I hate crickets!

[goReptiles]

So, I just thought I'd post this. I hate crickets. lol. The smell and they're loud.

I just ordered 3,000 adults and 1,000 3//8" crickets, and I'm hot and pooped, having had to rangle up all the escapees. I have up after a while. What sucks is I doubt the adukts will live long, as they're in a 66 quart tub, versus my usual cricket large tub, where my dubia are now living. I have them packed it, so that sucks. Plus, I have a feeling all my gutload is going to be gone in a week. They've already devoured half the tray in the tub, and it's only been 45 minutes or less. I mean yea, they've got water crystals and carrots, but they eat the grain first. Whatever... Crickets suck! I can handle small crickets, but adults ugh...

I mean in reality, I don't mind buy 500 adults and the geckos having them every other day for a week or so, but I don't know why I purchased 3,000. I purchased the quantity before, and my parents were pissed, as they stunk up the house, even though I cleaned them near daily. Now, with less room to move around in the tub, guess I'll be cleaning twice daily.

So anyway, who else hates crickets? And why?

 

[gothra]

I hate crickets too! I'm actually a little scared of them...When I had to use them, I get my husband to pull off all their back legs before I feed them to my geckos! They are evil, I can never get use to them; and so I moved on to breed my own dubia roaches. The roaches are sooooo much better off, I can touch these roaches with my bare fingers which I will never be able to do with a cricket.

 

[Halley]

You know I’ve herd crickets stink a lot of times. I have 5,000 adults in a 66-qt. They have been in there for over a week. They eat the food, but they don't devour it. Then I just use the same thing I do for the moist hides, for the cricket’s drinking water. I have never had them stink though, and they are in a large concentration, and the geckos seem to love them. I have had to clean the cage once, but not really any smell, and the other 4 people in the house have never said anything about them stinking either. I have heard bad things about them a lot, which kidda drove me away from them, but now with the mealworms shortage they are what a feed. And I actually think now, that I’ll always offer them to my geckos. So no, I actually really like crickets, I haven’t had a bad experience with them yet. Although they do like to escape a lot.

 

[nwheat]

Today I dropped my (thankfully smaller) container of crickets - about 100+ escaped and are playing hide & seek in the garage. I, too, hate crickets. :main_angry:

 

[dsreptiles]

That is why I use meal worms. Only my beardies eat crickets and my African Butterfly fish. Everything else is meal worms, super worms, and rodents

 

[marineman26]

I agree with Halley. I have also heard they have a smell to them and I am yet to have a smell at all. I keep mine in a 66 quart tub with the top and sides screened and they do really well. I will tell you though that I cannot handle them loud chirps as I am trying to sleep lol

 

[Halley]

I will tell you though that I cannot handle them loud chirps as I am trying to sleep lol

I guess I’ve always liked the chirpings, I find it relaxing. I guess that is weird, however I know some people find the sound of water relaxing, and I can’t stand that.

 

[moosassah]

Reason 1: ugh, that smell
Reason 2: they can hide
Reason 3:
"Mom!!!!! You have to come find that STUPID cricket!! It won't let me sleep!"
--direct quote, late night from Gabe, age 7
The outside chirpings are beautiful, relaxing even. But that "STUPID" cricket elluded me for 3 nights until he made the mistake of showing himself. Gabe's Jungle G3 got the pleasure of vanquishing the chirp.

 

[AllGeckos]

I use to hate crickets now I am so use to them I just crab them with my hand and what not and everyone says they smell? Mine let off a mild sent and only when they die I buy them at 1 or two local pet stores one a very well known store and the other a local reptile and fish store (they breed their own) But back to top mine only smell when they die and even then the smell is contained within their cricket keeper I usally purchase about 200 a week
Edit: The sound I hate but I have found buying younger ones 3 week and into 4 week old crickets dont chirp as much and last longer

 

[goReptiles]

I don't mind picking them up. I just hate cleaning them, especially when there's so many.

Halley how do you keep 5,000 alive in a 66 quart tub? I had about 200-500 deaths from 3,000 adults in a tub that's larger than a 66quart. It's a large cricket tub from armstrong crickets. Now, I have the 3,000 in the 66... I have the lid half screened and half original plastic, and holes drilled all the way around the sides. The smell hasn't gotten too bad yet, but when I went to refeed them today, I could smell them strong.

Oh and do they escape... MIA is running all over the house killing the strays and leaving the carcasses behind. lol. My dad had one crawling over his pillow last night; he opened my door and threw it at me.

Oh and they ate all the carrots and all the dry grain.

I know I put in a moist tub without a lid, and the females were all hanging out in it yesterday afternoon. Maybe I'll get a few baby crickets, which would definitely save on having to buy small crickets... My luck is that none of them will make it. Any tips on breeding crickets? I've tried before but was unsuccessful.

 

[AntMan612]

Oh my! 3,000 to 5,000 crickets? I thought the 500 I buy was a lot to handle. Sometimes their chirping is nice, but sometimes they produce this resonating squeal that can be described as nothing short of fingernails on a chalkboard.

I've never intentionally bred them, but I think since they come from a breeding colony, the adult females come ready to lay eggs in any substrate you provide.

As of now, crickets' only appeal is their low price and it's COOL to watch my leos stalk them down and chomp on - those stupid, noisy, stinky little crickets.

 

[shadowx362]

LOL! I don't exacly hate crickets because they are in the garage. Yes they stink sometimes but I find meal worms frustrating sometimes too because they always hide under the paper towels and paper that makes me like crickets more. I spend about 30 minuets or so every day picking up the meal worms that hide under the paper which I get really mad at:main_angry: . Most of my adults eat crickets any way and have never even liked or tasted a meal worm. I only feed meal worms to the 20ish babies because i figure everyone would prefer to buy a meal worm trained gecko than cricket trained. I feed my crickets chick started mixed with dog food and for moisture I use ORANGES which they love and devour really fast! Hope you don't stress out too much about the cricket and make sure to not let them breed because from experience I know the babies are light enough that somehow they are climbing out of the container and now I see baby crickets growing everywhere. I at least see 1 or 2 baby crickets in each baby gecko tub and about 20 in the meal worm tub feasting on the food and growing fat. My suggestion to catch those loose crickets is to buy sticky mouse traps and put food in the middle and I've cough a lot of loose ones that jump out during feeding time. CRICKETS AREN'T EVIL THEY ARE JUST ANNOYING :main_thumbsup:

 

[goReptiles]

Edgar, I know I prefer mealworm trained geckos, but I like to feed mealworms in a bowl and crickets, and since the mealworm shortage, I've been feeding more crickets than mealworms. I just got one new gecko in, and I need to get him used to mealworms, but I only have so many right now. I guess I'll be giving him some today with his crickets.

I can't wait till my dubia colony starts producing enough for me to begin to feed off. :-/ That's the only reason I purchased 3,000 larges and the 1,000 smalls. I know the smalls are quickly disappearing in the baby tubs. Looks like me buying the 1,000 twice in two weeks, isn't going to prevent me from buying more next week. :-( I know I had left overs from last week, and had hoped that buying more with the adults would prevent me from buying again so soon.. Nope. They're hungry little beasts I tell ya!

 

[Leonardo]

I hate crickets, and so do everyone in my house. They stink, they're loud, they're messy, they're stupid, they drown too easily in my gecko's waterbowl, and they escape way too easily.
My dad and brother said that, on seperate nights, they were up looking around for the crickets thinking they escaped when they found the tub they were in.
I put them in the guest room as soon as they started chirping. The chirping outside is fine, but when they're in your room, no, its not good at all. Its very annoying.
I had to order some when the pet store was out of mealies a few months ago, she finally ate the last two today! I was so happy to see them gone. My mealie colony is up and roaring and I'm glad to start feeding them to her.
I actually think she prefers them better, they're less work for her (and me.)

 

[Halley]

Halley how do you keep 5,000 alive in a 66 quart tub?

I just put my grinder up chicken feed in a crock dish, a bowl full of moist hide medium, for them to drink out of, and then egg flats, for them to hide in. I really don’t have too many die on me, and that is all I do. Probably 5% die, most of the cleaning is just all the shedding they do. Then I don’t have a top on the cage, I just let it air out. I don’t have too many escapes this way either, as the hides don’t go up to high. I’ll try and post a pic of what I have in the cage a little bit later.

My luck is that none of them will make it. Any tips on breeding crickets? I've tried before but was unsuccessful.

Yeah, I tried that once. Got 100 babies after I bought 2,000 adults, and 3 months later. I don’t think I did that right, I didn’t use heat though. If I was going to do it now. I would just switch out the water bowl (where they most likely lay) every week, and put that in a new tub, with heat, until they all hatched.

I spend about 30 minuets or so every day picking up the meal worms that hide under the paper which I get really mad at

Do you keep them in a bowl?

 

[Halley]

Okay here are some pics. The tub doesn’t have 5,000 in it anymore, as most off them have been eaten now. But here is what I put all my new crickets in.

Here it is from the side. As you can see the egg flats aren’t even that high, but it gives them enough for me, not to see too many of them. When I had all 5,000 in there most of them seemed to be able to fit, in just the bottom egg flat. They didn’t even want to be in the higher ones.

 

[Bling_my_leo]

I don't hate crickets. I don't mind them, their chirping puts me to sleep at night. They do hurt when they bite you.

 

[Bling_my_leo]

Halley, what's that stuff you keep in the yellow lid? Gut load?

 

[Bling_my_leo]

Oh, and what's kept in the blue lid?

 

[shadowx362]

yes, i keep the worms in a dish. i have tried all kinds of dishes but none of them keep the worms in successfully. I tries the ceramic dishes but they are too tall for the hatchlings. The dishes I found work OK for me are the lids of the strawberry jelly jars and for older the Peanut butter jars, but since I dont have many of those lids I don't use them too much.