Feeder insect experiment

[chemgrl08]

Hi all. I wasn't sure which section to post this under, but feeding seemed most appropriate. i'm a cehmistry major at a University in Ohio, and I am doing an experiment this semester regarding the nutritional value of crickets. Particularly, I'm going to look at the phosphorous and calcium concentrations in crickets that have been fed different diets (for example, potatoes, commercial cricket food, etc.) I was wondering if anyone had an idea of how long it takes a cricket to incorporate their food into their exoskeleton and such. That is, does anyone know how often crickets shed their exoskeletons? Does anyone know how long it takes for them to.. ahem, clear their bowels? I'm planning on feeding the crickets their specified diet for one week prior to, well, killing them and finding out what's inside. I'm planning on using all Top Hat crickets, they are the easiest to find in my area. So if anyone has any idea on those questions, I'd certainly like to know your thoughts. Also, I'll be happy to post my findings on this site too. Beardeddragon.org has given me a lot of great info for my beardie, Yoshi. Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[patrickb]

This would definitely be some results I would like to see. Should make for some good reading at the very least. As far as the shed rate of crickets, I would have to estimate it is around once a week roughly up into about 6.5wks which is when they should stop growing, assuming they were kept at a steady 85-90 degrees. I never really paid that close of attention, so it is only an estimate. The first few instars seem to make an exception to this rule, with them shedding about 3-4 times within the first two weeks. Temperature will definitely affect this rate, so that will need to be a constant. Also the diet itself will likely have an effect on their growth rate as well, so don't be surprised if ones fed a different diet don't adhere to the same rates of shedding/growth as other batches. You will probably need to make a few baseline's to establish the actual rate of shedding before anything else I would think. Crickets do have a very high metabolism (as evidenced by the massive quantities of food they can consume and their short life span) so a 24-48 hour period should be enough to clear their guts. Your experiment would help to determine how much mineral content they have in their body overall, but it is usually low trace amounts overall. Afterall, their is a reason crickets and other feeders are gutloaded, and that's to have the nutrients of their food in thier stomachs and digestive tracts so the animals indirectly get those nutrients. Kind of like pills for your beardie's.

Check out this paper http://www.nagonline.net/Technical%20Papers/NAGFS00397Insects-JONIFEB24,2002MODIFIED.pdf It appears to have some good info in it to help you establish the parameters for your study, along with some results similar in nature of the ones you are seeking to attain. One thing to note in that paper of importance is the feeding of the crickets for 2-5 days before testing, and for no more than 7-8 days maximum. I'm guessing the 5 days feeding is to ensure the diet is fully incorporated into their system and exoskeleton, and the maximum length is to limit the deaths as it was noted that high calcium diets created higher mortality rates in crickets.

I hope that helps a little and good luck! I look forward to seeing the results one day. :wink:

 

[chemgrl08]

Ah yes, I found that paper in my search too. It is very useful. I only wish they had said specifically how they did the digestion. However, I did find an easy way to do it and prepared some of the samples in the lab Friday. i plan on doing two more tomorrow, than the rest of the samples in about a week.
The 5 days feeding is exactly what I was looking for. I'm currently feeding different groups with the following: crix with Flukers orange cubes, crix with potato, crix with Flukers blue cricket quencher, and superworms with potato. I've already prepared crickets straight from the pet store, superworms straight from the pet store, can of crickets, Flukers calcium powder (no bugs in it), and herpa-vite (reptile vitamins.) I'm also going to do juvie formula dry food, straight from the pet store crickets, crickets fed on yellow flukers cricket food, and perhaps baby food fed crickets. If I have time for more, I'll do waxworms, mealworms, and I'd really like to try hornwoms.
Thanks again for your input. I have a clear plan for the digestions and testing now. The rest is just a matter of actually doing it, I suppose. I'm excited!

 

[Zemanski]

sounds interesting

my vet has given me a strict diet for both my beardie and live food and said the all live food had to be on the diet for 3 days before feeding. I wouldn't know if that would mean the calcium would be present in the exoskeleton by then though.

she gave me a special food called zoo vet calci-paste for the live food which is mixed with water so the crickets have to eat it to get water