I hate crickets. Please help me.

[momof2boys]

Papi's only six months old so he's eating like thirty to fifty medium sized crix each day. I have a small keeper, am constantly refilling and they still die and stink up the room. I have grown to hate the little suckers and can't wait until he's older and I can feed him worms and veg. That's a long way off.

Please help me with this, I'm desperate.
1. How do I clean a keeper with living and dead crix in it? Where do the living ones go when not in the keeper?
2. If they're only going to be in my home for a week or less do I need to feed them things other than fruits or veg?
3. If they die, I get taking them out... But when they die they seem to break into cricket dust and bits. Ugh, so gross. What am I doing wrong?

 

[zebraflavencs]

You actually have several choices from the time of adoption. You can offer as a staple, roaches, at least 4 kinds of those, phoenix worms ( don't calcium those, they come packed naturally with their own.) and silk worms.
Hope this helps out !
Janie.
Check out http://www.beautifuldragons.com the Nutritional list, this will give you (in green) everything that is a staple, and (in black) treats.
Janie.

 

[momof2boys]

I have heard that feeding your dragon only worms and veg will be too fattening a diet and will stress their livers and shorten their life spans. Crickets, they say, are higher in protein compared to fat in comparison with worms... They said this is especially true for younger dragons who need more protein and less fats.

Have you heard this? I'd so much rather switch to worms! I have seen that feeding list, thanks!! It helps me a lot, I have it bookmarked, but I wasn't sure about the worms.

 

[Rachella]

Ick I remember when Dude had to eat so many crickets!

Luckily there was a pet store literally on the way home so we ended up just stopping every day to pick up the next day's food supply. Toss 'em in the bin, let 'em gorge themselves and the next morning Dude had yummy crickets.

You could try giving the crickets a bigger space to live in. Like a rubbermaid container or something, cut out part of the top and glue on a screen mesh to help with circulation, giving them more room could improve their health and lifespan when you have them. Throw some egg cartons in there. If you only have 'em about a week fruits and veggies are fine - though some people feed their crickets fish flakes, dog food, etc. I fed mine fish flakes and veggies when I had kept them in bulk.

As for cleaning it, someone suggested to me once a hand held vacuum cleaner with a hose attachment. They said the noise drives the crickets to the other side of the container while they vacuum up any mess. I haven't tried this but I'd say it's worth a shot. Just keep an eye out for any live crickets who decide not to move if it works. Other than that if the container is big enough I'd just move the egg cartons to one side, clean out half then move them to the other side and clean out the other half.

Sorry I can't be of much more help, but I hope this helps at least a little!

 

[Ruby2uesday]

i CAN'T STAND crix!!! i knew this before i got my beardie. So i opted to go the route of Roaches. i have Dubia and i also feed phoenix worms. i hate roaches too, but not as much as crix! LOL