They Grow Up So Fast

[Rookie]

Hey all,
I need some help. Since I live in a very small place, my only option for feeders are wretched crickets. The probem with them is that they seem to grow too quickly. I bought a batch of 13 about three weeks ago. They were all a good size for Peso; about 1/2" or 3/4". I fed two, a few died, and one escaped and I haven't found him since. Those that have survived up until now are in a KK beside me, and they're HUGE! Well, they're not huge, but they seem to be fairly larger than they were when i bought them. now i don't know if i should buy a new batch of smaller crix, or if i should try to breed them and get some pinheads. I can't keep buying individual crickets; it's not a very economical setup.
Suggestions?
Paul

 

[Tarantula Lover]

hi

i would breed them, well in this case that is, or you can give him/her a crushed up or cut up crick,

James

 

[Code Monkey]

Yep, dismemberment is the way to go. You can feed several slings off of just one larger cricket with a good pair of small scissors

When I buy crickets, I get 2 dozen smalls (1/8" to 1/4") and 2 dozen mediums (1/2" to 3/4") and feed as needed not minding that they get bigger. If I get down to all larger sized crickets and I've got smaller slings, chop, chop, snip, snip...

 

[Exodus]

James here has a point.you could always cut up the crix:I have heard of numerous people doing this.You can't really force crickets to breed though, but if they are adults, you'll definitly have some Pinheads before long.Make sure the soil/bedding is moist so the females can lay there eggs.

P.S Tarantula Lover, you have a PM.

 

[Botar]

I believe someone has had success with freezing them and then feeding them at a later date as needed. You can also freeze and cut them up to a correct size. I've not done any freezing, but I've had success with prekilled and prey cut to size. I hope this helps.

Botar

 

[Rookie]

Yeah..I did the cutting up thing when I started out because I found the crickets too gross to keep alive. However, if you dip into the forum archives, you can find a thread of me complaining about a cricket upper-body part that i accidently burried in Peso's substrate. I couldn't fish it out, and I ended up having to move him to an entirely new enclosure so I could remove the body part as to prevent bacteria. I've been feeding nothing but live ever since, and would like to continue to do so. Of course, you could write back and caution that I should just make sure I don't burry a body part again, but I'm a clumbsy guy...
So, given this new information, what do you folks think I should do?
Paul

 

[Code Monkey]

Keep chopping - although leaving food remains and uneaten food is not the best of things, it's not the world ending disaster some of the posts might make you think it is. It can lead to mites, and very often does lead to mold but neither of those are generally very serious.

If you haven't, invest in a good pair of hemostats. No matter your general clumsiness, they are invaluable for getting just about anything out your T's enclosure.

 

[Botar]

Hey CM,

The ends of that particular pair seem to be burnt...

Botar

Edit: Yes, I noticed the book cover. LMAO

 

[Exodus]

Maybe he stuck the ends in the fire and THEN decidedto use them to use on the Crix,He might like to torture them

 

[Lycanthrope]

i have a set of hemos just like that, and they are definately a very handy tool for removing debris and crix corpses.

 

[Code Monkey]

Originally posted by Botar
Hey CM,

The ends of that particular pair seem to be burnt...

Botar

Edit: Yes, I noticed the book cover. LMAO

The book cover was on purpose (I needed a dark background, it was on a nearby shelf ). However, those have never been used for anything other than bugs or wiring bread boards in my electrical engineering class. Strictly a photographic artifact, sorry to disappoint the CM conspiracy theorists out there

Edit: it's much better to use hot pokers (a.k.a. straight pins) if you want to torture crickets ;P