What do you recommend for cricket food?

[Guenhwyvar]

I was looking at Fluker's High Calcium Cricket Feed (Fluker's High Calcium Cricket Feed - Food - Reptile - PetSmart) because it says made in the US. It's $4 for either a 10.5oz or 13oz jar (petsmart couldn't make up their mind), so it isn't too much. I was wondering if anyone has another food or homemade feed idea? I breed my crickets and have another batch just for feeding. I have a pacman and a pacific chorus frog. PCF(Gwen) is older than pacman(Jr) but grows at a much slower rate. She refuses to eat dusted crickets, so I have to gutload them. Jr will eat anything he can get in his pudgy little mouth including my hand of late. Both are good eaters, but my crickets die fast and don't feel full when I catch them. I use my hands to catch one at a time. I was told cat food works well, that's easy to get since I have 2 cats; is it a good staple for them? Thanks, this is getting annoying to have to run to the store when my crickets just up and die randomly.

[Kurt]

I use carrots and potatos myself.

[GrifTheGreat]

I use the Fluker's Cricket Feed as well as Cricket Quencher (also by Fluker's). They usually gobble up the quencher first. Both are good products. I use them consecutively, as well as throwing in the occasional chunk of fresh fruit. The cost of using these products is low if you only have a couple of frogs. It does become an issue when you have a lot and are thus feeding many, many more crickets. I've heard of gut-loading them with every from oranges to sweet potatoes to cat food. Just keep in mind that whatever goes into the cricket goes into the frog. There isn't much research on the subject, mostly just trial and error by keepers. Try doing a search through some older threads; I know the topic has come up before. Also, you would likely get better results posting this in the Food, Feeder, etc section rather than the Pacman section.

Crickets will eat just about anything. I'd stick to more natural items like fruit. Stay away from things like say... candy bars. Crickets on a sugar high just sounds like a baaaaaaaaad idea! Lol!

[Guenhwyvar]

Thanks, that does sound scary. They already hit the top of the tank. A few have killed themselves doing that, stupid crickets. I use carrots for the breeders mostly, they just go really fast. I use a cotton ball in a bottle cap soaked in water for their drinking.
I was wanting to try earthworms as another staple food for Jr, but Gwen won't eat anything but crickets.

[GrifTheGreat]

Yeah, it is good to vary their diet. Some pacs are just pickier than others. Usually they'll like something once they actually try it. Grif would only eat crickets for the first few months of her life. I had tried several types of worms and she just wouldn't eat them. I had to trick her into it. I got some hornworms, which it turns out are like froggie-crack for Grif. She looooves them! So one night, I gave her two smaller horn worms in a row then I gave her an earthworm. She had it half way down before she realized it wasn't a hornworm. Once she tried them, she really liked them. Offer them to both your frogs. You never know!

[Guenhwyvar]

I used to have a worm farm in a huge steel washbin outside, but I had to get rid of it. The worms in it were hardy and thriving. I didn't have frogs then, so I didn't pay it any mind. I think Jr would eat a worm if I dropped it in front of him. He's getting super fat now. I can't believe he used to a cute tiny big-headed monster, now he's a handsome big-headed fat monster. Gwen is the one who is picky. She won't even eat a cricket if she's decided she doesn't want that one. She almost starved a couple times until I had babies the right size for her. She's a little princess.

[Poly]

I feed my crickets oranges. They are a source of liquid as they are food, and crickets seem to really like them... mine won't even eat carrots or potatos anymore... lol

[GrifTheGreat]

I used to have a worm farm in a huge steel washbin outside, but I had to get rid of it. The worms in it were hardy and thriving. I didn't have frogs then, so I didn't pay it any mind. I think Jr would eat a worm if I dropped it in front of him. He's getting super fat now. I can't believe he used to a cute tiny big-headed monster, now he's a handsome big-headed fat monster. Gwen is the one who is picky. She won't even eat a cricket if she's decided she doesn't want that one. She almost starved a couple times until I had babies the right size for her. She's a little princess.

Well, if you don't want get a whole worm farm when you aren't sure that they will eat the worms, then you could try just get one small container of them to try out. Put them in the refrigerator and they stay alive for months. It's hard having a picky eater. I have one of both as well: the picky eater and the garbage disposal. Lol!

They grow so fast! It is amazing to look back at pictures of when they were so tiny... Grif turns one next month. (!!!) When I got her she was barely the size of a half dollar and now she is four inches and barely fits in my hands. Loki is growing too. I don't think he'll be too long but he is definitely a chubber!

[flybyferns]

I was looking at Fluker's High Calcium Cricket Feed (Fluker's High Calcium Cricket Feed - Food - Reptile - PetSmart) because it says made in the US. It's $4 for either a 10.5oz or 13oz jar (petsmart couldn't make up their mind), so it isn't too much. I was wondering if anyone has another food or homemade feed idea? I breed my crickets and have another batch just for feeding. I have a pacman and a pacific chorus frog. PCF(Gwen) is older than pacman(Jr) but grows at a much slower rate. She refuses to eat dusted crickets, so I have to gutload them. Jr will eat anything he can get in his pudgy little mouth including my hand of late. Both are good eaters, but my crickets die fast and don't feel full when I catch them. I use my hands to catch one at a time. I was told cat food works well, that's easy to get since I have 2 cats; is it a good staple for them? Thanks, this is getting annoying to have to run to the store when my crickets just up and die randomly.

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know--I posted on this topic this am.

http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...cket-food.html

I used to use the Flukers , but it seemed I could never find a container that did not have a broken seal !
I was always concerned as to how fresh it was and what it was exposed to ?
I frequently found little lumps of mold and bug webbing ?

Lynn

[Pandora3d]

we used to feed them monkey chow biscuits when we owned pet stores(big biscuits we gave to the birds)....or fish food....of course i'm sure that was just to keep them alive, but not thriving or as quality feeders....i did see one of the larger crickets chow down on a meal worm i had in the tank before my toad got ahold of him a few minutes later, lol.....

[Guenhwyvar]

Wow, that's gross...I always check the cases of what I buy to use as food. What goes into my crickets will go into my frogs, so it has to be good.

[Guenhwyvar]

I feed my crickets oranges. They are a source of liquid as they are food, and crickets seem to really like them... mine won't even eat carrots or potatos anymore... lol

I honestly didn't think of oranges...that makes sense, thanks.

[frogluver]

When I feed my crickets, I feed them a bit of everything: carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, flax seed, rice, oats, honey, celery, apples, and Fluker's cricket quencher. However, I don't prepare all that for one sitting lol. I usually feed them carrots, lettuce, flax, oat, honey, and quencher. I refresh their food every 2-3 days. I grate the carrots to provide easy feeding. And when it comes to oats.....crickets are crazy over them!! It's so funny to watch them grab an oat and run of with it. Here is a picture of the platter I give them .

[Guenhwyvar]

thanks, that's helpful. i didn't think of oats or honey. I used to feed them lettuce, but I got too many dead crickets from it. It is funny to watch them run off with their food.

[Frog Mom]

I've noticed that about the oats too. It's funny to see them trying to hoard the oats.

I've been using the zilla gutload cricket and insect food and the naturezone water bites. And then I throw in some fruit or veggies once in awhile. Seems to be going okay. I have one picky PCF too, and that one I always have to dump crickets right in front of it whenever it's out in its favorite spot or it starts looking scrawny after awhile. My other PCF's are probably too chubby. It's hard to balance the food supply when you have one skinny frog and six fat ones. LOL!

[Guenhwyvar]

I've noticed that about the oats too. It's funny to see them trying to hoard the oats.

I've been using the zilla gutload cricket and insect food and the naturezone water bites. And then I throw in some fruit or veggies once in awhile. Seems to be going okay. I have one picky PCF too, and that one I always have to dump crickets right in front of it whenever it's out in its favorite spot or it starts looking scrawny after awhile. My other PCF's are probably too chubby. It's hard to balance the food supply when you have one skinny frog and six fat ones. LOL!

Yeah, my frogs don't live together, but Jr (my pac) does get the vast majority of the food. Gwen is looking really skinny right now. She's eaten maybe 5 pinheads today. It's hard to tell since she won't eat if I'm near the tank. I'm not sure exactly how she's supposed to look because my frogs are so different. I tried a tidbit of worm for her and put it right in front of her eye and it wriggled too. She refused to eat it...little brat. What do you feed them (the PCFs)?

[Frog Mom]

I just feed them crickets. Every once in awhile I feed them bugs that I've caught around the house outside. I don't know if that's a great idea or not, but I figure the frogs are wild caught, the bugs are wild caught from the area the frogs are from, so....

I just got finished feeding my picky PCF. I had to dump crickets in front of her three times before she ate one finally. Silly thing. The other fat frogs will eat up the rest, I'm sure. My skinny frog probably eats one decent sized cricket every two-three days. Sometimes I get her to eat a couple of small ones. It just depends on the size of crickets I can get my hands on. She definitely prefers the smaller ones.

[BigBlue83]

i was having problems with dying crickets so i started to use the thirst quencher and cut up carrots. it has improved significantly

[Guenhwyvar]

I just tried carrots and halved some grapes for them. They seemed to do really well with the grapes. I don't have all of them dying suddenly either.

[GrifTheGreat]

I just tried carrots and halved some grapes for them. They seemed to do really well with the grapes. I don't have all of them dying suddenly either.

I think they start to die if the food goes bad and they eat it. Like if the fruit ferments. I use the gel and high calcium grain mass food.