Why do people still use crickets as a feeder?

[RowenJade]

I literally froze 1000 crickets after I found out te reason mine werent eating was because of parasites. Never used crickets again after. And besides my vet shook his head when I told him I feed crickets.

 

[Slave2Scarlett]

Yeah so I completely agree with this post.. (it's all a matter of opinion) I hate crickets.. They are disgusting, smelly, annoying, hard to keep their bin clean, they bite, they are a pain to catch, they hide and there's a risk for parasites.. The list goes on in my mind for crickets.. I think roaches are disgusting too..lol I prefer the reptis, micro/small supers and butters.. I mix it up for Scarlett so she doesn't get burned out on one worm and I don't burn money..lol

 

[Lisafosc]

Just making the transition myself, from crickets and meal worms to Locusts, Butterworm, calci worms and dubias! My shipment is in and i collect it 2mo!

 

[my3monkees]

We have only had our little guy a week. The crickets were only used for the first 3 days, while I was waiting for the reptiworms to come in! The remaining ones got tossed! I hate crickets!!

 

[diamc]

Moved here from General Discussion forum.

 

[quigleysmom]

Mine absolutely refuse to eat crickets. I have tried, but they prefer worms. I mostly feed butterworms and supers due to the fact that they will not eat anything else. I am going to try silkworms when the weather warms up a bit. I love the butterworms though. They are easy to care for the beardies eat them like crazy and they dont have as much fat a superworms do. I have tried turkish roaches, but mine won't eat them either. I may try dubia since they are suposed to be slower that the turkish.

 

[Rodeogal96]

My girl only seems to eat cricks.

I have tried mealworms and I know I know there are lots or reasons to not feed them as well, but not very interested in the worms either

I have only had for 3 weeks and this is what she was fed before I bought her, plus she doesn't seem to like to eat things that don't jump around.

She does have coccidia and pinworms and we are currently treating her, but my vet did not say anything was wrong with her diet. Maybe only because I only had for short amount of time. He did say based on my tank set up that I should be able to eliminate the parasites with the medication.

So I don't know...are cricks really that bad?????

 

[Slave2Scarlett]

I definitely wouldn't say they are bad.. But in my opinion there are other feeders out there that are more nutritious and less likely to cause parasites.. The reptiworms work really good and Scarlett also loves the Micro/Small supers from mulberry farms..

 

[Helios]

Accessibility. Crickets are a good source of nutrition relative to their cost, and they can be gotten anywhere. Anyone can make a strong argument for feeding reptiworms or roaches instead, but the fact of the matter is that not everyone wants to order specialty live feeders online, pay for shipping, and have to house a large number of bugs in order to make doing so worthwhile. Meanwhile, it is possible to pick up a bag of crix on the way home from work, gutload them, dust them, and have a perfectly happy beardie.

 

[RowenJade]

It's so expensive and time consuming to pick up crickets every day. Reptiworms are cheaper than crickets and easier to care for. You don't have to dust or gutload and it's better for your dragon. Nowadays everyone orders everything online and it's a simple quick easy way to do it.

 

[my3monkees]

Accessibility. Crickets are a good source of nutrition relative to their cost, and they can be gotten anywhere. Anyone can make a strong argument for feeding reptiworms or roaches instead, but the fact of the matter is that not everyone wants to order specialty live feeders online, pay for shipping, and have to house a large number of bugs in order to make doing so worthwhile. Meanwhile, it is possible to pick up a bag of crix on the way home from work, gutload them, dust them, and have a perfectly happy beardie.

Worms are much cheaper than buying crickets daily for me. I bought 300 reptiworms for $15 incl. shipping. It would cost me $30 to purchase 300 crickets locally, plus the gas of going out of my way to the store.
I just discovered micro-superworms and those are even cheaper. I plan on adding those in also.
With the easier, cleaner care of worms, for me they are both cheaper and more convenient. JMHO

 

[Grogshla]

i have been using crickets for nearly 6 years and never had a problem.
THe small and medium ones do not make any noise. Their shells are often softer than the large ones and i have never had a problem with them being smelly or messy. Never had them post a risk to my animals from biting and i feed 3-4 at a time then drop more in so i never have any left over in the tank. The Australian cricket suppliers might be more cleaner and carry less bacteria or whatever you all are saying. They ARE a great staple. I also recommend mixing up the foods a bit so i use crickets and woodies. I will not feed any mealworms or mini mealies. We don't have reptiworms here but i hear they are good. I would only use them as a treat once a week.
my 2 cents.

 

[newbeardie11]

Won't repti worms make your reptiles chubby if they just sit there and eat from their bowls instead of go out and catch their prey?

 

[ChinelleKitten]

In Canada I can't get many of the live feeders accross the US border and Dubia's are illegal to bring in..... other than what the pet stores carry it's hard to get enough food for my dragons at a decent price if i'm not getting crickets. 100 superworms at the pet store is $11 and 10 Butterworms is $5. My one dragon could eat that in a couple days. Many of the suppliers i've found can't actually get the feeders they say they carry and one of them went out of buisness within 6 months. ugh. i can't even get the pet stores to special order a Reptisun 10.0 in from their suppliers. I'm still waiting for some bulbs on order from the US. :S

 

[BeardieNewbie15]

I HATE crickets, but they are the cheapest, easiest to obtain feeder available where I live. If I had more money and more options/access to feeders and feeder websites then I would happily never have another cricket in my house. But such is not the case