Advice Needed: BLACK Crickets

[Pavel]

Not sure if mole crickets chirp when mature but all others I know of do.

I feed mine fish flake food to gut load them. It's been a easy no fuss solution.

Even with 2 large tanks, provide lots of separtate hiding spaces -- though this makes it more of a pain to catch them. (Male crickets are territorial and will kill other males.) Cardboard eggcartons are good for this

[froggsong]

Fish food really doesn't have the nutrients that a CWD needs by itself, though it is good to add into a mix. Crickets should be gut loaded with a good protein source as well, and fish food just doesn't have enough. They also need calcium and vitamins in their crickets (most herps do) so you should mix some supplements into the mix. The mix I use is doing VERY well for the crickets, They are staying much healthier over time than they have on other diets.

[Pavel]

I should have likely been more accurate with my post. In my case I'm feeding a leo. gecko (& I was looking at this as a more general post as to things to gutload with) and she's done just fine over the years. For extra calcium, I always dust them with calcium which has a bit of Reptivit mixed in.

[froggsong]

sorry, lol. I though the OP was asking specifically for the CWD, but I remembered incorrectly! I know that YankeeChops has a CWD, so I guess maybe I assumed! That was my mistake. Sorry about that! However, even with supplementation, you should feed the crickets at least some source of calcium, and anything that should be going into your herp. It's always best to feed crickets whatever you can that is good for your herp so that they will be as nutritious as possible, since they are basically an empty shell. The fish food is good to give them though, and it improves coloration. I'd be careful using it as a staple for your crickets if the brand you buy contains ethoxyquin though... That's bad stuff.

[Slowbra]

I fed my crickets bananas, i kno i turned about 8 loose in my CWD's viv about a week ago and yesterday i was cleaning it and i pulled the moss out and to my suprise a very healthy cricket was at the bottom.

[Pavel]

Originally Posted by froggsong

sorry, lol. I though the OP was asking specifically for the CWD, but I remembered incorrectly! I know that YankeeChops has a CWD, so I guess maybe I assumed! That was my mistake. Sorry about that!

no probs

Originally Posted by froggsong

However, even with supplementation, you should feed the crickets at least some source of calcium, and anything that should be going into your herp. It's always best to feed crickets whatever you can that is good for your herp so that they will be as nutritious as possible, since they are basically an empty shell.

I often dust them with calcium and she has a dish of calcium in her tank. Then, too, when I feed her mealworms, I drop them directly into the clacium dish so she always gets some at that time.

Originally Posted by froggsong

The fish food .... I'd be careful using it as a staple for your crickets if the brand you buy contains ethoxyquin though... That's bad stuff.

Interesting. I'll have to check on that. Btw, what makes the eth "bad stuff"?

[strange_screams]

if you research some of the chemicals in fish food and hermit crab food and the like, you will find that they use them as/in pesticides