[Inquiry] Where to get crickets....in bulk.

[Jmugleston]

I'd rather this be in a different section (one with more traffic) but it fits here I think.
I'm not trying to create a review thread. Instead just a list of dealers along with their strengths and weaknesses in attempt to find a reliable supplier.

I have a slight problem with cricket suppliers and I'm trying to find a new one. Here's the problem:

Wormman.com....a quick glance at the reviews will more than explain the plethora of issues this company has.

cricketsdirect.com....tried them. Great prices, healthy crickets, crappy packing, and even worse communication. I'd receive only portions of my order because the other portion was running loose in the post office. The boxes were broken nearly every time and I lost up to half my crickets. There is no way to contact them either. I've tried their email address, but it has come back undeliverable multiple times.

LLLReptile: Everything is good provided it isn't late Fall, Winter, or early Spring. During the Spring and Summer I prefer this company. Fair prices, reliable service, etc. During the colder months it is hard to get all the crickets to me alive. They always have stood behind their product so every problem has been fixed, but my animals (especially the lizards) need food every day. I can't miss a week due to a dead cricket order. I need something that is a bit more reliable all year.

Local petstores: I use about 3-4 times the amount of crickets they do! They quoted nearly $100.00 for 2K crickets....I laughed....peed a little bit, and refused the offer.

Other than these three companies, is there any company that you use? Are they reliable? Fair priced? If an accident happens, can you reach them and will they stand behind their product?

 

[Garrick]

I mostly use roaches, but sometimes have to supplement.

Getting crickets from Lucky Lure was always easier than ordering a pizza when I lived in Florida. They were usually well-packed, and always delivered quickly. The one time they made a mistake (not sealing a box well), they replaced them all very promptly.
I spoke to them at a reptile show recently, and they said they're shipping outside of Florida now, so maybe you could check them out.
Their prices when I used to order from them were average.

I need something even smaller than fresh hatched B. lateralis for a sac of VERY tiny A. geniculata. It's cold as sin, and I kind of need something quickly, so I figured a shop way down in FL was not going to be feasible unless I wanted to pay a ton for shipping. I googled "live bait"+"south carolina" and then narrowed it down to the closest cricket supplier in my area, which is called Mostly Minnows. I just got off the phone about 5 minutes ago in fact. I explained the situation, and, rather fascinated (they normally just deliver to bait shops and were somewhat amused at some guy with spiders out the wazoo), they agreed to send me 2k pins shipped with heat packs for a reasonable price, payable upon receipt.

Maybe you can try the same for your area.

Good luck!

 

[Jmugleston]

I mostly use roaches, but sometimes have to supplement.

Getting crickets from Lucky Lure was always easier than ordering a pizza when I lived in Florida. They were usually well-packed, and always delivered quickly. The one time they made a mistake (not sealing a box well), they replaced them all very promptly.
I spoke to them at a reptile show recently, and they said they're shipping outside of Florida now, so maybe you could check them out.
Their prices when I used to order from them were average.

I need something even smaller than fresh hatched B. lateralis for a sac of VERY tiny A. geniculata. It's cold as sin, and I kind of need something quickly, so I figured a shop way down in FL was not going to be feasible unless I wanted to pay a ton for shipping. I googled "live bait"+"south carolina" and then narrowed it down to the closest cricket supplier in my area, which is called Mostly Minnows. I just got off the phone about 5 minutes ago in fact. I explained the situation, and, rather fascinated (they normally just deliver to bait shops and were somewhat amused at some guy with spiders out the wazoo), they agreed to send me 2k pins shipped with heat packs for a reasonable price, payable upon receipt.

Maybe you can try the same for your area.

Good luck!

I'm in Utah. The bait shops here have worms but no crickets. I have the roaches as well. Most the spiders are fed those. I use crickets mainly for reptiles but since enough people still feed crickets to their spiders I figured this would be a good place to inquire about other dealers.

 

[Xian]

When I used to have a room full of spiders, I used to use Fluker Farms.
That was a long time ago, I do not know how their reputation is now.

http://www.flukerfarms.com/LiveCrickets.aspx

But 10 years ago they were top notch.

 

[JPJ]

I have always been pleased with http://www.southerncricket.com/

 

[funguy@heart]

Crickets suck

I feed my tarantulas Goliath Horn Worms. They come small 1.5 inches and grow to 4 inches in a couple of weeks. They make no noise and come in a plastic tub with food. You can gut load them and when they re big, it only takes 1 or 2 a week. I get them from
Lindasgonebuggie.com. she is real attentive and has several feeder bugs for sale.

 

[Jmugleston]

I have always been pleased with http://www.southerncricket.com/

I'll look in to them. Thanks.

I feed my tarantulas Goliath Horn Worms. They come small 1.5 inches and grow to 4 inches in a couple of weeks. They make no noise and come in a plastic tub with food. You can gut load them and when they re big, it only takes 1 or 2 a week. I get them from
Lindasgonebuggie.com. she is real attentive and has several feeder bugs for sale.

The problem I have is the quantity. I go through a few thousand roaches each month for my spiders. I have 6 different roach species I'm breeding for this purpose. I need crickets mainly for my smaller monitors so I a couple thousand each week or so. I'm not sure worms would work in this situation.

 

[elportoed]

Try this:

http://www.rainbowmealworms.net/

 

[bliss]

I feed my tarantulas Goliath Horn Worms. They come small 1.5 inches and grow to 4 inches in a couple of weeks. They make no noise and come in a plastic tub with food. You can gut load them and when they re big, it only takes 1 or 2 a week. I get them from
Lindasgonebuggie.com. she is real attentive and has several feeder bugs for sale.

horn worms have loads of nutrients in them, including a ton of calcium... if they have a lot of calcium, then i personally wouldn't use them for T's. they actually can be quite pricey as well, depending on who you buy from.

As far as feeder crickets... here's a great deal from Ghann's cricket farm:
http://www.ghann.com/store/store_product_detail.cfm?Product_ID=63&Category_ID=6

 

[ZergFront]

Ghann's Cricket Farm

I got 250 adults and 500 pinheads from them.

 

[xhexdx]

Getting crickets from Lucky Lure was always easier than ordering a pizza when I lived in Florida.

This is where I order mine. Will they not ship out of state?

 

[nhdjoseywales]

Ghann's Cricket Farm

I got 250 adults and 500 pinheads from them.

Ghann's was on Dirtyy Jobs with Mike Rowe recently, we ordered 500 adults from them and couldnt be happier.

 

[Shell74]

Crickets

I order from Ghann's as well, about 3000 per month for the past 2 years. I have never had any problems. They ship quickly to the northeast and never have more than about a dozen or so DOA's. Their prices are very competitive from what I have found too.

 

[Sukai94]

Try this:

http://www.rainbowmealworms.net/

I use this company. There have always given me generous over-counts and there is a good survival rate. You have to consider they are close so the crickets are not in transit long. I believe LLL gets their crickets from Rainbow.

 

[catfishrod69]

hey jmugleston try flukers....1,000-1" crix for $13.95 not including shipping of course, but still pretty cheap..

http://www.flukerfarms.com/crickets.aspx

i can have 2,000 adults shipped to me for $48.57

 

[newspidermom]

I like flukerfarms as well. Of the few I've tried theirs seem to have a longer survival rate. I"ve also bought from Premium Crickets but thay started dying off like crazy a week after I had them and their packing wasn't too good.