Supplements/vitamins/calcium etc

[lewisskinner]

Hi guys.

In a lot of the online shops I go to, I keep seeing people selling items such as (for example) the 'Exo Terra Feeding Rock', saying that it's good for coating your crickets in supplement (might it also be good to feed my T whilst I'm away on holiday?)

I've also heard people refer to the idea of 'gut-loading' their crickets prior to chucking them in with their babies.

What do these terms refer to, and should I do either/both?

Currently, I simply buy my crickets in tubs with a bit of eggbox in them, and throw a couple in the cage twice a week. I don't feed the cricks, and they seem to last fine (so far anyway). Should I be buying a Kricket Keeper/Cricket Corral and a load of aqua gel, cricket food, fish flakes and calcium powder?

 

[Mushroom Spore]

A lot of that is just trying to sell you crap. What the heck is a feeding rock? If you're going on vacation, it's not like Ts starve to death that easily.

Twice a week is probably too often, once a week is fine. Although I wouldn't worry about giving the crickets gourmet meals, misting their enclosure with water sometimes so they stay hydrated will pass that hydration on to the Ts. And that never hurts!

 

[Xaranx]

I feed my crickets the same thing I feed my roaches, 50% dog food, 25% oats, 25% cereal all ground up. And water crystals from www.watersorb.com

 

[lewisskinner]

I suspect feeding rocks are more for reptiles...

What I mean really is do I need to gut-load my crickets, and if so, how and with what? What even is it? Does it simply mean what it sounds like - giving them a gut-load of food prior to feeding them to my T?

Currently, I only have 2 Ts. One's a sling and not on full-sized cricks, and the others a juvie only on 4th or regular-sized cricks, so it's not as if I'm bulk-buying or breeding crickets! All I need to know is: When I go once a fortnight to my local lizard shop to buy a tub of 40 crickets, can I give them as they are, or do I need to dust them with some special stuff? Do I even need to feed the cricks at all? (The one's I've had since Saturday have sat in a tub just fine).

If everyone's out there selling Kricket Keepers, they must have some use? Or am I being too generous?

 

[NeitherSparky]

Well I don't buy crix in boxes or tubs, they come in plastic bags, like the kind used for fish. Since I don't feed them all at once to my t's, I use containers. I need large, medium, and small crix to feed my 6 t's who are of different sizes, and I like to keep them separate. So I have two of the small cricket keepers for the large and mediums, and a screen-topped sifter-shaker like what you'd use for powdered sugar for the teeny ones. I put a cube of that orange cricket food stuff in each container and they live basically as long as I remember to keep replacing the cubes as they dry out. Anyways I only buy about a half dozen of each size when I go crix shopping (like I did today). Anyways in my experience they will certainly die off if you don't give them anything at all, they do at least need moisture. It's not a big deal to go buy more crix of course, but I prefer to try and keep mine alive as long as possible.

edit: Oh and, yeah the powdered cricket-coating stuff is for feeding reptiles. I understand that you shouldn't buy the "calcium-fortified" cricket cubes if you're feeding t's because calcium is bad for them if they get too much. There's a non calcium-fortified type, that's what I buy.

 

[arachnophoria]

I think gutloading is an ill-defined and often used term.To me, one should not load the feeder up with nutrient dense food,just before being fed.This may work with reptiles that typically ingest the feeder more or less whole,so would get the undigested stomach contents of the feeder as part of thier nutrition,but I think this is not as helpful with Ts.I personally think feeders should be fed nutritous feed all of the time.I don't ''gutloa'',but feed a nutritous mixture to my feeders at all times.Good(good meaning healthful,not tastey ) food turns into good feeder insect(you are what you eat).I used the same premise for reptiles,although I di also dust with calcium and vitamin supplements as I deemed appropriate for whatever species.The needs of tarantuals are going to be far different than that of reptiles in terms of nutrient usage and too much of a vitamin or mineral can be as bad or worse than not enough and this is true of reptiles also.At the least,feed your crix some washe and chopped greens,apples,sweet potato,winter squash,or what have yo for moisture or use water crystals.For actual food,at the minimal end of the spectrum,feed some bulk goldfish flakes(cheaper) or some higher quality dogfood made for older dogs mixed with some dry baby cereal.Over here,I mix my own food,but use some things that are ready made,like dog food or reptile pellets to form a base.I typically use raw,dry coconut,bee pollen,spirulina,alfalfa,baby cereal,oats,dog food,hay stretcher,flax seed,raw almonds,timothy hay,powdered milk,and whatever else I may come across that stirkes me ase beneficial.This makes sure that all nutrients are included and in relatively stable proportions.By stable propertions,I mean,by feeding a feeder fed small amounts of a vitamin,rather than one that is dusted with a vitamin supplement,the predator(in this case tarantula) gets a minimal,but constant dose over time,as would occur in the wild.What we need to remember is that for animals is caotivity,just liek for ourselves,they gain nutrition form regular feeding,as it related to the species(regular is daily for most mammals,but maybe every few months for a snake or T) and they get a dose of what they need in terms of vitamins and minerals with each feeding as part of a whole.It is bogus to think that a once a week supplement can be better than a continual exposure to what the animal needs in its diet,as it is accustomed to.I do think that a captive diet has its limitations and supplements can augment the captive diet,but should not be used to compensate for lack of a varied and healthy diet overall...the end.

 

[lewisskinner]

Yeah, I already put a damp sponge in the tub with the crickets, so that's not a problem. Other than this, is it a good idea to make up some food (say dried dog food, goldfish flakes and oats) and put them into a kricket keeper?

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Yeah, I already put a damp sponge in the tub with the crickets

Don't do this, damp sponges just turn into filth and bacteria magnets, especially with poop machines like crickets crawling all over them. Either cricket-specific water gel/crystals or just shallow water dishes with pebbles or something in them (because crickets are amazingly stupid and will drown themselves at the drop of a hat) is a better option. Or even just feeding certain foods like...I want to say fresh potato? Or fruit, stuff like that will let them get hydrated by eating it.

 

[CjP]

Or fruit, stuff like that will let them get hydrated by eating it.

Just as an aside to this, I heard something about not giving crix citrus (I forget exactly why). Stick w/ stuff like apples. Dunno how valid this is...

 

[Freves]

I do not have the details right off hand but I remember about four years ago a study was done at a local university (Radford University) on tarantula feeding. P. murinus were used. One group of spiderlings were fed crickets that were fed a rather bland diet (again I cannot remember the details) and the other group were fed crickets that were fed a much more nutritous diet. In the end the group that was fed the more nutritous crickets grew at a much faster rate and (I believe) were larger as adults.
Chip

 

[desertdweller]

I found a solution to drowning crickets that works well. I put about one half inch of water in a 2" diameter dish. Then I put in a wide, thin piece of sandstone as a ramp. I have watched them walk down the ramp, drink, and leave the same way. I haven't had any drowned crix yet.