cricket food

[JeffreH]

It could almost be used for gut loading. However there are a few important missing ingredients found in a "premium gut load":
ie speck of bee pollen, sea kelp powder, alfalfa and spirulina, brewers yeast and assorted dried powered fruits (pineapple, strawberry)

Dried-powdered fruits are hard to find and the amount of the other ingredients are better left to the professionals.

check it out :

Insectivores : Purrs and Waggs Healthy Pets

It's great stuff !! Worth the $$

Lynn

+1 on gutload ingrediants - I also raise my producing colonies on farily bland dry feed (bulk chick starter, fish feed, dog food, etc) but set aside small feeder colonies to be gutloaded on a premium blend several days prior to feeding. The "superfoods" such as bee pollen and spirulina algae are absolutely brilliant and packed full of goodies. The gutloaded feeders also receive more choice greens and salad items as a moisture source. Very good thread

Becky - you may be interested in puchasing dry water crystals, the price difference is remarkable. You can buy dry crystals to make 1 gallon of the that exact same gel for $1 (or less), and it keeps forever. Just add the appropriate amount of water and let it sit overnight, infinite moisture supply! = )

I've never been a fan of Fluker's, though our website is currently down with the articles regarding the serious flaws in the business; they are most certainly not in it for the well-being of the animals. Keep an eye out for the Articles titled "Fluker Farms: What Next?" and "Technology Innovator of the year: Fluker Farms?" written by Cheri Smith at the ReptileRooms to get back online again.

[heyjude2200]

Jeff, Where can I buy the dry crystals to make the gel for my crickets? Also I thought that the gel, which I purchased from Flukers, like the pic that Becky posted above, was just to meet the fluid needs of the crickets. I have also been giving them dry cricket food that I bought online, is that unnecessary?

I purchase my crickets--I buy 250 at a time-- & keep using them for my frogs for 3-4 weeks, and they do fine in the cricket keeper. The last time I bought them there were little black worms in with them...what are they? Are the crickets contaminated? Also, has anyone tried buying live crickets in the little tubes?

Thanks, Jude

[S13]

Awesome! I'm a frog keeping noob so I just recently made the mistake of keeping my crickets in the container and not giving them food so yeah, needless to say I lost like half my supply I know for next time though!

[JeffreH]

Hey Jude,

You're absolutely right in that you need both a moisture source and a dry feed source. Acceptable moisture sources that can double up in gutloading benefits include salad items like darky leafy greens, veggies, and various fruits. Be cautious using items that are extremely damp or that won't be eaten within 24-36 hours as mold can begin to flourish. Dry feed/gutload items were discussed pretty thoroughly in this thread by Lynn. I'm sure whatever you are buying online is a perfectly fine gutload, just read the ingrediant list and look for quality ingrediants and little to no BS additives. I personally use ground mixes of non-medicated chick starter, quality dog and cat kibble, fish food, and a few additional addititves for select feeders like spirulina algae and bee pollen.

As for the water crystals - I prefer them for roaches because their moisture demands are actually quite high (particularly for wing biting and cannibalistic species). They're a nice items to have on hand because they are extremely cheap and make for a nice constant hydration supply to feeders to be used at all times. They do a pretty good job at resisting mold, but when dealing with crickets who tend to be a little "filthier" you will want to replace moisture sources every couple of days to prevent bacterial manifestation. These are also fine to feed mealworms and zophobas if you can avoid direct substrate content.

You can get water crystals from a number of suppliers, a couple off the top of my head are Aaron Pauling and Greg's Exotic Inverts:
Aaron Pauling.com
Greg's Exotic Inverts Home - Greg's Exotic Inverts <-- Lower Price

Most roach suppliers sell water crystals, and they are becoming a more popular item at shows and by private sellers on classifieds or other feeder sites. Hard to beat a buck (or less) per gallon of gel! Effortless to make, just add water and let them sit for a few hours! Hope this helps some = )