water crystals are over rated.

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snappleWhiteTea

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In my own personal opinion water crystal are overrated, I know people will get mad and trash my theory, but i think there just empty fillers.i experimented with out using them and my colony did just as well as the colony with the water crystals, bred as much, ate a little more, but what ever, i think they get enough water from food if fed fresh produce along with dry food.
 
AbraxasComplex

AbraxasComplex

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snappleWhiteTea said:
In my own personal opinion water crystal are overrated, I know people will get mad and trash my theory, but i think there just empty fillers.i experimented with out using them and my colony did just as well as the colony with the water crystals, bred as much, ate a little more, but what ever, i think they get enough water from food if fed fresh produce along with dry food.
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I agree. All my colonies of feeder bugs do just as well if not better without water crystals.
 
ZergFront

ZergFront

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My feeders seem to be quite healthy with no crystals - just carrot, cherries, lettuce, oranges, etc.
 
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snappleWhiteTea

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S

snappleWhiteTea

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ZergFront said:
My feeders seem to be quite healthy with no crystals - just carrot, cherries, lettuce, oranges, etc.
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yeah, I usually do oranges, carrots, some times grapes, but my favorite food for them is oranges, they will eat right down to the peel with no remains like lettuce, lettuce is great though tons of water, as a matter of fact it basically is water.
 
JC

JC

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I agree. I have some water crystals I bought over two years ago and I barley ever use them. The bottle is still about 95% full.
 
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mitchrobot

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IMO theyre a waste. i have like 1/4lb of the died crystals laying around somewhere. i was tired of having to change them out often as due to them gettign nasty quickly in the supercoloney. ive been fine without them for like 3 years now, i also just give em fruits as a water source, they breed like crazy all the same
 
pearldrummer

pearldrummer

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I've never bothered using the crystals. Coincidentally I have never had a problem with my colonies either.

All I do is provide fresh veggies and fruit.
 
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spiderfield

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I'm coming up on a year with my dubia colony and i've never bothered with water crystals. They get all their water needs from the fruits and veggies I give them and have exploded in growth. Water crystals are over-kill in my opinion...never bothered with it.
 
Texas Blonde

Texas Blonde

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I use them for my crickets, and keep some in my Blaberus colony just in case, but I have never observed the roaches eating them. They constantly have fresh fruit and veggies. The crickets on the other hand do eat them up, and its much nicer to not have drowned crickets from an open water dish, or a dirty wet paper towel. (I have a phobia of wet paper. {D)
 
Moltar

Moltar

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I think they're just easier to use. I was giving my roaches all their water with apples, carrots, etc but it sucked if I was out of veggies and I had to run to the store just to give them a drink. At least with crystals you can keep a big bucket of them in the fridge and also mix up more whenever you need.

But yeah, I agree that they aren't necessary.
 
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TheHolyToast

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Will there be enough humidity for the species with egg cases to hatch if you don't use water crystals?
They may not need the crystals as a water supply, but my B. latteralis like to leave their ootheca around the crystals, and the Hissers tend to molt on top them.
 
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snappleWhiteTea

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TheHolyToast said:
Will there be enough humidity for the species with egg cases to hatch if you don't use water crystals?
They may not need the crystals as a water supply, but my B. latteralis like to leave their ootheca around the crystals, and the Hissers tend to molt on top them.
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mine breed like crazy w/out water crystals. and i haven't had any bad molts that know of.
 
G

Galapoheros

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I never used the crystals, going on a few years now. Before that, I did use the crystals some with raising crickets but didn't need to. Hissers and dubias can go a long time without water no matter the source. I have 1000s of dubia, don't feed them often but sometimes if I have the spray bottle in my hand, I will spray in there, I guess once a week. Oranges, apples, LOVE fishflakes no matter what you hear.
 
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colorcham427

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water crystals are a waste in my opinion, and just a way for others to make a profit.

If you want your colonies to get a great boost of vitamins plus hydration, orange slices are the best.. in my opinion of course! ;)

i use mango, carrot tops and carrot shredding, sweet potato slices, romain lettuce, cut up grapes, cut up bananas, cut up kiwi, cup cut apple, always put in a little and provide them more throughout the day.

in my set-up the red light bulbs are literally inside of their bins.

so i toss in the wet food 4 times a day and the dry food goes in once a day.

my dry food recipe is so simple..

coffee grounder is the machine lol

60% cat food

20 % dog food

20 % regular oatmeal

what do you guys use for a dry food?? just curious... i might try arron paul's dry food since its really cheap per kilo.
 
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