Other Turtle Discussion :: Keeping Crickets?

[therizman1]

So I read a lot online about crickets, and what you all need to do to keep them, and it seems like a big hassle for some little insects that are just going to be food.

Does anyone keep them or feed them to gut load them. If so, what kind of setup do you have for keeping them? Just curious as to what will work without spending a ton of money on them.

[jenaero]

I almost did that. The critter keeper, food and other stuff was going to run me about $15 My res don't eat enough crickets to justify spending that much. Not to mention the creepy cricket sounds they make. Ick. I kept them once, when I had firebelly toads because they ate them every day but I didn't close the lid properly once, and I had 50+ crickets running around my living room. Took me an hour to catch them all. Never again.

I buy Fluker's Freeze Dried Crickets. They're gutloaded with calcium. I paid $14 for the 1.4oz jar, but since I only give them 2 each every week (sometimes less) it's lasted me about 2 months already, and it's still more than half full. Definetly the cheaper, easier, cleaner, less icky way to go.

[Oldturtle72]

I buy my crickets from www.wormman.com at about $14 per 250. They sell different sized, from pinheads to large. I use a opaque Rubbermaid tote with a Red lid. The size is 24" long by 17" wide by 17" deep aand the lid locks down. I cut 6" square holes in each end of the tote and covered the opening with metal screen and used duct tape around the edges to hold it in place. You haved to use metal screen because if you use plastic screen, the crickets will eat holes in it and escape ( try capturing 200+ crickets that got loose in the house. We were serenaded for many nights). I buy the Fluckers Cricket Food in the jars and use a plastic 1lb. coffee can lid as a food holder. I use another lid to hold the water jelly that you make out of crystals. If you use a dish with just water in it, your crickets will drown. A 1/4 tsp. of crystals dropped into 2 cups of very warm water will give you about 2 and 1/2 cups of water jelly chunks. I place both of these lids on the tote bottom and the only other items in the cage are 2 grey paper egg carton bottom halves leaning up against a side for a 'cricket motel'. That's it. You can adapt a smaller tote if you want but I'm feeding 7 large turtles so that's my size. I do, occasionally, buy crickets from my local Petco for 8 cents apiece. I have a Petco card , otherwise they would cost 10 cents apiece and when you buy 5 or 6 dozen at a crack, you will save a little bit. George

[marisa]

When you asked this question in your 5/21 post "Cricket questions...," I explained to you what I do to keep crickets. I don't keep them that long, though, and I don't buy that many at one time (about 1-2 dozen).

[GouzlanTheAmerican]

I havent ever kept any sorts of crikets in the house, but my sister used to keep them in here room for her tarantula. I'll tell you this, You will never appreciate sleep as mutch as you did before you had the crikets. I say go with the freze dried. Cheaper and easyer

Wat kind of crikets should i get for a baby res? wat are the smallest ones?

[marisa]

Live ones? Baby RES=small crickets (they seem to have a higher mortality rate, though, so I wouldn't get too many at one time.

[GouzlanTheAmerican]

I meant dead canned ones. Like gutloaded ones. Wat are some names of smaller types of crikets that i can buy in a can?

[marisa]

Aside from the freeze-dried ones, there's also something called Can 'O Crickets that you can buy as regular size or mini-size crickets. I have used the mini-size ones--they're not gut loaded, nor do they appear to have that much nutrition (but for some reason they also have much less protein than the Flukers ones, for example do). I used to mix them with a powdered calcium supplement and handfeed them to my turtle (gross). Once opened, the can has to be refrigerated.

[Oldturtle72]

Gouz, there are crickets, worms, snails, grasshoppers, whatever you would like, that are cooked in a can, usually produced by a manufacturer named ZooMed and can be purchased at most petstores. Crickets are called crickets whether they are tiny pinheads or large adult sized. They don't go by any other name unless you prefer the Latin which is, for the house cricket, GRYLLIDAE. By cooking the insects in the can, all the flavor and vitamins are left in and the bodies are softer than if they were freeze dried. Order a can from www.wormman.com and they will throw in 100 free mealworms. Can't beat that, can ya? George

[GouzlanTheAmerican]

My friend had those can O crikets, and they smelled SO BAD! But he didnt have them in the refrigerater so i guess thats why. he's not the kind of guy who likes to read directions. lol I'll check www.petsmart.com and see wat i can find.

I know i can buy live crikets at the petstore for like 5 cents each. But i just hate the noises they make!

[GouzlanTheAmerican]

yeah petsmart has a ton of different kinds of turtle food. Crikets,pillers,snails,mealworms. But they didnt show the nutritional values online so i'll go to petsmart sometime this week and check it out.

[marisa]

Yes, they do smell, but what stinks to you may be like perfume to your turtle (they like smelly foods). And they don't smell as bad as the Can 'O Worms (the mealworms) but REALLY will turn your stomach if you don't refrigerate them. You should be able to find them at Petsmart for about $4.99--get the minis if you buy them--the regular size is too big for a hatchling and you'll wind up having to break them up ; some of the bigger pieces are really hard and your turtle probably won't eat them without difficulty, if at all. The mini ones are tender; like I said, I used to mix them with a calcium supplement because if you look at the nutritional value on the can, there doesn't look like there's much there.

[jenaero]

Just wanted to mention that after you open them, they'll only keep in the fridge for a week before they're no longer ok to feed.

[marisa]

I've actually fed them quite a bit longer than that with no ill effects on my turtle. I've also heard of people freezing half the container so they could be used even longer.

[lydia_lady_fla]

oops I love the sound of crickets