Ghann's Cricket farm

[Kurt]

On the plus side there are few pick up options where your headed.

[John]

Arrived today 3 pm, instead of 10:30 am yesterday. Due to the heat the majority were Dead On Arrival - the remainder were rather big from eating their brethren - they're a little bigger than I need now (I ordered 3/8" and got mostly 1/2", I assume because of eating each other and the heat). Have emailed Ghann's.

[SludgeMunkey]

Ugh.


This is horrible to hear. I have just placed my order for the month for Monday delivery. I have 2500 1/8th, 1000 1/4, and 500 adults on the way.

I will let you know how I make out.

[John]

Tammy has said she'll send a fresh order on Monday so hopefully things will be alright (though I needed the crickets a few days ago...).

[adawinters]

I have to admit that I'm curious: with the amount you guys need, why don't you breed crickets yourselves? (Although, I guess the answer's in the question, since I imagine it would be a pain to breed that many for a regular monthly supply.)

[John]

2000 very small crickets is really not many crickets. My 8 toadlets eat most of those in less than a week.

[SludgeMunkey]

I have to admit that I'm curious: with the amount you guys need, why don't you breed crickets yourselves? (Although, I guess the answer's in the question, since I imagine it would be a pain to breed that many for a regular monthly supply.)

I hate farming crickets. It is noisy. It stinks. It is expensive to do and requires time, effort and space I would rather use for my critters and my vivaria projects.

Second only to the smell, the worst part of cricket farming in my opinion, is sorting them out by size when you need pin heads and 1/8th inch in vast quantities.

At my current "inventory" of pets, I go through about 4500 tiny crickets, well over 5000 fruit flies, and easily 1500 medium to adult size crickets a month. This is in addition to supplementing my wild caught stock with wild caught foods as suggested by Mr. Indiviglio.

Currently, I am in an "overfeeding" phase with many of my juveniles, in order to increase their size. I will not be able to mail order live foods for a good portion of the winter and live food purchase options are limited and overpriced here. I am farming stink and noise free lobster roaches, however my cultures are young. Once they become better developed, they will be able to provide larger amounts of feeders of numerous sizes to get me through the winter.

Ghann's has been a godsend for quite a while for me, saving me well over 100 dollars a month in critter food bills.

[John]

They have now sent the "re" order but once again have sent it for 3pm rather than 10:30 am. It's supposed to be 100F here tomorrow. I am giving serious consideration to never ordering from Ghann's Cricket Farm again.

[adawinters]

the worst part of cricket farming in my opinion, is sorting them out by size when you need pin heads and 1/8th inch in vast quantities.

I've found that misc. sifters can help sort by size. You can improvise a basic one (or multiples) by gluing appropriate sized mesh to a butter/margerine/creamcheese/whatever container after you cut the bottom out. If you want the smaller ones, you just sift a bunch into a separate bowl and dump the big ones back in the bin. (I'm always sifting for the larger ones, so the small ones have time to grow.)

The smell is horrid, but I've just worked a tank-clean into my weekly maintenance. The chirping... annoys me some nights more than others. Frankly, I don't really breed mine fast enough to keep up; it just supplements my purchase, and cuts my cricket cost in half. Added bonus of doing it this way: tI do, eventually, run outof crickets, which gives me an opportunity to scrub the heck out of their stinky cage with a vinegar solution. Now that my "local" reptile store moved a bit farther away, I might be re-visiting Ghanns, myself.