Pinhead Crickets?

[lewisskinner]

Hi there. Just a quick question.

I bought a tub of crickets for my Cyriopagopus Schioedtei/thorelli (still not sure of the proper taxonomy - there sees to be some confusion!) After a few days these small black things appeared in the tub. Are these the 'pinhead crickets' I keep hearing about? I only ask because I have a b. smithi sling (about 1" legspan) for whom I was about to order a tub of pinheads, but if I'm growing them myself I may as well cancel the order! Also, want to check they're not some kind of parasite that's gonna harm either of my Ts.

They're dark black, look a bit like ladybirds in shape (with a median line down the back) and around the size of smithi's abdomen.

As you can probably tell, I'm quite new to this

 

[Emilyloulou]

Pinheads are just tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny crickets. They look the same as big crickets just smaller.

Also just a quick question, where do u get pinheads in sheffield? im in notts and its driving me mad trying to find some for my slings. All the local petshops that i've ordered from give me small crickets, not pinheads. and my baby T's cant eat them

 

[Moltar]

Shaped like ladybugs? That sounds like something other than crickets. There are some sort of little beetle in the states that gets in with crickets sometimes that is harmless. I dunno what it is you have in your crickets though.

 

[lewisskinner]

Emily, I haven't yet, hence my question! I've mostly been cutting up larger crickets and dropping them in dead. I hope that this is OK.

I have found a place in Chesterfield that sells pinheads. They have a website. From that site, I think most slings will probably have black hatchlings of brown firsts. There's also a place near me in Hillsborough called the lizard Lounge, but I've yet to pop in and ask about their range of live foods.

I'm intrigued (and worried) to know what those black things I found were then...

 

[lewisskinner]

Thanks etown. They seem the right size for my sling anyway. I may try them under supervision and see if the sling fancies the eat. :dunno:

What do you think of the site I posted above? Will a sling take the brown firsts?

 

[Moltar]

Pinheads are just tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny crickets. They look the same as big crickets just smaller.

Also just a quick question, where do u get pinheads in sheffield? im in notts and its driving me mad trying to find some for my slings. All the local petshops that i've ordered from give me small crickets, not pinheads. and my baby T's cant eat them

Personally, I gave up on finding pinheads. Try yanking the leg off of a bigger cricket and tossing that in there. It's kinda cute to see a tiny sling munching on a "drumstick".

 

[Emilyloulou]

you got any pictures of them?

i just found these websites after much searching

http://www.livefoodsdirect.co.uk/?gclid=CJrUlZeQhZICFQSKMAodLioq3g

http://www.livefoods.co.uk/

if they are any help?

 

[Moltar]

What do you think of the site I posted above? Will a sling take the brown firsts?

I think you'd be surprised how big a prey item a sling will take, especially if it's prekilled. For a 1-2cm sling i'd say a 1-2mm cricket is really too small.

When feeding prekilled to my slings i have never had a problem giving them prey items as large as they are. These huge meals simplify things by making it so they only have 2-3 meals tops between molts, speeding up the molts, etc. I guess you could call it powerfeeding which some people are against. I think the sooner you get your slings up around 3-5cm the better. They're hardier and easier to feed at that size. I don't powerfeed the bigger ones though.

 

[lewisskinner]

so for my sling (around 1-2cm) you reckon I should go for 2nd or 3rd (6 and 8mm respectively)?

 

[Moltar]

Rule of thumb= A T can eat an insect as big as its own body size (not legspan, BODY) For slings, particularly when feeding prekilled it's ok to go a little bigger. That doesn't mean to always feed them stuff that big but you CAN if the situation warrants. I have these 1/4"-1/2" (1-2cm) C fasciatum that i'm feeding 1cm roach nymphs with no problem. I just crush their heads so they can't escape but still move around. I don't really KILL them. With similarly sized crickets i'd crush the head and clip the back legs so they can't escape or harm the slings with their ninja kicks.

True pinhead crix are so small that they're only necessary for the smallest slings. They're the size of fruitflies.

 

[7mary3]

You can definately feed larger items to a sling, as etown said. I do this with all of my slings. Usually they eat two to four times between a molt. This "powerfeeding" is sometimes frowned upon, but I'd rather speed them through the smaller and more vulnerable stage of their life and then slow it down later. I usually powerfeed my slings until they reach an inch and a half or so in size, sometimes a bit larger depending on the species. After that I back it off substantially so that I can enjoy them longer.

 

[bio teacher]

I have a 1/4" A. geniculata, 1/4" A. behlei, 1/4" A.hentzi, and a 3/4" N. coloratovillosus and just feed them small crickets. I pinch the heads before I put them in and usually by the next morning my slings have fat abdomens.

 

[xchondrox]

You guys could just breed your own pinheads. Its pretty easy, Just get some big fat female crickets (ones with a needle sticking out of the butt ) and Throw them in a kritter keeper with 2" of soggy peat, coco, or soil. Then seal them up good, when they hatch out in 3wks or so they climb all over. Thats what I did a month ago and I now have about 200 tiny tiny tiny crickets. Good thing Im just throwing them in with dart frogs, It'd be a pain in the to get afew of them into a vial with out 10 others jumping/crawling out.

 

[K1j1m]

i think you're just looking at cricket poop to be honest

 

[monkey]

Pinheads are just tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny crickets. They look the same as big crickets just smaller.

Also just a quick question, where do u get pinheads in sheffield? im in notts and its driving me mad trying to find some for my slings. All the local petshops that i've ordered from give me small crickets, not pinheads. and my baby T's cant eat them

Try Dave at Scales and Tails, he's really good with his spids, so would be able to help. He's based in Leicester, which I think isn't too far away, as I drove past it on my way from Leeds to Leicester.

http://www.scales-tails.co.uk/

cheers,
Lou