Has anyone used the Water Gel Crystals on Eb_y?

[tb144050]

Now that I am 2 months into this hobby, I have my rack set up, 8 mouths to feed (9 if you count 1 friend's Leo that is coming over for quarantined observation), and I have the tubs setup for my cricket colony...but no live egg hatches yet. It's only been 16 days since I first put in a soilbox (and only 10 days since I moved it to a "rearing tank").

Anyway, has anyone used the Water Gel Crystals on eB_y? The description says it is non-toxic and it can be used in soil and/or for watering crickets.

Its not a big investment ($4), but I don't want to poison the 1,000 crickets (or eggs) that I just ordered today. Please give me your experience using the eB_y crystals as a water source for live crickets and/or using it as a way to keep the soil moist (at room temp....longer incubation times, but less likely to dry out??).

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Water Gel Crystals for Crickets Garden | eBay

 

[jxl22]

I would assume that they're the exact same thing. But I would advise getting them off amazon instead.

IMO I trust amazon dealers over any eBay dude.

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[tb144050]

I would assume that they're the exact same thing. But I would advise getting them off amazon instead.

IMO I trust amazon dealers over any eBay dude.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

I can find them on there as well. Thanks for that advice. But what about the product? Can I trust it or is it bad news?

 

[jxl22]

I would trust it. As long as the seller has a good feedback and you know what your searching for.

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[tb144050]

Ok. I guess I will try it. I was trying to get feedback from people who have actually used the "instant-crystals" (any brand from any source).

Has anyone actually used the "do it youself" crystals for cricket water-gel or for cricket egg-soil moisture?

 

[acpart]

I get water crystals in 1lb packages from progeckos.com and use them for all my crickets (I go through 2000-3000 crickets every 2 weeks). I have had no problems with them. There was a thread on here recently about someone concerned that the crickets would ingest the material the water crystals were made of and then when the geckos eat the crickets, that material might expand in their gut. I have not seen this and can't really imagine that this could happen (but someone feel free to correct me if you know differently).

ALiza

 

[tb144050]

That would be a nasty situation, but also theoretically impossible. If the cricket is injesting the saturated material.....its already saturated....so no further expansion could occur. It it could, it would absorb all the liquid in the crickets' "stomach"(??) and the cricket woukd already be dead in the colony before feeding time.

But thats the kind of "unknown bad experience" i knew someone would be able to warn me about. Instead, since you use it so much, i will get some. Do you use it to keep soil moist too (for cricket eggs)? if so, do u have any instructions?

 

[jxl22]

There's no way in hell that its going to expand the stomach(or any organs) and kill a gecko. If it was possible for it to expand and kill it would kill the cricket before you could feed it.

I use the crystals for my roaches. No problems there.

I wouldn't use it to keep the soil moist. I don't think it would do anything tbh.

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[acpart]

In my opinion the best way to keep the soil moist is to use coco fiber and just wet it as needed. I frequently get crickets breeding unintentionally (well, maybe they intend it) in my geckos' coco fiber lay boxes.

Aliza

 

[tb144050]

In my opinion the best way to keep the soil moist is to use coco fiber and just wet it as needed. I frequently get crickets breeding unintentionally (well, maybe they intend it) in my geckos' coco fiber lay boxes.

Aliza

Thanks for the info!! I found some in the link below, unless it is the wrong stuff or a bad price? I need some anyway for my future breeders, so I may as well buy enough to run a cricket colony and still have some left for future layboxes. Please feel free to recommend if you know a better brand, product, or bulk value? I just went and bought 200 more large crickets and they are laying away in the normal soil. I think I am going to leave it at room temp for a full month because I am not getting ANY to hatch....I think they are drying out even though I spray the soil 3x/day or more.

Thanks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COCONUT-COI...l_Amendments&hash=item3f2f3ffde7#ht_640wt_892

 

[acpart]

As long as it doesn't contain any fertilizer it should be fine and the price looks decent, though I forgot to see how much. Compare that to the pet store price on 3 compressed bricks of coco fiber (you add a gallon or so of water and it makes a gallon of coco fiber which you can store in a large ziploc if you have extra).

Aliza