Crickets are expensive

[Superior]

I have one juvenile leo, and im trying to find a way to get the most crickets with the least amount of money (duh...thats what everyone wants). Crickets at the two petstores near me are 9 cents each. My problem is, he eats about 10 or 12 small crickets a day. I earn 5$ a week for chores around the house, and every once and awhile, 10$ for babysitting. I go every week to buy crickets for that week, but I dont have enough money to get 70 or 80 (its 5.04$ for 64) and alot of my crickets have been dying recently (3 or 4 a day). Any ideas what to do about getting enough crickets?

 

[bohannbj]

Super walmarts sell them $1 for 50.

 

[Superior]

I dont think there are any super walmarts near me...

 

[LeoMartin]

there only 50 cents for small five at pets-mart.

 

[Superior]

Thats 10 cents a cricket

 

[bitterbeauty]

Get something else like mealworms or superworms (if your gecko is big enough) I feed my geckos one superworm a day because they are a whole meal by themselves cuz they are huge worms.

 

[shadowx362]

you try to save your money and buy them online. To keep them alive just add like fish food and carats and they should be fine. Make sure the air doesn't have too much moisture because crickets die off that way really fast. about 70F-80F is a good temperature to keep them happy. LOTS of ventilation is a must with crickets. Yeah I dont know what "normal" people who buy crickets from pet stores do with those outrages prices Mealworms are a really good alternative and usually cheaper. I would buy them online in bulk and just put them in the fridge till you need them, that way your not making a trip to the store every week. 1K is usually less than $10 and the more you buy the cheaper. I also heard one of the chain store pet stores sells 500 bulk meal worms for around $7

 

[Superior]

I guess I could...I always have mealworms ready incase my cricket supply runs out. Calcium and herptivite (jurrasical pure calcium, rep-cal calcium w/ d3 and rep-cal hertivite) doesnt stick to well to mealworms though. Putting calcium and herptivite in a bowl means switching out the powder in it each time so I will run out faster. I tried gutloading mealworms...all 3 died.

 

[Superior]

At my local petstore, 50 mealworms is 3.50$
I keep my crickets in a critter carrier(I guess thats enough ventilation), and our house usually stays around 74-75 degrees

 

[daveim]

fish stores sell them as fish food, notice not bait but fish food, for less than stores selling them as lizard food. One near me sells them at 5 cents each.

 

[project1]

I agree with the crickets being over priced! i buy 60 at a local pet store( pretty much all of em) and it costs me 16 bux but i buy them from flukerfarms.com and 1000 costs 32 bux and thats with shipping explain that lol .. i just started breeding my own good luck with you leo food problem tho man

 

[Superior]

I think I will have to switch to mealworms...at least until I earn more money, cause its fun to watch them hunt crickets. Any information on gutloading mealworms would be helpful.

 

[Superior]

16 dollars for 60 crix? That sucks...

 

[daveim]

why is it that the crickets sold as fish food cost less than the crickets sold as lizard food? The ones sold as fish food can be less than half the price of those sold as lizard food. Weird.

 

[nats]

why is it that the crickets sold as fish food cost less than the crickets sold as lizard food? The ones sold as fish food can be less than half the price of those sold as lizard food. Weird.

Maybe the bigger market is in reptile food!?

 

[thekooliest]

Maybe the bigger market is in reptile food!?

Ya there is a fishing store near me with mealies as bait for a third of the price as ********. I bet crickets are the same.

 

[project1]

yea iv heard that the fish shops that sell crix for fishing are cheaper but i keep forgeting to check that out. i just gut load my mealies with the fluker orange cubes .. they go nuts for that stuff makes em easier to catch too they all hudle around the cubes

 

[bronko]

every time i buy crickets from the pet store i get 8 dozen and i only pay $8 which i don't find expensive at all, meal worms is whats killing me $3.50-$4.50 for a 50 count container.

 

[LeapinLizards]

I remember reading somewhere that BAIT items like crickets and mealies are not good to feed our geckos...? I'll keep looking for the thread.

I know at my local mom and pop pet store I pay $20 for a cricket card that's good for 20 dozen...I just go in, tell them how many I want, then they scratch it off the card. Very handy, and IMO, not too expensive. If I had more babies, I would buy in bulk, but I only need a couple dozen at a time.

 

[hybrid]

Yeah my local pet store sells any size crickets $1.00 per dozen. its not too bad for me cause i go in and buy 5dozen and it lasts me a bit. But then again i breed my own mealies too.