Cricket/viv problem! Help?

[SJM]

If I put the little crickets in his viv, they scramble away and he never finds them. They hide behind his things, under his things, and he just wont bother to spend time looking for them. When I clean his tank I'll find a dozen cricket corpses. I'm keeping them in his 10 Gal, so I thought maybe I'd put him in there and he'd gobble some up, but he's so frightened about being out of his tank that he just glass dances and begs me to take him out. I try to put them in a container and offer them to him, but he'll only eat a couple, then decides that it isn't worth eating them that way. If it comes down to it, I'll have to section off a part of his tank with nothing to hide under and see if he'll hunt them there, but I don't know what I use and it would be so much of a hassle.

Suggestions?

 

[Blitz_153]

hey, when I first got my beardie as a baby he was the same, idk how old your guy is but you could just take out the decor all the crickets hide under and leave the viv kinda simple for a bit. That way they have no where really to hide and your beardie will see them and it should get him feel more comfortable. Try it for a week and see what happens once you see he's normal again place back the decor you had in it. I tried feeding mine too out of the viv but same thing, would only eat a few n then not want to eat the rest. Now as soon as he hears me slide the top he looks straight at my hand b/c he know what is coming.... FOOD!!! LOL :mrgreen:

 

[spurlee01]

I take the biggest log out of my viv when I feed and my boyfriend takes out a lot of his furniture so the crickets don't have a place to hide, but we replace furniture right after feedings.
Sara

 

[Wavedancer]

I had the same problem when I first got Merlin so I took most of his decorations out but now three weeks later, the mighty hunter in him has emerged. Also he's learned an interesting trick. I put his crickets into a plastic sandwich bag to shake them up with his calcium and vitamins. One day, I showed him the bag just before I dumped the crickets into the viv and just then a cricket came up out of the top of the bag, Merlin reached over and grabbed it. Now every morning and afternoon he eats his fill of crickets as they emerged from the baggie that I hold right in front of him. No muss, no fuss and no more chasing crickets around at night. Life is good.

 

[SJM]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I'll see if he'll hunt out of a zip lock bag and if that doesn't work I'll probably remove everything except his simplest decor (which can't be used for hiding really) until he's ready for bigger prey that can't hide as easily as pinhead crickets. :mrgreen:

 

[Keenan]

It was the exact same with my girl to. Id put crix in and she wouldn't even touch them unless they came to her but the majority of them would go hide in places she couldnt get them. So i did some remodeling of her cage and took out all the things they were hiding in and made her setup a lot more simple with a tad more open space and she semms to like it more. Also now when i dump crickets in she goes crazy just absolutely runnind to death untill she has eaten every single one, and with no place for them to hide i can just dump them in and she takes care of the rest. No more hand feeding or getting them out of there hiding spots its all just nice and simple, for both of us lol. :lol:

 

[AprilMayJune]

When we fed Sly his crickets we tought him the baggie feeding trick and he loved it. The baggie feeding is the bomb!! No more chasing crickets at night!!

Is it still considered hand feeding if they eat from a bag? Or tweezers?

Try breeding roaches. Much easier. Cleaner and no stink!

 

[adamcollier11]

I have my viv pretty decorated My beardie gets a little intimidated with a lot of crix I just throw one in front of her and she eats it and keep doing that for about 20 mins. Sucks but atleast crix arent getting loose in her viv...

 

[TheRedDragonAkaRed]

I pull the legs of and put them in a shallow container.

 

[Wavedancer]

You could also try feeding him something that can't hide as well... like phoenix worms. Mine's really hooked on them now and they are so easy to feed.

 

[crickest]

Spark hates being fed outside of his viv, so I use a square glass pyrex dish that's about two inches deep. I dump the crickets in there and the glass is slick enough that the crickets can't climb out. When Spark was smaller I would lift him in and out of the dish. Now, he knows how to hop into and out of the dish. A few crickets escape the dish by climbing his tail, but he doesn't seem to mind, since he can hunt them down later. I give him silkies and crickets, plus a pile of veggies, every morning and Spark gets to choose what he eats first. Sometimes its the crickets, some times its the worms. By the end of the day, he's eaten everything, including all of his veggies, and is ready for a little more.

 

[BeardieBaby69]

You could also try feeding him something that can't hide as well... like phoenix worms. Mine's really hooked on them now and they are so easy to feed.

Thats exactly what I done. Changed to Phoenix Worms. They cant get away and she loves them! She is just 8 weeks old and she would hunt down the pinheads either, I had to give her one at a time, and she lost interest waiting on me to get a hold of the lil hoppers! LOL !

Phoenix Worms are better for them any way. Low in fat and high in protien and calcium. I will never use crickets again!

 

[SJM]

Thank you everyone! I'm going to talk to Mom about ordering Phoenix worms and Silkies and take up those suggestions about crickets.

 

[crickest]

Just FYI, you can order about 1000 phoenix worms for the same price as 200 silkies (plus food) once you count the food and shipping for the silkies. I'm using up what's left of the silk worms and then switching to phoenix worms. Will probably still feed some crickets, since Spark likes chasing them - if we can ever grow them big enough to feed. :lol:

 

[SJM]

Just FYI, you can order about 1000 phoenix worms for the same price as 200 silkies (plus food) once you count the food and shipping for the silkies. I'm using up what's left of the silk worms and then switching to phoenix worms. Will probably still feed some crickets, since Spark likes chasing them - if we can ever grow them big enough to feed. :lol:

I wish I could give him Phoenixes but I'm looking to feed a worm as a staple, and the high Calcium content in Phoenix worms can be dangerous if fed too often. I feel safer ordering the more expensive silkies for the big part of his diet that I'm trying to fill. n____n