Pros and Cons: Crickets, mealworms, roaches

[Sharno]

With all of the debates about food items, I would like to just have a thread where people who have experience with at least two of the three compare. I have only ever used crickets because I have always used crickets. They used to be the only thing really 'available' but now I see meal worms and roaches at the family owned LPS so I guess I could switch. I was wondering if the meal worms and/or roaches get notices faster (or slower) by arboreals, though, for examples. Do they "move around" as much? I can't imagine a meal worm attracting the attention of a terrestrial either - whereas a cricket usually will start exploring?

Please list pros/cons including difficult for the prey item to be noticed/caught, better for slings, care of the prey item (how long can it last and how do you care for it), odor, what sizes you can get them in.
Thanks so much!
PS: Also include FFF too~!

 

[goodoldneon]

Would you like a sandwich with that?

 

[rob0t]

I've used all there and never had any issue with any of them. The only con with meal worms and some roaches is that they may burrow into the substrate. Tarantuals can usually dig them out eventually, but most people prefer the gratification of seeing their tarantula eat as soon after they offer the food. Sometimes I'll smash the head of the meal worm or roach a bit so they still move around but do not burrow. If you are a tong feeder then I wouldn't think there would be much difference in the three.

 

[Sharno]

Would you like a sandwich with that?

hey don't be a debbie downer! It was an honest question
I was thinking of switching to mealworms for my smallest of slings instead of smashed-head crickets.
I don't really tong feed if I can avoid it.

 

[catfishrod69]

Crickets- Perfect size, and easily noticed. But the downfalls heavily outweigh the rest. The die fast/easily, rot, stink, eat eachother alive, eat other inverts. Hard to culture.

Mealworms- Never used them for inverts, but did for reptiles. They reproduce descently, but i always ended up with tons of beetles, and not many larvae.

Roaches- By far the best to have a colony of. The reproduce easily/fast/lots, dont smell that much, come in bigger sizes.

FFF- Never again, nuff said.

 

[spiderengineer]

my T's don't like worms for some reason. feed slings crickets and juvies and adult roaches.

 

[SuzukiSwift]

I mostly use crickets cause they don't burrow, I also use micro crickets for my arboreal slings. However recently I've become a fan of super worms, I only need to feed one every two to three weeks to my terrestrials and they're easier to care for than crickets.

Cons are that my arboreals don't like them (they're used to catching crickets I think) and they're really ugly and actually pretty strong

 

[LuiziBee]

I've had mealworms and crickets. I plan on trying roaches in the near future, I hear they're great.

I used crickets exclusively for a long time. Even tried breeding them. They're just awful. Now I only buy about six at a time every few weeks for my avic (who is afraid of mealworms) and my slings.

Mealworms, I hear they're not so great for an "all the time" food. But until I order roaches, that's what I'm going to use. They're pretty easy.

As far as FFF, I'm not sure what that is. I ran a quick search and best I came up with was "Fish Farm Feeders". Is that what that is? I'll look it up again later.

 

[Fins]

I hate crickets. The devil poops crickets. They stink, live freakin' forever if they get loose but die quickly if you try to keep them as feeders, are too noisy and oh yeah, they stink. They are convenient if you don't have any juvie dubia. I only buy what I know I will feed that night.

The roaches kinda creep me out. But, very little odor, easy to breed, and they can't climb the plastic to escape. Also all but one of my Ts love them. It may be the size of the feeder but they will hunt the dubia with a passion. My G. pulchra spent several hours digging one up that had tried to hide.

 

[alpine]

Would you like a sandwich with that?

I don't see the point of your comment... >.>

In either case Sharno. I have used crickets before for my other pets and I hated keeping them even short term. They stink, they eat everything and if they are adults they make tons of noise which can be annoying depending on your sleeping patterns and where you keep them

Currently I use mealworms and I keep them with dry meal and just let them be after that, they don't stink, they just sit around and I tong feed so I don't really see an issue with them. Some of my Ts do not take them from the tongs though, so what I do is smash their heads a little bit and then hand them off to my Ts and if they don't take it they can still come back for it later and they will be able to eat and it can't get away from them. They stay alive that way for a while and even after a few days they will still move when they T walks over them triggering a response from the T to eat it. So far I greatly prefer the mealworms. I also throw them a piece of carrot every now and then.

I have yet to have experience with roaches as up until recently I did not have a T big enough to take them. Now I do so I intend to get some but it is unlikely that I will start a colony as I don't really have that many Tarantulas to begin with.

 

[spiderengineer]

As far as FFF, I'm not sure what that is. I ran a quick search and best I came up with was "Fish Farm Feeders". Is that what that is? I'll look it up again later.

flightless fruit flies

 

[alpine]

Flightless fruit flies are incredibly annoying... >.> I never got to into them all of my slings have been able to deal with crix or mealworms when I got them.

 

[xTimx]

my Ts like both crickets and mealworms, havent tried hornworms yet. and i cant give my Ts roaches cuz they are illegal up here in canada.

 

[SuzukiSwift]

my Ts like both crickets and mealworms, havent tried hornworms yet. and i cant give my Ts roaches cuz they are illegal up here in canada.

Why are roaches illegal in Canada? lol

 

[LuiziBee]

Yeah. What? Are there any roaches in Canada?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[spiderengineer]

obviously I don't live in Canada so I could be wrong, but I think it has to do with more of the fact they would be consider exotic animals. I think Canada has strict exotic animal laws and recently I remember somebody making a thread saying they were reconsidering laws in regard to tarantula but scorpions were considered still banned pets (or something like that)

 

[Hobo]

The only roaches that are legal to keep in canada are those that are already established (in other words, the kinds that infest and nobody in the right mind would want a colony of in their home).
Otherwise, nobody in Canada owns roaches, because that would be illegal.

 

[Ziolizard]

I feed my juvenile LP crickets, although I just fed her a cockroach for the first time today. Cockroaches are very filling and full of protein for Ts. I've fed her mealworms before, but not often. I heard their lack of protein raises the risk of wet molting, which can be fatal to Ts.

My MM Grammostola pulchripes does not like to eat anything but cockroaches. Maybe they're the best? Crickets are good as well, though.

 

[laurenmalin]

I've been using all three, my baby geniculata will eat anything that moves so I have no problem when it comes to feeding it. When it comes to my other two (A. avicularia & H. lividum) it differs. My avic seems to love crickets, I guess she likes hunting them herself, I've tried giving her mealworms and roaches and she always runs away. My lividum has eaten all three, but I seem to notice it prefers the crickets and roaches, maybe because they move around more. I like all these prey items, I believe they give my tarantulas a good variety filled diet.

 

[Galapoheros]

I've used all those but I've gone back to raising crickets, I have the sps that do not die off fast and the ones that die are eaten by the others, ...no smell. Since there is some cannibalism, the population stays somewhat balanced. I also feed out Hisser nymphs now and then. I just sold my dubias to a local pet store today(1000s), I just wasn't using them, I was only using up cricket food on feeding those things. I kept a few though just in case.