Cricket advice for new beardie mama!

[mrspoodie]

We adopted a 3 year old beardie named Beans last week. He is doing great and we are in love with him!! My problem is .... he loves crickets and I do NOT. We got a bunch on Friday and the vet recommended letting them hang out & gutload for 3 days. Well now about half of them are dead. They are stinky and I have no clue how I am going to feed the lives ones to Beans tomorrow. My husband will flip out if they get loose in the house! The thought of going to the pet store to buy them a few times a week (20 minutes away!), feeding them (I'm using Flukers gut loader), watering them (with those globby crystal blob things) ..... they seem like more work than our sweet Beans is! But it is so stinkin' cute watching him eat them (the person we adopted him from showed us how funny it is - we have yet to give them to him ourselves)!

I'm torn. Does anyone have any advice on how I can make this easier and less gross? How can I keep them alive? How do I get them out of their enclosure (they're in a hand-me-down bug crate thing, vented lid etc) without having to touch them? I'm not squeamish but honestly they just seem like too much stinky, icky work for something that will be eaten so quickly. Would worms be a better choice for me? I hate to quit giving Beans crickets since he loves them so much but I just am not a fan.....

I appreciate any advice you all can offer me!

 

[Missi]

If you put a toilet paper tube in the cricket bin the crickets will crawl into it and you can shake them into whatever you use to get them into the tank.

I personally use a large plastic empty peanut butter jar . Shake the TP tube into it ( crickets fall right in ) and bring the jar into the room to feed Jim . I shake a few into the tank at a time until he is done . I also add the calcium or vitamins into the jar and swish it around to coat the crickets . NO touching needed .

 

[mrspoodie]

If you put a toilet paper tube in the cricket bin the crickets will crawl into it and you can shake them into whatever you use to get them into the tank.

I personally use a large plastic empty peanut butter jar . Shake the TP tube into it ( crickets fall right in ) and bring the jar into the room to feed Jim . I shake a few into the tank at a time until he is done . I also add the calcium or vitamins into the jar and swish it around to coat the crickets . NO touching needed .

Oh wow that is such a great idea. Thanks for the tip! Should I coat the crickets with calcium if they're already eating it? We've fed Beans crickets twice now and its so fun to watch, I think I will just have to keep on with the crickets! :lol:

 

[nursejones813]

Yes. You should dust them with calcium 2-3 x's a week. And dust with a multivitamin 2 x's a week.

 

[mrspoodie]

Yes. You should dust them with calcium 2-3 x's a week. And dust with a multivitamin 2 x's a week.

Thank you so much! I'm going to buy a new batch of crickets (and vitamins for dusting!) tomorrow.

 

[sjcksnmnusa]

It's getting colder here in MN and I will have to bring in my cricket tubs in soon. The major problem with keeping crickets in the house for the winter is the odor problem. Has anyone had success with substrates in the cricket tubs reducing the smell? My three beardie's love crickets and I go through 1000 to 1500 a month. Thanks for your help!

 

[Baldwin]

Look at using Vermiculite. It will help with the odor but does not eliminate it.

 

[diamc]

You can also put a small pinch of the supplement into a ziploc sandwich bag, pick up the toilet paper or paper towel roll and lightly shake into the bag, zip the top shut and lightly shake the bag to coat the crickets. It works very well.

Crickets ordered online are much healthier than pet store crickets. You could also get him some superworms, adults love those too and it's good to use a variety of feeders. Other choices are silkworms, hornworms, butterworms. Dubia roaches are a good choice too but I'm not sure you're ready for that yet. :mrgreen: