Cricket Virus?

[DeweysMom]

I've been debating on whether or not to order some crickets when I get my new beardie. I prefer to raise/feed dubia, but crickets are cheaper as a go to feeder and it would also add a bit of variety.

I just went to Ghann's site and got some prices. I went to Mulberry Farms to get their prices and saw the message below posted on their site. They don't have crickets available to sell. I haven't had crickets for a long, long time so I never heard of this virus. Is it still an issue? I'm assuming our beardies could get sick from eating infected crickets?

As an alternative, I'm thinking of maybe doing a dubia and worm variety with no crickets. Can baby beardies (approx 7-9" since I'm assuming that'll be about the size of my beardie when I'll get one) eat hornworms, butterworms, and silkworms in rotation with dubia? I know they can handle phoenix worms just fine.

Here's the message on the Mulberry Farms site:

[1-29-13 INVENTORY UPDATE: We are sorry to announce that the cricket virus that previously affected the brown "house" cricket is now affecting the banded crickets which we have been raising as a substitute. Because we want to offer only the healthiest and highest quality feeders to our customers, we have decided to not raise/sell crickets at this time, until we can find a healthy, virus free strain of crickets. We suggest that superworms (available in micro, small, medium and large size), as well as roaches (available in nymph to large size) be offered in place of crickets as part of a healthy, varied diet for your pets! Our apologies for any inconvenience.]

 

[JC0609]

I would go for the Roaches and maybe micro super worms if possible? It's easy enough to get the right size of roaches and I would probably just use the roaches as a solid staple.

 

[Baldwin]

I quit crickets. They are a pain to raise and the last bunch that I ordered were infested with carpet beetles and I ended up tossing about 1500 crickets.

Dubias are no trouble, and once you establish a colony, they are way cheaper than crickets.

I don't know about that cricket virus, but I don't recall reading anything about it lately.

 

[DeweysMom]

Thanks, I am definitely planning on starting a dubia colony. I did have one before, but Dewey stopped eating them a long time ago. He wouldn't eat bugs anymore, he wanted all worms! So I gave the dubia that I had left to a local store. I still have all the supplies, will just need to pick up the dubias.

 

[JC0609]

Superworms are apparently very easy to breed, you just need time to set up initially and separate Beatles and worms you want to force to morph. Room temperature works for them too.