very slowly compared to the Acheta domesticus, and for most species the colony needs a diapause, aka cool period in the winter, otherwise the ova and the crickets themselves develop poorly. Plus they are way more territorial than the common feeder crickets, and need more space for breeding.

If you tried keeping the Gryllus and Acheta together I'd bet the male Gryllus would kill the all male Acheta, and the Gryllus males will probably kill each other too if there aren't sufficient hides and burrowing spaces available. So really I'd advise against it.

Overall Gryllus can make for interesting pets, but they definitely don't make good feeders, and are much trickier to breed over the long term than Acheta domesticus is.

Thank you
I didnt know they grew slower or are more territorial or harder to keep. Which is the opposite of what I want. I'll let them go in the morning and stick to my little brown crickets.

 

[shining]

Lol, it's no problem, I enjoy helping out where I can!

The thing about Gryllus sp is that they grow very slowly compared to the Acheta domesticus, and for most species the colony needs a diapause, aka cool period in the winter, otherwise the ova and the crickets themselves develop poorly. Plus they are way more territorial than the common feeder crickets, and need more space for breeding.

If you tried keeping the Gryllus and Acheta together I'd bet the male Gryllus would kill the all male Acheta, and the Gryllus males will probably kill each other too if there aren't sufficient hides and burrowing spaces available. So really I'd advise against it.

Overall Gryllus can make for interesting pets, but they definitely don't make good feeders, and are much trickier to breed over the long term than Acheta domesticus is.

I learn something new everytime.

 

[BQC123]

Aside from parasites, and possible pesticides, those mandibles are much more dangerous. I have used them, but err on the side of caution. Use smaller than normal sized feeders.

 

[sschind]

IMO banded crickets make the best feeders.

I got some banded crickets at the Tinley Park show last fall and I loved them. I got a 1000 3/4 and a 1000 1/4 and I had very few casualties. I had 3/4 inch crickets for almost a month which is unheard of with the A. domesticus.

I never tried to breed them but I may get some and try it this year because I have a devil of a time getting my house crickets past the first two molts.

The only downside to the banded ones is the adult size is smaller than the others. I also feed lizards so it does make a difference. Still, not losing half a box means I can feed twice as many.

 

[cold blood]

I got some banded crickets at the Tinley Park show last fall and I loved them. I got a 1000 3/4 and a 1000 1/4 and I had very few casualties. I had 3/4 inch crickets for almost a month which is unheard of with the A. domesticus.

I never tried to breed them but I may get some and try it this year because I have a devil of a time getting my house crickets past the first two molts.

The only downside to the banded ones is the adult size is smaller than the others. I also feed lizards so it does make a difference. Still, not losing half a box means I can feed twice as many.

Yeah, compared to the domesticus, they're almost hard to kill...and they do breed really easily.

 

[JumpingSpiderLady]

Like Hisserdude said, they are interesting to keep. Always busy. It's fun to see the males kinda push each other, trying to determine dominance. I really enjoyed my daughter's other than thier very loud chirping, but if you've found a way around that, you should keep them a while just for fun! Just my opinion.

 

[Ranitomeya]

Gryllus species tend to be a lot hardier due to being less susceptible to the Acheta domesticus Densovirus. They are not however, as amicable towards one another when kept in crowded conditions. Adult males of most gryllus species are quite aggressive to one another and will kill each other. The majority of the native species have an annual life cycle. They will reproduce readily as adults, but they will take an entire year to mature since they usually cease development as subadults until their breeding season. Many of the species we have are undescribed and can only easily be differentiated by minute differences in song and what month they are mature.

They're fine to breed and use, if you have the time to rear them. They're just not easy to rear in anywhere near as large of numbers and within a reasonable time frame when compared to Acheta domesticus.

 

[Jones0911]

IMO banded crickets make the best feeders.

Where are these sold online?

 

[cold blood]

Don't know, there is a place locally that has them...but ive seen others post about getting them online, so I know they're available, I just can't point you in a specific direction.

 

[Jarrod B]

I have them big buggers here too we caught a bunch washed them in the sink, and put in a kk, and fed them the orange gut load, for about 3 weeks. I was terrified of pesticides but I live pretty far form the fields where they can run off, I live more toward the woods the nearest pet store is about 30 miles so I wanted to try this. this time of year a lot of insects have worms grasshoppers are full of them so I cut the fattest cricket open and it was orange like the food I gave it. so I fed my wc T with them and she loved them. But from now on I'm going to order them on line just to have some peace of mind better safe than sorry.

 

[Stugy]

Hmmm... Back when I was really into reptiles, I remember reading about how black crickets are bad crickets as they apparently are way less nutritious and are more bitey than the normal crickets that you buy from the store. I don't remember the source but what I do remember was that it was in the Reptiles Magazine. I never tried them out or anything but meh. (just meh)