Can't take having crickets anymore!!

[jenn4turtles]

Seriously ... These things are horrible! I've put up with them up until now because Smauggie loves them, but I've had it.

I have four layers of screen on the lid of the container ... FOUR ... They've decided to stop eating holes in the screens because there's so many layers, and now the eat the GLUE that is attaching the layers of screen to the lid. I had to attach a layer of weatherstripping around the lid of the container because they were somehow sneaking out between the container and the lid. :twisted:

I had to clean the container last night, and it was awful! The smell was the worst it has ever been, and I do clean it regularly. I can't get the smell out of my nose!

So ... I'm going to have to deal with dubia! From where do y'all order yours? I've been looking on Craig's List, and I found one person who says he/she sells 50 large for $25 ... That seems like a lot to me ... ? I live in Louisiana, so shipping to me won't be an issue - no ban here! (We have 4 inch roaches here ... that can fly.)

 

[CooperDragon]

Crickets are vicious critters. I have my first order of Dubia on it's way from ABDragons.

 

[jenn4turtles]

I saw them under "For Sale".

Are you starting a colony? Or just ordering some to use as feed?

 

[CooperDragon]

For now I'm just ordering some to try them out. A "large group" cost $65 shipped and seemed like a pretty competitive deal. I plan on housing them in my old 20g tank with screen top that I used for crickets. Will see how it goes and maybe start a colony. Dundee doesn't really eat a whole lot though so I'm not sure if it's worth it or not. If he ate like a 9mo old then I would absolutely be starting a colony.

 

[jenn4turtles]

How do I know which size dubia I need?

Most of the groups come with a majority of 3/8" or smaller ... Is that too small? Smauggie's 16 inches long (last time I measured her, which was at least a week ago).

 

[CooperDragon]

I don't have experience with them yet, but at 16'' I'd imagine Smaug can handle any size roach. I got a mixed group 7/8'' and up because I'm not sure what the deal is with Roaches yet and want to experiment a bit.

 

[jenn4turtles]

I sent an email to the company, but I think I'm just going to go ahead and order them. They won't ship til Monday or Tuesday, and I want to stop this nightmare with crickets ASAP.

I'm glad to hear that Dundee is eating worms still! Do you order those from Linda? I would like to get her some butters as a treat.

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah his current batch of supers is from Linda. I ordered them at the beginning of July along with some silks and hornworms. Wasn't able to keep the silks and hornworms alive for more than a couple of weeks, but the supers really thrive. I've just kept them in a plastic tub and keep feeding them veggie scraps. I'm guessing two months of gutloading veggies makes them healthy ;^) She's out of silks at the moment but I plan to order some more soon and see if he'll eat those. (Note to self to order extra chow for them this time)

 

[wes]

A 16 inch beardie should be able to eat any sized dubia, but 3/8 inch dubia probably won't attract much interest from your beardie. You can frequently find adult males for as little as $0.10 each and their weight is equivalent to three adult crickets, but large dubia would be a good option as well. Dubia will live a lot longer than crickets and will do quite well at room temperature.

I recommend replacing your screen with aluminum. Adult males can fly to the screen and chew through other types, much like your crickets are doing.

Another good place to find dubia is on fauna classifieds. http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=961

 

[jenn4turtles]

Crickets are vicious critters. I have my first order of Dubia on it's way from ABDragons.

Did you get your order?

I received my first order (small group) on Wed., and next week my second order will ship out with 100 additional small ones. (Thinking maybe I should've bought mediums instead.)

Anyway, today was her first morning with them. She seems to like them!

Maybe you can help with a couple questions:
1. Am I supposed to dust dubia with calcium?
2. What's the easiest way to get them out of the tub and into a smaller container for feeding? (I really don't want to touch them! :bleick

 

[PMPerformance]

Im in the same boat as you. Sooo tired of crickets! Winter is coming too and last winter, we could not get them half the time.
Hopefully my colony will be ready to feed before it gets too cold

 

[CooperDragon]

I did get them. I set them up in my old 20g that I described earlier. I filled half of it with paper towel tubes like I did with crickets. I put one of those zoomed heaters under the tank and put it on a bakers rack to allow ventilation. They seem to be pretty happy campers so far. I've just been tossing in bits of veggie scraps and they go to town on it. You're right about the size of them. The little ones are REALLY small. I've gotten Dundee to eat a couple, but in general they are much too fast for him. If you use paper towel tubes or toilet paper tubes you can probably pick them up and shake them out easily enough. I put calcium or vitamin supplement on them just as I did with crickets (shake & bake in a small cup). I do the same with worms. I find them surprisingly easy to handle. They remind me a lot of the potato bugs I used to play with as a little kid (except they don't curl up into a little ball).

 

[jenn4turtles]

I used to call those roly-poly bugs!

I've tried shaking them out of the paper towel roll ... They hold onto the cardboard tubes like ninjas with suction cups and laugh at me. Really ... I heard tiny giggles!

I need to work on my capturing skills! (And dust them!)

 

[Taterbug]

I used to call those roly-poly bugs!

I've tried shaking them out of the paper towel roll ... They hold onto the cardboard tubes like ninjas with suction cups and laugh at me. Really ... I heard tiny giggles!

I need to work on my capturing skills! (And dust them!)

Try "flicking" the tube - I've found they can hang on really well to some enthusiastic shaking but a quick impact (like flicking or banging the tube on the side of somethig) will knock them off better.

 

[CooperDragon]

I tap the tube on the side of the dust cup (currently a cleaned out chobani container) and it gets some of them loose. Think of them as roly poly bugs and not roaches and they aren't so scary =)