PLEASE ANSWER ~ Cricket Question.

[PumpkinJelly]

(You guys seem to know what you're talking about when it comes to crickets) I was just wondering if 500 small crickets could be kept in this container at PetSmart. I currently have the small size, which houses about 100 crickets comfortably, and I could even house a little more. The large cricket keeper is about three times size and much much bigger. Do you think the large size could hold 500 crickets? Here's the link: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753240 If you think it can then I will buy the large size container and order my first online feeder shipment. I've had much success with the small size cricket keeper, but I'm paying too much money buying crickets from my pet shop and decided to buy online. I can get a prepackaged box with 25-30 crickets for four dollars, or I can get loose crickets for $0.11 a piece at my local pet shop. It ends up costing me an arm and a leg just to buy crickets. Would this keeper work to house 500 crickets? Do you have any advice for me? Please help. Do you guys also know of a good online store for cheap crickets? It'll help me out a lot so I can feed my Beardies as much as they need. How long will 500 crickets last before they all start dying? Thanks!

 

[RexsMom]

I think the cricket keeper you have shown would be too small for 500 crickets. Your best bet would be to get a plastic storage tote, just make sure the plastic is totally smooth inside the bin (no texture) and they will not be able to get out. You will have cricket dieoff, that is just what crickets do If they get too cold or too hot they will die quickly. We usually keep them between 70-80 degrees. We also feed them romaine lettuce, they love it, we have found that they seem to last longer when we feed them lettuce. We also found that if you feed a dog/cat food that is really greasy the crickets will die, why, I don't know, but thought I would let you know what has worked for our store, we buy 3000 crickets at a time and we have finally gotten it so that we don't lose half of them within 3 days. We also put in cricket quencher with calcium, but they are getting most of their water they need in the lettuce.

Another thing I just remembered, you will want to put the egg crates the crickets come with in the tote, but don't lay them down, lean them against the sides angled so they can't jump out of the tote. If you put the egg crates flat against the bottom, we found that the crickets get into the part where an egg would go and they would stack up on top of each other and the ones on the bottom would die. When we leaned them again the side we eliminated that problem.

 

[midmichicer]

Feed them the same you would. Try looking online, much cheaper. You can get 1000 for around $30 shipped to your door.

 

[PumpkinJelly]

Darn, but thanks guys. It's too bad because my mom would never go for something like a huge storage bin full of jumpy crickets. She's comfortable with the cricket keepers since I made it so they cannot escape at all. I guess I'll have to keep getting ripped off at the pet store to buy crickets. lol

 

[MrWhite]

Darn, but thanks guys. It's too bad because my mom would never go for something like a huge storage bin full of jumpy crickets. She's comfortable with the cricket keepers since I made it so they cannot escape at all. I guess I'll have to keep getting ripped off at the pet store to buy crickets. lol

you could use something a bit smaller, I use a 50qt Sterilite bin with holes cut into the top.

 

[PumpkinJelly]

you could use something a bit smaller, I use a 50qt Sterilite bin with holes cut into the top.

Hmm, I'll have to put it into consideration. But anyways, I thought the big cricket keeper would house 500 tiny, tiny crickets just fine, but I was wrong, but It's okay. I'm a beginner so, lol. Thanks to all of you for helping me out!