Cricket questions.

[icelore]

I'm a newbie, don't laugh.

I have WAY too many crickets coming. Multiple people assured me that my little guy would eat 2 - 3 dozen crickets a day, medium sized. So I ordered 1000 quarter to half inch crickets. >.> Thing is, Ridley will only eat 6 - 12 *tiny* ones a day, so I image he'll go like 4 larger ones. I plan on selling off a chunk of this shipment on craigslist, but until then, questions:

1) Can I keep them outside? I'm kind of clueless about bugs, and don't know what I'm going to do with 1000 of them. Can I put them in a 10g tank outside or something? I assume they come in a cardboard box...

2) How do I get only a few out at a time to feed? I..don't like crickets much. Worm type food is fine, and even roaches, but crickets make me go a bit eww. How do I get a few into a smaller container and dust them without them all jumping out at me? This are things people don't tell you. lol

Now I feel silly.

 

[hyperc]

6-12 small a day? how old and big is your dragon? And yes he should be eating around 2-4 dozen a day...I would drop them into a 10 gallon tank if you got one, make sure once you do that get rid of all the dead and toss out the food that came with it...It's gonna be a mess once you open the box so be ready for jumpers!

Other than that, you should get a clean bill of health on him if you haven't yet cause he really should be eating a lot more Good Luck

 

[icelore]

It's gonna be a mess once you open the box so be ready for jumpers!

That pretty much just makes me not want to open the box ever. >.> Also, I still don't know how to get them *out* of the tank to feed them to my dragon.

Other than that, you should get a clean bill of health on him if you haven't yet cause he really should be eating a lot more Good Luck

He's been to the vet and checked out fine. He poops daily, is fat and active. His biggest feeding day ever was yesterday and he ate a dozen tiny crickets (quarter inch, if that) and about 10 super worms (which look like meal worms to me, so I'm confused about that).

 

[SciencePam]

Crickets are the devil. I went with superworms and silkworms and will never go back.


May the force be with you

 

[icelore]

Crickets are the devil. I went with superworms and silkworms and will never go back.


May the force be with you

He was supposedly eating superworms up until this point, but he will not eat them for me unless I had feed them. I Have to kind of squish them and make them wiggle for him to be interested, or he won't eat at all. It's quite annoying, as I would much prefer him to eat worms. Crickets give me the heebie-jeebies.

 

[Fizzylady]

http://www.amazon.com/Exo-Terra-Cricket-Pen-Size/dp/B0073KOGOG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1367419272&sr=8-2&keywords=cricket+pen <<< GOD SEND!!! The crickets instinctually crawl up into the tubes - all you have to do is pull out a tube and shake it to get them out to feed. I like this brand better than the kricket keeper model - that model has some issues.

Some tips: Look in the tube before shaking them out to see how many are in there. If there are too many then give it a little shake while it's still in the pen to get rid of some. The first time I used it I accidentally dumped 50 crickets into the calcium powder and my guy couldn't eat them faster than the powder was killing them. Also - I take the tube out over his feeding bin - that way if one accidentally falls out it falls right into the bin and I don't to worry about escapees.

As far as dusting: I use a sandwich size ziploc bag. Put a pinch of powder in. Figure out which tube I'm going to use. Pull that tube out with the sandwich bag directly under the spot that the tube comes out - just in case one is near the end of it and falls out (this has never actually happened). I shake the crickets out of the tube and into the ziploc bag then replace the tube into the cricket bin. I close the bag, shake the crickets around until they are all covered, then just open one small corner of the bag and shake them out into the feeding bin.

Trust me - I loathe and detest crickets and this product has made it so much easier to deal with them!!

 

[icelore]

Thank you so much Fizzylady! This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for, and that cricket keeper looks like it's going to save me a ton of hassle. Love it!

 

[Fizzylady]

Thank you so much Fizzylady! This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for, and that cricket keeper looks like it's going to save me a ton of hassle. Love it!

I'm just starting out too so I totally get it :lol: - Thankfully I found this pet store not too far from me and one of the girls there is very beardie savvy. When I buy crickets from them I bring my cricket bin with me and she even puts them in it for me - so I NEVER have to touch them!

 

[icelore]

I'm just starting out too so I totally get it :lol: - Thankfully I found this pet store not too far from me and one of the girls there is very beardie savvy. When I buy crickets from them I bring my cricket bin with me and she even puts them in it for me - so I NEVER have to touch them!

You're so lucky. I've been to every big name pet store in my area (what a joke) and a handful of actually dedicated reptile shops as well, and I've had more contradicting information that I thought was even possible. It seems no one has a clue and I'm left scrambling around the internet picking up bits and pieces of decent info here and there!

Mind you, I've asked three places if they made/carried any kind of cricket or feeder bug tank that had tubes or funnels in it, and of course they all said no. :roll: lol

 

[Fizzylady]

I went to 5 different pet stores in my town and surrounding area before I found this girl - of course she works in the pet store furthest away from me @@ - but still happy to have found her. The pet store is actually a smaller store - not a big brand name one, but it's beautiful and they really care about all of their animals. Shes the only one there who knows about beardies though.

If all else fails order from Amazon! My UPS guy thinks I've gone insane because of the amount of packages I've received since I brought this dragon into the house :lol: Amazon usually has the best prices and their shipping is either free or dirt cheap!

 

[icelore]

Dear god, they came today and I don't think I'll ever buy them again. D: D:

I very carefully opened one of the side air vents the tiniest bit to see if there was some kind of mesh inside and there was, so I cut the top open and slowly opened it, then there were legs everywhere. No mesh across the top. Three escaped into my kitchen before I slammed the top closed. I just put the whole damned box outside in a 10gal tank and used tongs to open it up. After letting them sit outsinde the the chilly air for a bit I managed to get them out of the box, but the dead ones are still in there. :/ I threw in some dog food, cucumbers, and dry cereal mix so they won't die. I have two people from craigslist coming to pick up all the extras tomorrow - hopefully they can figure out a way to get them out of the damned tank, cause I'm not touching them. They're everywhere.

How do you people do this? I couldn't imagine getting a dozen or so out to feed, they just go all over. o.0 Do not want. I'm thinking it might just be worth it to pay for the more expensive roaches and worms, at least they don't jump out of the box and hit me in the face.

 

[OhNoItsMikey]

What I did was bought a cricket keeper, just for the tubes lol. I have 200+ crickets in my 10gal tank all the time and just laid the tubes inside so that when I'm ready to feed I just pull one out and give a few taps in the beardies tank. Works very well. Generally as long as you don't have I guess a long sleeve shirt on, crickets aren't going to jump on you or anything so you don't have to worry about touching them much this way either. Cricket keepers also come with food and water bowls, which I placed inside the tank also of course.

Also a paper towel/toilet paper roll (empty) will work. Probably a better chance of spooking them when you grab it and them jumping out but itll work.

 

[icelore]

I don't have much trouble getting them out of the 10gal tank now, but there is a difference between 200 and 1000. lol Cleaning the tank out is a different story all together though.