Think this is the last time I use live crickets!

NikiP

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 16, 2006
Messages
539
I can deal with my furry fanged friends just fine. Crickets, I hate with a passion. When feeding my Ts, I make sure that they've attacked their prey before I leave them alone. If they don't, I remove the cricket & try again the following week.

Just a little while ago I was doing my nightly check before bed when I noticed that my little scorpion trio were very agitated. They are pretty active, but something didn't seem right.

Then I noticed the sand was MOVING.

It wasn't sand :barf:

I guess the two crickets I tossed in there the week before had enough time in there to lay eggs before being killed. I felt so, so bad because I don't know at what point they started hatching or how long (don't get me wrong, I look at them multiple times a day, I just simply dont know if only a few hatched earlier or if I just wasn't looking hard enough) they've been bothering the scorps :( They are *everywhere* & were starting to look like they might get successful at climbing up the silicon in the corners.

Thankfully I had changed up my Avic's enclosure earlier in the day so I was able to put the scorps in the bait bucket I had put the Avic in. And I still have half a bag of substrate left so I dumped a few inches in the bucket. Took the tank outside & turned it on it's side. Will let the evil things go back where they belong!

If that had happened in one of my T tanks this late at night with me half sleep, I don't know what I would have done :(

Next weekend when I get paid, roaches are the second thing on my to buy list :rolleyes: Thinking i'll get a nice mix of sizes so the Ts can just deal with worms until then!
 

Terry D

Arachnodemon
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Nov 21, 2009
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733
Niki, I can relate here. Several of my t's take mm dubia but a few still prefer crickets. I no longer pre-kill for indivs with exception of pulchra slings. My B boehmei female is the only one that appears thoroughly disgusted with the hatch of tiny crix which happens here and there. She kicked all her hairs off for the first time since I got her the last time it happened. She's blackening up now and will molt soon. I wish she'd convert to the dubia. She has eaten one or two but usually refuses them- same goes for her enormous sibling, although it's not bald at all. Like a few others, it doesn't seem to mind the occasional mini-invasion. {D

Terry
 

Wachusaynoob

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 3, 2010
Messages
124
That's happened to me before, I Started off Putting about a thousand krickets in the tank all at once but they would Just Slowly Die off. Now There's little youngins That randomly appear everywhere, Which I'm glad has finally stopped.
 

malevolentrobot

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Messages
310
i have not had this happen with crickets, but i definitely understand the frustration. i hate buying crickets, mainly because compared to other feeders mine seem to die much quicker. i've used other feeders and found waxworm moths in my rosea's enclosure after they buried and i assumed were eaten. d'oh. :8o

i'd switch mine all over to dubia (i even have a small accidental colony), but out of repeated attempts to feed them, only the P. murinus eats them. :?
 

Anubis77

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
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Aug 15, 2005
Messages
281
Crickets have their pluses, primarily in that they don't burrow. I raise two different species of roach, and unless I toss it on the spider or serve it on silver forceps in front of their chelicerae, they'll burrow under and I never find out if they get eaten or not.

Are there any species of roach that don't burrow? I need some surface dwellers for the future. I have Eublaberus prosticus and what I think are Blaberus discoidalis right now. Found one random adult lobster when cleaning out the discoids a few days ago, but I hope that was a one-off occurrence.
 

belljar77

Arachnosquire
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Joined
Apr 7, 2010
Messages
129
What about lats? Even my picky Ts and slings like lats. Too bad though, I have lots of dubia...
 

WARPIG

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
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Jun 29, 2007
Messages
821
I love it when this happens, I put a bottle cap in the enclosure filled with fish flakes, and every so often I pull it out filled with lil crix. I then feed them til their large enough to feed to my slings.

This is a gift, free crix, its happened to me many times{D

PIG-
 

NikiP

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 16, 2006
Messages
539
I'm sure my slings would have had quite a bit of fun with the little buggers. They're all still small enough that they probably could have done something.
The poor scorps, they were trying to run up the sides of the glass :(

If I had thought to save them, I would have gladly sent them to anyone who wanted them to raise :D

I'm going for lats or lobsters, i'll have to see if they have burrowing tendencies, hadn't thought about that.
 

CAK

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 17, 2009
Messages
298
I'm sure my slings would have had quite a bit of fun with the little buggers. They're all still small enough that they probably could have done something.
The poor scorps, they were trying to run up the sides of the glass :(

If I had thought to save them, I would have gladly sent them to anyone who wanted them to raise :D

I'm going for lats or lobsters, i'll have to see if they have burrowing tendencies, hadn't thought about that.
I keep dubia and I too have picky spideys that just don't like dubia. I picked up a lat colony that I am trying to get off the ground. I hear lats aren't as meaty, but they don't burrow like dubia and they are faster so the spiders know they are there rather than the famous "dubia plays dead" moments.

I'll keep you posted as I have to do some feeding today. I just can't get over how fast those rusty reds are!


Advice, if you order lats, make sure you get a LAG. I received a bunch from someone and out of 2000 mixed, every adult one was cooked from the hot weather because the box wasn't even insulated... All my mediums and smalls are doing perfect!
 

NikiP

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
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Apr 16, 2006
Messages
539
Wow, that's horrible :(

I've just been told that they & lobsters tend to have smaller nymphs, which is why i'm wanting them rather then dubia.
 

CAK

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 17, 2009
Messages
298
Wow, that's horrible :(

I've just been told that they & lobsters tend to have smaller nymphs, which is why i'm wanting them rather then dubia.
They definitely do. I am beginning the feeding process tonight for my slings. I'll let you know how they work as compared to what others have said. :)
 

Newflvr

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 20, 2009
Messages
142
Baby Crickets

If the little guys drive you crazy add a shallow water dish they will take care of themselves. I use crickets 100%, tried roaches but chose to go the other way.Good Luck Kevin
 

Stopdroproll

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
251
I keep dubia and I too have picky spideys that just don't like dubia. I picked up a lat colony that I am trying to get off the ground. I hear lats aren't as meaty, but they don't burrow like dubia and they are faster so the spiders know they are there rather than the famous "dubia plays dead" moments.

I'll keep you posted as I have to do some feeding today. I just can't get over how fast those rusty reds are!


Advice, if you order lats, make sure you get a LAG. I received a bunch from someone and out of 2000 mixed, every adult one was cooked from the hot weather because the box wasn't even insulated... All my mediums and smalls are doing perfect!
I use the crush the head method with some tongs. They'll move around like a chicken with its head off and they won't burrow. I thought it was kind of mean at first, but then they started pissing me off when I had to dig them out of the substrate.
 
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