Crickets too big?

[DireWolf0384]

I got some medium size Crickets for my P. Reddelli and they don't seem to be going after the medium sized crickets I put in there. Could they be too big? Can crickets attack scorpions?

 

[Gracilis]

im not too sure if crickets could be TOO big but yes they can hurt your scorpion... if you keep them in there too long and the scorpions dont eat them theres a very good chance the cricket(s) could hurt your scorps... ive heard stories of people leaving crickets in the tank for their scorps or T's and came back to a cricket eating the side or under side of their pets... very gross stuff....

 

[AzJohn]

Not every scorpion is a great hunter. My 2i Centruroides will chase down and eat prey items 2 or 3 times there own size. My 2i Hottentottas run away for a few hours, them decide that it wont hurt them and end up eating it. Some of my adult scorpions wont eat if I'm watching. Plus it might not be hungry. I'd leave the cricket overnight and remove it if it is uneaten. As far as the cricket hurting the scorpion, I don't think you should worry to much. Unless it molts, a healthy scorpion is in no danger from a cricket or any other prey item. Adult scorpion don't molt either.


John

 

[cacoseraph]

when i had hundreds of bugs i found that virtually everything i kept would feed more readily from prekilled prey. even to the point that i would put a 1g prekilled roach or cricket in with a ~.25g spider and let the spider feed until it was full then just pull the remains out. the advantages to me was that i didn't have to be as discerning with prey size, didn't have to worry about timid feeders being turned off of too active prey, and didn't ever have to worry about putting a live cricket or roach in with something that was just about to molt. the disadvantages were finding yuckified remains if i put too big of a feeder in and it was not consumed completely in a moist cage. i got pretty good about giving the sized prey that was just about completely consumed though... basically things that had a full body were fed smaller prekilled than things that were obviously skinny


i had little 2i C. vittatus feed from full size prekilled and split crickets before... one time a little 2i had a cricket drumstick and was carrying it around, even though it was longer and probably weighed more than the vit

eventually i fed prekilled to just about everything i had. when you have hundreds of individually caged predators it makes it much easier to know that prey isn't hiding in part of the cage... it either interested the predator enough to get eaten or moved... or it will be where you left it (or at most a few cm away if the prey was still twitching =P )





edit:
kind of growing off of what Az said... i have to believe not all scorpions have Acheta species in their range... or even if they are in range, choose to hunt them. they are not the easiest things to catch, nor the easiest things to bring down... especially when adults!

 

[tabor]

prekill them if they wont attack them, if you dont want to feed them smaller prey, they will scavange the corpse.