I may have made a mistake... (feeding w/roaches)

[Poec54]

I don't know why so many folks mind crickets. They don't smell if you clean the container once a week

Crickets need to be kept dry, and I think some of the problems people have are because they keep them on moist substrate or give them foods with too high a moisture content. That can kill them off pretty fast. A local reptile dealer near me has been raising crickets for 20 years and they keep theirs like this:

- warm, dry room
- large plastic storage boxes
- screen top (home made, with wood frame)
- rows of egg crates, on end
- no substrate
- water is provided by romaine lettuce, laid on top of the egg crates
- food: dry earth worm food (meal), on a paper plate

I put dry paper towels to cover most of the bottom of the box, to make cleanup easier. When I lived in Michigan, a local cricket breeder up there used plywood boxes and had a light bulb in each (on one end near the top), with solid tops to keep them warm; he fed them potato slices. Carrots are another good food. Fruits are too moist and pulpy, and make a mess.

 

[Tomoran]

Neither of my guys like to eat from tongs, they both prefer to do it when I'm not looking. I just switched from crickets to roaches because they're 100% less annoying (i.e. don't jump out of their container and make me chase them down), and I dropped a roach each in with my b. albo and g. pulchra, and like always, they were not pounced on immediately.

What they did do immediately is burrow.

How am I supposed to tell if they've been eaten or not? Neither spider reliably makes a bolus (no idea why??) so that's out, and I don't want to leave them to rot, and especially with the albo, who may or may not be molting soon.

Help??

When I use dubia, I use a pair of tongs to crush their heads before dropping them in. It's gross, but it keeps them from digging, and they will just tend to wander aimlessly around the enclosure until the T snaps them up.

 

[MatthewM1]

When I use dubia, I use a pair of tongs to crush their heads before dropping them in. It's gross, but it keeps them from digging, and they will just tend to wander aimlessly around the enclosure until the T snaps them up.

+1 I do this as well and it works great. You can also lay the dubia on its back after giving its head a squish and it will just lay there kicking, drawing the spiders attention.

 

[Poec54]

+1 I do this as well and it works great. You can also lay the dubia on its back after giving its head a squish and it will just lay there kicking, drawing the spiders attention.

Which is fine if the spiders eat them, but not so good if the spider doesn't. The roaches don't harm anything, no need to pre-kill. If the spider's going to eat roaches, it'll get them on it's own. They'll come out at night.

 

[MatthewM1]

The need to prekill them is solely so they don't burrow. The only time I dont prekill them is when using adult males as they don't burrow anyways. The spiders come out at night but the dubia don't always.

 

[Spaceblues]

Actually, it's an arachnid/reptile/amphibian shop, so they're really great. I don't go to general purpose pet stores for spider stuff because I'm afraid of both quality and lack of knowledge. All the employees there have a number of "exotic" pets, so I feel super comfortable there. Elsewhere, not so much.

Don't count on it. There is one of these about an hour away from me. They've had some pretty feisty OW T's in there and I've asked if they were good beginner T's... and they said yes. They also had a G. rosea/porteri living in basically a swampy mudhole of a container. I almost rescued it just to save it from them.

They're pretty knowledgeable on snakes, prairie dogs, blah blah blah... but their knowledge of T's is seriously lacking. That's when I came and found this place and bought a copy of the TKG.

I'm glad I did because they almost sold me a H. lividum as my first T- had the container in my hand and was ready to go.

Your store may be great... just saying that it's best to do your own research when it comes to T's.


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[Sana]

Crickets need to be kept dry, and I think some of the problems people have are because they keep them on moist substrate or give them foods with too high a moisture content. That can kill them off pretty fast. A local reptile dealer near me has been raising crickets for 20 years and they keep theirs like this:

- warm, dry room
- large plastic storage boxes
- screen top (home made, with wood frame)
- rows of egg crates, on end
- no substrate
- water is provided by romaine lettuce, laid on top of the egg crates
- food: dry earth worm food (meal), on a paper plate

I put dry paper towels to cover most of the bottom of the box, to make cleanup easier. When I lived in Michigan, a local cricket breeder up there used plywood boxes and had a light bulb in each (on one end near the top), with solid tops to keep them warm; he fed them potato slices. Carrots are another good food. Fruits are too moist and pulpy, and make a mess.

I never thought of lining the bottom with paper towels. That would make cleaning even easier! I currently have a cricket colony that is running very smoothly using the plan that you lined out. It's so nice not to have to run out to the LPS once a week cause I ran out of crickets. Added benefit is the avoidance of finding a T that I just can't live without when I shouldn't be spending money on another one (or ten).

 

[Tomoran]

Which is fine if the spiders eat them, but not so good if the spider doesn't. The roaches don't harm anything, no need to pre-kill. If the spider's going to eat roaches, it'll get them on it's own. They'll come out at night.

I have a pretty good handle on which spiders snatch them up and which would be better off with crickets now, so luckily that hasn't been a problem. I wouldn't recommend them to someone who only has a few Ts, however, as some won't take them.

As for crushing the heads, it doesn't kill them immediately (they can actually run around like that for several days). It just keeps them from burrowing, which they can and will do in a hurry when dropped into an enclosure. They don't always come out at night and get eaten when they burrow, and when I first started using them, I would find buried roaches in enclosures weeks later. Crush the head, drop them in, and they circle like little zombies. The Ts then snatch them up very quickly.

And, for the record, I predominantly use crickets for feeders. However, the roaches are great for my larger and always-hungry species. My Lasiodora, Pamphobeteus, Phormictopus species snap them up no problem, as do my P. crassipes, P. vittata, and T. stirmi.

 

[problemchildx]

Just to act as a saving grace for some pet stores, when I had to sell most of my t's when i moved across country for a job I sold them to a pet store that is mostly exotic. I know they take good care of their animals so I felt comfortable in doing so. They all know the requirements of all thwir animals... including the 5 foot house monitor lizard in their care. I know a lot of pet stores get a bad rap but a lot are very good.

 

[annanlove19]

Update from my end:

Ts are currently annoyed but have eaten their roaches. Mine are super super super not aggressive and small and I was paying close attention and they were in their hides so I just left them alone and checked the substrate, and no roaches. I don't mind having a dubia in with them, but I do mind not knowing if they're eating, so. I think I might try the head squish method next time (if I can stomach it, ngl I might not be able to), or just do a substrate check the next morning. My Ts aren't big webbers at all, so it's more of a small annoyance to check rather than a huge deal.

Thanks for all the advice guys! You're great!!