Crickets Gross Me Out

[SudeepHArya]

Hello

I am relatively new to the forum and am getting my son a Leo this weekend hopefully at the Westchester show. I was wondering if there is an easy technique to feed crickets so it requires minimal handling on my part sine I am not a fan of BUGS in general.

I do not plan to raise them and I assume there must be an easy way to gut load and feed them to the Leo. Please advise. THANKS!!!!!

 

[houseb]

I'm totally with you on the 'crickets are ewww' thing. I do get them ocassionally, but I only get enough to last 2-3 feedings so I don't really have to handle them. I keep them in a large glass jar with a screened lid (I use the ring part of a mason jar with a piece of screen to fit the lid, pm me if you're in need of some screen). I usually have 2-3 small pieces of eggcrate in there for the crickets to crawl on. When I want them out I simply shake the jar upside down to empty out the gutload, flip the jar right-side-up and take off the lid, place a ziploc bag (or whatever you're going to dust them in) over the mouth of the jar, flip the jar and bag over and the crickets are inside the bag (I use the huge freezer bags cuz I don't want to touch the crickets). Then you can dust them and dump them in.
I personally recommend dubia roaches. WAY less smelly!!! I know some people can't get over the whole roach thing (I used to be one of them), but after reading what everyone had to say about them I decided to give them a shot, and I'm SOOOOO glad I did. They are way less "roachy" than any other roach I've ever seen. If you don't mind roly polys or sowbugs, they really just look like bigger versions of those (well except the adult male). They can't climb smooth surfaces, they don't fly, they're slow compared to crickets and other roaches, they don't bite, the list goes on and on. I'm not trying to sell you on roaches or anything (although it probably really seems that way), but just look into it as an option, you might be really happy you did.

wall of text crits you for 109283470187341

 

[Thorgecko707]

I just switched from crickets back to meal worms. It's way easier. Use tweezers to get them from jug to dish. No touching involved.

 

[Euphillia]

I dislike crickets too. I use supers and mealies because of it. I get crickets for the tarantulas, but I never have more than 20 on hand. They smell.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I hate crix also, and that's why I decided to sell my veiled chameleon. My gex love worms and I breed them.

 

[SudeepHArya]

I just switched from crickets back to meal worms. It's way easier. Use tweezers to get them from jug to dish. No touching involved.

Now the dumb question can can Leos live on Superworms and mealies alone or do they need anything else also can you gut load these things

 

[animeavatar]

You can feed them on superworms and mealies alone but it would be better to have a variety. You can gut load them.

 

[ieatfish]

My wife was fine with the crickets at first because they were the tiny ones (1/4-1/2"). Once she had to deal with full grown ones, however, she couldn't handle it either. They jump and are very random in speed and direction. We're trying to convert over to dubia roaches which still don't make her very happy but at least they have pretty much 1 speed setting and can't jump or climb. The littler ones look like flat pill bugs (rolly pollies) to me more than they do cockroaches. I hear the adult males look the most 'roach-like'.

As for feeding only on worms, I had read that it wasn't a good idea but I've seen a few people who do it around here. Some geckos won't even eat crickets or roaches so they don't really have choice.

 

[notacoshells]

I 'm going to the show this week end too. I plan on getting a Blue barred ambilobe from Screameleons. If you don't want to touch the crickets, then you can buy those long tweesers that they sell. You can also feed them meal worms or dubia roaches.