Cricket Quencher for Ts!?!

[Steve Calceatum]

I think it depends on the store and the people you're talking too as far as what you will be told is okay.

Agreed. There are good people out there, but on the whole, it's few and far between.

Hmmm, I may try using a substrate. I thought crickets would do fine on a barren container with egg cartons. I'm also trying to collect locusts from my nearby hikes to see if I could breed those. Only thing is, they are ALOT stronger than crickets and they push themselves out of my fingers quite easily - oh, and not to mention the brown spit-up! LOL!

Roaches, roaches, roaches......Don't even get me started on my rant about crickets. Get yourself a roach colony. They don't smell, jump, or phase through glass. Start with 4 or 5 breeding pairs, and in a month, you'll never run out of feeders. They are really easy to keep too!!!

 

[Moltar]

Well shouldn't something be done about that label if it's not true? I mean...c'mon...Fluker's should know better than this...this can kill hundreds of pet Ts...this makes them look really bad

The last time this question came around I actually did email Flukers with this concern. After a few days some VP of marketing or whatever got back to me. After a little polite back and forth he assured me that he would consult his "veterinary staff" and make the necessary changes to the label.

I didn't really expect much. Since they're still labeled this way I can assume that either the vet didn't know his/her stuff about T's, the guy was just blowing me off or it just takes much longer than I thought to move old inventory and remake the labels on the new.

I'm going to go with "he just blew me off". That's how corporate works.

Also, whoever said to use a cotton ball for T's is mistaken. Cotton balls and sponges in water dishes (even for crix/roaches) is ill advised as they provide a perfect medium for bacterial growth. Clean water for T's and fruit or gel for feeder insects is what I use.

 

[jbm150]

For those having difficulties with crickets dying, here's a few tips I've found work amazingly well.

For food, I blended equal parts fish food pellets, oats, and Kashi cereal in blender to a fine powder and stored in the freezer to keep dry.
I use only enough food to be consumed in 3 or so days and then I pour it out of the food dish as its usually full of cricket feces.
I use the clear water crystals with no additives or supplements for water and I only give them enough to last for 2 days (otherwise, I used to get flies).
Kept them in a large KK, no substrate but with two nice size sheets of egg crate (easier to pick out any that die)

I bought 20 crickets on July 24
Its now Sept 17, and in that time, I've lost only 2, maybe 3, crickets

In my opinion, using a powder for food has made the difference for keeping them alive. I used to use fruits/veggies with the fish food crushed with pliers and some oats. And they died by the handful. But once I switched to blending it and NOT using produce, the crickets have been AWESOME!