Crickets as feeders - A debate.

[ConnorsTs]

Hi guys. I currently feed my T's crickets as they're widely available and very convenient to use as feeders. I've noticed recently that certain keepers (and notably Exotics Lair on YouTube) seem to be very much against feeding crickets to their T's. They say that they have had numerous deaths in their collection from parasites, which they attribute to the crickets.

The argument goes like this:

• Crickets are cannibalistic and are notoriously difficult to keep alive.
• The dead crickets attract parasites.
• The living crickets eat these parasite-infested dead crickets.
• These are then fed to healthy T's causing them to become sick and eventually die.

I haven't had any problems personally, however I only have 3 tarantulas, and only started keeping them about 18 months ago. Also, having seen the state that containers of crickets get themselves into (even with as much care as you can reasonably provide) I could be convinced that they aren't the best option.

So I call on you, good people of Arachnoboards to provide your experiences and advice. Do you think these keepers are mistaking these losses for cricket parasites when they could be something else? Do you have evidence that these parasites do exist? Do you have a better feeder to recommend, regardless?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Colorado Ts]

Crickets have a life cycle of 7 to 8 weeks, from tiny pinhead to mature adult. So if you are buying adult crickets, you are only going to have them for about 10 to 14 days. There are lots of posts about people buying crickets and they keep dying, I'm guessing they are either buying adult crickets or they don't know how to keep crickets.

If you have only a few spiders in your collection, crickets make perfect sense as a feeder. You can buy small or medium sized crickets...20 or more at a time, put them into an enclosure and grow them out and use them. It works perfectly. I've not really seen parasitic infestations in the commercial crickets that I used to buy and use.



When I bought crickets, I put them into a plastic ventilated enclosure, with food water and shelter. I grew them out and they worked fine for my small collection.

As my collection grew, the cost and the constant running to the petshop for more crickets became an issue. And there were those times when they were out if stock on crickets.

I switched to B.lateralis roaches and B.dubia roaches. The B.lateralis roach is by far my #1 feeder of choice.

The B.lateralis roach has a larger size range, from pinhead to adult, than the cricket. And I can maintain a breeding colony of roaches far easier than breeding crickets. Roaches don't eat their young, so I don't have to constantly rotate containers and maintain specific size ranges. It’s a one container operation per species of roach.

And crickets have a very strong odor, roaches smell far less.

 

[KaroKoenig]

When I started researching about Tarantula keeping , as an absolute Greenhorn, I also stumbled across exotics lair videos. Even then, as a complete beginner, I had no clue why anyone would take anything this guy says seriously, let alone get inspiration about animal husbandry.

 

[Colorado Ts]

When I started researching about Tarantula keeping , as an absolute Greenhorn, I also stumbled across exotics lair videos. Even then, as a complete beginner, I had no clue why anyone would take anything this guy says seriously, let alone get inspiration about animal husbandry.

You saw that as well? Awesome...

 

[Smotzer]

I personally have no problem with crickets, I think they work excellent as a feeder. I have never had any problems. I really like them for slings, they are very cheap. Currently I am feeding everything crickets and worms, I got a little tired of roaches. No real complaints, I just get enough crickets to feed each week and it works.

 

[basin79]

I think it was @The Grym Reaper who replied to a question like this the other week. The parasites are host specific so even if the crickets did have them they can't spread to the tarantula.

Hopefully he'll come on and explain things better.

 

[Goopyguy56]

I feed my t's a little bit of everything including crickets. I have never had issues except when they escape and my wife gets mad at me for it. In the US we have house crickets and banded crickets. The banded are alot more durable and don't die off as much. The house crickets are more fragile and seem to be extra stupid. They usually jump straight into my t's water dish and drown. I hate all crickets but I use them when it is convenient.

 

[quirinus]

A "parasite" that appears when a cricket is dead is not a parasite.. A parasite feeds from living subjects. Else It wouldn't be a parasite. So I really doubt this theory.. Exotics lair is only an entertainment. A clown with exotic animals. He makes people rush into this hobby without knowing anything. And then the avics keeps dying..

 

[Gurantula]

I think crickets work great as feeders and personally believe the big chain pet stores give them a bad rep. They just buy hundreds of different sizes and keep them till they sell. Hence forth they stink real bad and you get plenty of dead ones being snacked on by the living ones. I use to buy them as adults for years this way. They all die within a week or two max. I however never had problems with parasites or any death/sickness occurring by them being eaten.

Being it I wanted the best for my little ones, I decided to give breeding crickets a try. Oh my was it easy! Like super duper easy. A cup of moist dirt and another container as a nursery is all you need. You'll get very little smell if you keep them clean. They all grow up about the same time so cannibalism can be reduced to almost zero with proper feeding.

 

[viper69]

Hi guys. I currently feed my T's crickets as they're widely available and very convenient to use as feeders. I've noticed recently that certain keepers (and notably Exotics Lair on YouTube) seem to be very much against feeding crickets to their T's. They say that they have had numerous deaths in their collection from parasites, which they attribute to the crickets.

The argument goes like this:

• Crickets are cannibalistic and are notoriously difficult to keep alive.
• The dead crickets attract parasites.
• The living crickets eat these parasite-infested dead crickets.
• These are then fed to healthy T's causing them to become sick and eventually die.

I haven't had any problems personally, however I only have 3 tarantulas, and only started keeping them about 18 months ago. Also, having seen the state that containers of crickets get themselves into (even with as much care as you can reasonably provide) I could be convinced that they aren't the best option.

So I call on you, good people of Arachnoboards to provide your experiences and advice. Do you think these keepers are mistaking these losses for cricket parasites when they could be something else? Do you have evidence that these parasites do exist? Do you have a better feeder to recommend, regardless?

Thanks in advance!

I know most of what I read above that you heard elsewhere is not proven.

Could WC crickets have parasites- sure - that’s a fact I believe.

Could farm raised crix have parasites- maybe but prob less likely. IMO

Could dead crickets attract parasites- maybe but most parasites to my knowledge require a live host, always exceptions. Also you’d need a lot of dead crickets over a lot of time with the right conditions to attract some invader. I really don’t see this happening. Flies, sure.

I’ve fed dead crix to Ts- no issues.

In short I think the “fear” regarding crix is a bunch of crap. Only issue I see- never leave feeders in with molting Ts

Been using crickets for decades no issues to my knowledge. Just my 2cents

Also a parasite to a live crix is not necessarily harmful to a T. People just link unrelated ideas together all the time.

And there’s exception to all

 

[The Grym Reaper]

I never had a problem with crickets beyond the God-awful noise they make (I'm not sure which is more painful, the incessant chirping of the crickets or having to sit through an Exotics Lair video).

Basically, tarantula parasites are host specific and tend to only be found in the animal's natural habitats which means that you're unlikely to ever encounter them unless you regularly purchase wild caught animals.

Tarantulas digest their food externally so any nasties living inside the crickets would be killed and liquidised before being consumed, any parts that couldn't be digested would end up as a part of the bolus, due to the dense setae around the mouth that filter out anything that isn't liquid parasites often have to find other ways into the body (Fun fact, parasitic nematodes enter a tarantula via the anus).

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

• Crickets are cannibalistic and are notoriously difficult to keep alive.

Crickets won't resort to cannibalism if you feed them regularly. They are not difficult to keep alive if you take the time to learn how.

• The dead crickets attract parasites.

Then clean out the dead crickets.

• The living crickets eat these parasite-infested dead crickets.

If you clean the cricket tub regularly there won't be any dead crickets for the living ones to eat.

• These are then fed to healthy T's causing them to become sick and eventually die.

Not an issue if you clean the cricket tub regularly. Noticing a pattern here?

 

[octanejunkie]

I stipend my Ts with crickets as an option to roaches. It's new stimulation vs the same old same old.

Half my Ts won't take mealworms but they all will take crickets and roaches. Variety is the spice of life.

 

[Liquifin]

Exotics Lair is a clown sometimes. Don't use crickets for feeders? Don't crickets be like the only staple for feeders in Canada since like most roaches are illegal up there? Correct me if i'm wrong Canada members.

 

[Coradams]

I saw that Exotic Lair video and I wanted to ask about it too. I noticed that the dead t that he claimed was killed by cricket parasites was in a container that only had one air hole per side. At least that is what it looked like on the video. Could the t have died from poor ventilation?

 

[moricollins]

Exotics Lair is a clown sometimes. Don't use crickets for feeders? Don't crickets be like the only staple for feeders in Canada since like most roaches are illegal up there? Correct me if i'm wrong Canada members.

Mealworms, crickets, Isopods

The types of Roaches most commonly used as feeders are primarily illegal in Canada

 

[KaroKoenig]

Mealworms, crickets, Isopods
The types of Roaches most commonly used as feeders are primarily illegal in Canada

What about locusts/grasshoppers? They shouldn't have invasive potential in Canadian climate, and they're great feeders.

 

[moricollins]

What about locusts/grasshoppers? They shouldn't have potential for developing into a pest in Canadian climate, and they're great feeders.

I've never heard of anyone using these in Canada.

 

[Chebe6886]

Crickets are perfectly fine and safe if you have a few Ts.... the problem is when you 20+
long run roaches are just easier and cheaper

 

[jaw6053]

I saw that on exotics lair too but I didn't believe it. It was probably the rats he had wandering around in his T room that caused more problems than his feeder crickets