Ordering Crickets in Bulk

[tignish99]

I am thinking about ordering crickets in bulk. Since he is about 10 inches, I am thinking I will order a 1000 1/4 inch crickets (or should I do 1/2 inch?), to give a bit of grow room before he eats them all. I have never kept this many crickets before. Can someone suggest the size and type of container and if the upkeep of that many crickets is very different from the 75 or so I usually buy.

Thank you

 

[Catalyst]

When I was using crickets I kept them in a big rubbermaid bin like this:

. Just make sure that the insides are completely smooth! The first bin I tried had a tiny bit of texture to it and the darned bugs climbed right up and out You can melt holes in the lid / around the top for ventilation or cut out a big chunk of the lid and glue in a piece of screening - need lots of airflow to keep everything dry (otherwise moisture builds up, bugs die and the whole thing reeks). Provide lots of egg crating so the crickets can hide from each other (they're cannibalistic) as well as veggies as a food & moisture source. You'll need to clean the bin out every so often (how often depends on what you feed your crickets, how big they are, etc.) and you can do that by either moving the crickets to a second bin or by moving them all to one side of the bin, wipe out the empty side, move everything back over and wipe out the other side. Hope this helps!

 

[tignish99]

Thank you for the great advice. How long do you think it will take a 10 inch beardie to eat all those crickets? Should I order 1/4 or 1/2 inch?

 

[Malibubare07]

my guy is 9 1/2 inches maybe 4 or 5 months old. With crickets I always get the 1/4inch size because they grow so fast. My beardie eats at LEAST 100 bugs a day. I try to limit him as he gets older now but easily if I put more in he would deffinitly eat all of them so for me 100 crickets a day 1000 would last me only one and a half weeks. Do the math of how many yours eats on average a day, then add an extra 100 in case he wants more some days, an extra 100 to last for the days your inbetween shipments and then an extra 100 that will just simpy die. Every day I swear 10 or more die no matter how clean I kept the tank. I kept ours in a 10 gallon fishtank with screen lid.

Personally I recomend ordering cockroaches in bulk...not crickets. Ever since we switched to cockroaches our guy LOVES them so much more, they do not eat eachother or bite the lizard and they are easier to hunt, they live 4 times as long, are kept the same way, are the sme price as crickets and actually are healthier.

 

[tignish99]

Thank you for the advice. 1/4 inch crickets it is. Unfortunately up here in Polar Bear country roaches are illegal. I wish that silkworms were not so expensive so I could afford to just buy those instead of as an occasional treat.

 

[BrendaKay]

Personally I recomend ordering cockroaches in bulk...not crickets. Ever since we switched to cockroaches our guy LOVES them so much more, they do not eat eachother or bite the lizard and they are easier to hunt, they live 4 times as long, are kept the same way, are the sme price as crickets and actually are healthier.

What kind of cockroaches? And where do you order them in bulk? I've been ordering 1,000 crickets at a time from Carolina Crickets but they don't sell roaches. I usually freeze 1/4 to 1/2 of the crickets for when i need someone to watch him, and he loves them too (thawed, not as a Cricksicle, haha). Sometimes i have to jiggle them for him to see them, but he gobbles them up.

 

[Malibubare07]

I live In Florida so I HAVE to buy discoid roaches, my supplier also carries the other types though too. Ian at the roach ranch or also Florida roaches are good. I hate hate hate crickets. They eat each other and other things like the beardie alive. The other nite I saw one in the tank, I usually just leave the roaches in over night because they do t bother anyone well this cricket was going around taking bites out of the roaches alive slowly eating them up! I got so sad and mad because the roaches are "so nice" I took that cricket out so fast. Makes me sick, ill also note the crickets will go up to the wax worms and bite their neck open and pull their spine out or whatever it is so that it paralyses them. Yes, I will always do cockroaches from now on

 

[Malibubare07]

I live In Florida so I HAVE to buy discoid roaches, my supplier also carries the other types though too. Ian at the roach ranch or also Florida roaches are good. I hate hate hate crickets. They eat each other and other things like the beardie alive. The other nite I saw one in the tank, I usually just leave the roaches in over night because they do t bother anyone well this cricket was going around taking bites out of the roaches alive slowly eating them up! I got so sad and mad because the roaches are "so nice" I took that cricket out so fast. Makes me sick, ill also note the crickets will go up to the wax worms and bite their neck open and pull their spine out or whatever it is so that it paralyses them. Yes, I will always do cockroaches from now on

 

[tignish99]

I had no idea crickets behaved this way. I am new to beardies so I have a lot to learn.

 

[Malibubare07]

If you have a baby beardie definitely don't leave the crickets in overnight. They bite the lizard, and because when they sleep they are passed out cold they sleep right through it often if enough crickets were in there they will eat the lizard alive and kill it : ( always feed in a separate tub with 5 crickets at a time or take the crickets out of his tank every night (don't put more than 10 or so In His tank at a time either because if there are too many it will scare the lizard or you can feed him roaches and from my experience the roaches are harmless and if small can just stay in tank overnight with no worrying. Also good to know that when a cricket dies it lets off a toxic fume to other crickets, if a crochet even walks by a dead cricket it kills that one too. Always check crickets daily and remove the dead ones. : )

 

[tignish99]

Yuck! I will definitely keep that in mind.

 

[BrendaKay]

I live In Florida so I HAVE to buy discoid roaches, my supplier also carries the other types though too. Ian at the roach ranch or also Florida roaches are good. I hate hate hate crickets. They eat each other and other things like the beardie alive. The other nite I saw one in the tank, I usually just leave the roaches in over night because they do t bother anyone well this cricket was going around taking bites out of the roaches alive slowly eating them up! I got so sad and mad because the roaches are "so nice" I took that cricket out so fast. Makes me sick, ill also note the crickets will go up to the wax worms and bite their neck open and pull their spine out or whatever it is so that it paralyses them. Yes, I will always do cockroaches from now on

EWWWWW! I had NO idea crickets did all that. Now I don't feel guilty at all for freezing the little suckers. I knew not to leave any in the tank, but my beardie is a little piggie that that's normally not a problem.

Thanks for the info!!

 

[Malibubare07]

What's bad us watching a cricket eat ... Another cricket...Alice. They eat each other sometimes I just find heads

 

[tignish99]

The crickets have been moved to a 10 gal aquarium with a mesh top. None have escaped so far. Although, I doubt my felines would allow that. This is the first time they have gotten a good look at the crickets because up to now the crickets have been in cricket keeper in a high corner. They have been staring at them for hours. It is TV for cats!

Should I let the crickets run on just glass on the bottom or give them a reptile carpet that I can remove and wash as needed? I put water gel and food on one side of the aquarium. Will the crickets be bright enough to find it or should I put some on both sides? How do you know when it is time to throw out the egg cartons and put in new ones?

Thank you

 

[newmommybeardie]

Thank you for the great advice. How long do you think it will take a 10 inch beardie to eat all those crickets? Should I order 1/4 or 1/2 inch?

Well im my opinion i would stick with the 1/4" Crickets. My Beardie is 10 1/2" long and i still feed her 1/4" Crickets as i tried 3/8" Crickets and she wouldnt eat them they hounded her and bit her so she refused to eat them and was scared of them aswell so im sticking to what i know works.