Think I'm going CRAZY!

[InfinitysDaughter]

I feed my Azy (Whites Dumpy) large crickets from petsmart nearly all of which often have wings and thus CHIRP constantly and if they dont have them when I get them, they grow the wings within a few days.

I was doing my best to find all the crickets with wings and toss them in with Azy but the last 2 batches either all had wings or developed wings shortly after purchase and, well, even a Dumpy dosn't need THAT much food. @.@

My frogs (and thus, everything for the daily care of them) are in my room so of course so are the crickets and I'm sure you can all imagine what 50-60 crickets chirping away ALL NIGHT LONG can sound like. Its really starting to affect me since I've been dealing with a severe stomach illness for about a week now. Its hard to sleep, nearly impossible without the aid of sleep medication, and during the day while I try to rest they still continue to chirp, LOUDLY.


Is there ANYTHING someone could suggest I do with them? I currently have them in a medium/large critter keeper which is vented at the top and clear on all sides. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

(except the suggestion to change to roaches. I know there more nutritious, cleaner, and quieter but there hard to get in my area, thus much more expensive; I couldn't stand to have roaches in my home *shudder*; and my parents threatened to toss me out on my bum if I brought roaches into our home. They have a big enough issues with the crickets that escape during feeding)

[edit] Also, pulling the wings off (surprisingly I have been told to do this) is not an option either. There being raised as frog food, I think they have enough problems. Pulling there wings off just sounds so cruel even if they are insects. D:

[BlueisallIneed]

I couldn't agree more with you. Crickets are gross little things but I couldnt hurt them. If you have a garage but them in there or even a closet. Good luck sweetie!

[mrzoggs]

try smaller crickets?? i get mediums and they dont make a peep. i have to get larges for my water dragon and i just want to throw them out the window when shes done eating lol. its hard to sleep. maybe keep your cricket keeper in the garage?

[UncleChester]

1) Change to earthworms if you can find a clean supply of them and your frog accepts them. They are chock full of nutrition and easy to digest. Also very quiet.
2) Is there any way you can chill the crickets down? The colder they are, the less they chirp. I don't mean refrigerator cold, but in the winter mine are at about 10C (50F) and they stay alive but don't spend much time chirping.
3) Be sure to feed the males first, let the females get wings if they like.
4) Earplugs?

[DC101]

Oh i feel so sorry for you. I can't get to sleep if there is the slightest noise! Once a fly kept me awake for about an hour and it was pitch black so i couldn't see it!!! Arg, i was so mad!

Anyway, i have a colony of wood roaches and they are very well behaved except the fact that they climb which is a pain if you are trying to bowl feed them to your frogs. Im still trying to find a way to keep them in the bowl. My last resort is to cut a few legs off but i really don't want to have to do that every day.

There is plenty of people who ship roaches in America and you are very lucky. In Aus, we are completely isolated from shipping to and from you guys and it sucks so bad! I wish i could get some dart frogs! If you do decide to chose roaches, go for dubias. Roaches are super easy to breed compared to crickets and eat anything. They hold calcium dust very well and like you said, very nutritious.

Anyways, hope everything works out for you! Good luck mate!

[InfinitysDaughter]

I like keeping everything for daily use in my room so its easy to just grab and dump. lol But I do have a window air conditioner in my room. Maybe I can put them over by it instead of by the tanks (where its obviously warmer). I cant get "medium" crickets because our petsmart has only 2 sizes in bulk and the ones that come in boxes are a lot more expensive and your really still only getting small/medium and medium/large but not medium on there own. The small are WAY too small for Azy (depending on the shipment there little more then pinheads).

I bought red wigglers for a Pac Man that I had for a short time and my parents FREAKED. I'm like, "there just worms, seriously. >.<" but ug. The pains of having serious school loans and minimal income (aka being forced to live at home with mom and dad D: )


I actually set the keeper right next to Azy's tank last night and they were a bit more quiet....and Azy was a bit more active... *evil grin*

Thanks guys! Your awesome!

[StickyFrogfeet]

I order mine off the internet from flukers which offers many different sizes i get them at the stage where they dont have wings and they offer different sizes and different insects.

[InfinitysDaughter]

The cold works! In the last hour there's been a handful of chirps, a FAR cry from the continuous chirping before. Thank you thank you thank you Brian! Your amazing!!!!!