Spider yummy

[schlinkey]

I've some issues concerning T-food..

the spawns of s@tan, most often called crickets:
they are ugly, nasty, they bite and stink and worst of all: they friggin eat each other! is there any way to prevent loosing about 40% of all the crickets to, uhm, crickets? I feed em a nice diet of breakfastcerials with raisins and other yummy stuff..

The gigantic nightmareworms, more often called zophobias:
you all know these, creepy, huge and evasive, and their annoying habit of burrowing as soon as they hit the substrate in your beloved spiders home.. If i put em on a plate, my dear spiders wont eat em (maybe too easy?). Anyway, two of these worms have been living in one of my spiders cage for quite a while, until this day: it got dug up and eaten! Gotta love it.. Anyway, is there any harm in letting the worms "dig in" and get dug up when the T is hungry enough? i mean.. do they attract other beasties, like mold of mites? or are the beetles they evolve to, in fact dangerous napalmspitting monsters capable of killing tarantulas?

so there it is; I'm gonna go watch my parahybana dig up some nightmareworms.. hehe

Cheers

 

[Code Monkey]

Re: Crickets
Make sure the cricket container is well ventilated and preferably has some sort of substrate (which could just be some paper towels you change out semi-regularly). Cricket wastes are ridiculously high in ammonia, which builds up and is a leading cause of their high mortality rates (and their stank). I keep mine in open topped containers on vermiculie which gets changed out every time I get a new batch of crickets.

Re: Zoophoba
The only danger is if your T is actually pre-moult. There have been a few instances where moulting Ts were actually injured/killed by the larvae. But other than that, both larva and beetle are yummy T snacks.

 

[ArachnoJoost]

Schlinkey,
On the case of the cannibalistic crickets: I agree with Code Monkey about the ventilation, but you can try another thing: give them dogfood or catfood or something, I've found that if you give them something with meat in it the cannibalism reduces enormously.
succes,
Joost

 

[Code Monkey]

Originally posted by ArachnoJoost
Schlinkey,
On the case of the cannibalistic crickets: I agree with Code Monkey about the ventilation, but you can try another thing: give them dogfood or catfood or something, I've found that if you give them something with meat in it the cannibalism reduces enormously.
succes,
Joost

Oh yeah, forgot to comment on your food choices, too damn early in the morning yet . Feeder insects do need a lot more protein than just grain based foods will give them. Even mealworms grow best raised on a diet of chick starter and wheat bran as opposed to just 'meal'. My crickets get fed straight dog food, don't even mess around with anything else.

 

[schlinkey]

ooh, thanks a lot! I keep mine in a bucket.. (i only buy about 15 each week) a big one that is. Guess I'll have to go out and buy some dogfood then.. hehe

 

[ArachnoJoost]

CM:
For me it was already afternoon, so I was wide awake...
next time it could be turned around
greetz,
Joost

 

[galeogirl]

I'm a convert to lobster roaches. They're easy to keep and breed and don't have that odd cricket smell. I've never seen any evidence of cannibalism either. I feed mine dog food and rodent chow along with organic fruits and veggies, whole-grain bread, and Fluker cricket diet. I only buy crickets now for variety in my Ts diets.

If you are keeping crickets, I've found that giving them egg cartons and paper towel rolls helps reduce cannibalism, as does adding some protein to their diets.

 

[veronyka]

Has anyone ever tried feeding the wet-type of gutloading food to their crickets? I have nature zone total bites.. its damp green stuff. I gotta tell you, my crickets chow down on it, and it keeps them alive pretty well..but the smell is nauseating. I used the Flukers cricket food but I have found the green cubes easier since I tend to lose my crickets to dehydration if I'm not careful.

 

[Wade]

Originally posted by veronyka
Has anyone ever tried feeding the wet-type of gutloading food to their crickets? I have nature zone total bites.. its damp green stuff. I gotta tell you, my crickets chow down on it, and it keeps them alive pretty well.

That stuff seems like a pretty neat idea, food and water all in one, etc. I think, however, cost may be a limiting factor for me. I buy chicken feed at $8 for a fifty pound bag!

Wade

 

[skinheaddave]

For crickets, I make a mix of mature cat food, skim milk powder and calcium supplement powder. I fill their dish with cat food and then mix in what seems like a reasonable mount of the other ingredients in a 10 to 1 milk to calcium ratio.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[atavuss]

Originally posted by veronyka
Has anyone ever tried feeding the wet-type of gutloading food to their crickets? I have nature zone total bites.. its damp green stuff. I gotta tell you, my crickets chow down on it, and it keeps them alive pretty well..but the smell is nauseating. I used the Flukers cricket food but I have found the green cubes easier since I tend to lose my crickets to dehydration if I'm not careful.

I tried one jar and if I remember correctly you need to refrigerate it after opening which turned into a pain......I use polymers that I buy in bulk for way cheap for watering the crickets, mad hissers, millipedes, baby scorpions......I use the cheapest fish food (high protein) and supplement with dog food. I keep the crickets in a 66 quart sterilite brand container with the middle of the top cut out and 1/4" galvanized hardware cloth pop riveted in (I use the same size and type containers to breed rats in for feeders)
Ed