if your feeding crickets to you leos, read this...

[rich904]

i saw this a little bit ago, thought i'd share

http://www.geckotime.com/jamaican-field-cricket-gryllus-assimili/

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Here are a couple of other threads on this topic:

http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=76633
http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=78194
http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=77858

 

[Wolvenspawn]

That is a great article and very informative one that Marcia put together from Golden Gate Geckos. That is one of the main reasons I only buy small/medium for my adult geckos right now. Even that is not 100% fool proof by it's better then going without crickets while I find the right ones. Thanks for posting it.

Not to mention I have my own B. Dubia colony going strong so I can phase crickets out completely.

Jamie

 

[katie_]

draw blood! yikes!!!

 

[rich904]

i only have to buy crickets for one picky gecko that will hardly ever eat a couple super worms but i always buy small/med crickets and so far no problems. i also buy from a pet store i have warned about this and they say they only get a. domestics, thank you for the extra resources

 

[brillobee]

I'm pretty sure I bought some of these in Canada this fall. They were very tiny and were all black, didn't even look like normal crickets. I quickly fed them off, and I always check the crickets now to make sure they are the good ol' ones.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I was told bill at American Cricket ranch that the G. assimilis (Jamaican Field Cricket) is less aggressive if fed produce instead of grain.

 

[animeavatar]

Can someone breed hybrids( Jamacian+Common House)? Also, I got bitten twice and no blood( I just screamed in surprise). There was a mealworm shortage? Why?

 

[WhiteStone30]

Thia is why Ima start feeding dubias

 

[ceduke]

We started recieving these at my workplace a few months ago with no prior notice from our cricket supplier. At first we were relieved, because our A. domesticus had been dying off in droves no matter what we did. Then we started getting responses back from our customers. People who are feeding these to their poultry LOVE them. Reptiles and amphibians - Not so much. One customer said that a big assimilus attacked her tarantula, who then went off food for months.

It took us several weeks to catch on and tell people to go down a size for their animals. We've also started carrying more worms, which are now selling much faster than the crickets. I'd be reluctant to feed these crickets of after so much frustrated customer feedback. I'm going to try switching our crickets at work to produce and see if that makes a difference. We've always fed them laying mash.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I was told (again from Bill @ American Cricket) that the hybrids are not working out. Since the A. domestica usually do not live past 4 weeks due to the virus, they were using female G. assimilis with male domestics. The females are so aggressive, they are killing and eating the males.

 

[animeavatar]

Can they do it the other was around? Female domestics and male jamaicans?

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Apparently the males mature sooner, and the A. domestica females are dying earlier than maturity due to the virus. The good news is, that several feeder companies feel that the virus seems to be diminishing in their colonies and domestic crickets are now living long enough to breed,