Food For Thought: Rep Cal overcharging

[Greenlove]

I will clarify why I was inquiring about using the oyster shells from the feed store. I am raising crickets. The cricket recipe that I use calls for powdered milk (to boost the calcium) but I chose to use Rep Cal calcium supplement because I had a surplus of it from a friend. My crickets eat A LOT! Which, in turn, makes me go through a lot of calcium supplement. Either way, milk or calcium supplement, can get expensive. I know that most people would not go through enough to make it worth their time and effort, but for those of us who are raising feeders and add it to their feeder chow I thought it might help with cost. Thanks to everyone who replies to this post.

[SethD]

I will clarify why I was inquiring about using the oyster shells from the feed store. I am raising crickets. The cricket recipe that I use calls for powdered milk (to boost the calcium) but I chose to use Rep Cal calcium supplement because I had a surplus of it from a friend. My crickets eat A LOT! Which, in turn, makes me go through a lot of calcium supplement. Either way, milk or calcium supplement, can get expensive. I know that most people would not go through enough to make it worth their time and effort, but for those of us who are raising feeders and add it to their feeder chow I thought it might help with cost. Thanks to everyone who replies to this post.

Are you talking about gut loading right before feeding them out? If your talking about feeding them lots of calcium as part of their standard diet it will not improve them nutritionally and tends to be unhealthy. To much calcium in the diet of crickets tends to kill a lot of them while giving no positive benefit.

[Greenlove]

Are you talking about gut loading right before feeding them out? If your talking about feeding them lots of calcium as part of their standard diet it will not improve them nutritionally and tends to be unhealthy. To much calcium in the diet of crickets tends to kill a lot of them while giving no positive benefit.

I do not "gut load" my crickets prior to feeding them to my frogs because they have food available to them all day, every day. My cricket diet is as follows: Half a blender of ground up cat chow, 10% calcium supplement (Rep Cal), 1% Herptivite. This recipe and measurements are from the Culturing Crickets article. They have this available to them all the time. Then, every other day I give them a huge handful of leafy greens (usually romaine because they like it the best), and at least four of the following: carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, tomato, red grapes, apple and cantaloupe. I have read that it was good for crickets to have the extra calcium because they are naturally high in phosphorus and that too much phosphorus is bad for your amphibians, (something about a ratio of 1:1 Calcium to phosphorus?). What are your thoughts on that?

[Paul Rust]

Essentially what you are doing is gut-loading because the crickets are being fed a constant diet of nutritional food. The mix that you use to feed the crickets is very good for them and your frogs and I don't lose many crickets at all with it, in fact the only crickets that I lose regularly are the adult breeders that reach the end of their life-cycle.

[Greenlove]

Essentially what you are doing is gut-loading because the crickets are being fed a constant diet of nutritional food. The mix that you use to feed the crickets is very good for them and your frogs and I don't lose many crickets at all with it, in fact the only crickets that I lose regularly are the adult breeders that reach the end of their life-cycle.

Thank you for the gut loading info Paul. I didn't realize that "gut loading" was also known as their everyday diet . I have only been using your mix for a few weeks but it seems to be working just fine. I can tell you this, I put it in their container beside the commercial diet I was trying to use up and they literally ran over to your mix. I think they are actually eating more, now that I have stopped using the store bought stuff. I have only lost a few crickets since I started raising them almost two months ago. So far so good!

[Paul Rust]

Thank you for the gut loading info Paul. I didn't realize that "gut loading" was also known as their everyday diet . I have only been using your mix for a few weeks but it seems to be working just fine. I can tell you this, I put it in their container beside the commercial diet I was trying to use up and they literally ran over to your mix. I think they are actually eating more, now that I have stopped using the store bought stuff. I have only lost a few crickets since I started raising them almost two months ago. So far so good!

This is great to hear, thank you for the feedback on that.

[SethD]

I do not "gut load" my crickets prior to feeding them to my frogs because they have food available to them all day, every day. My cricket diet is as follows: Half a blender of ground up cat chow, 10% calcium supplement (Rep Cal), 1% Herptivite. This recipe and measurements are from the Culturing Crickets article. They have this available to them all the time. Then, every other day I give them a huge handful of leafy greens (usually romaine because they like it the best), and at least four of the following: carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, tomato, red grapes, apple and cantaloupe. I have read that it was good for crickets to have the extra calcium because they are naturally high in phosphorus and that too much phosphorus is bad for your amphibians, (something about a ratio of 1:1 Calcium to phosphorus?). What are your thoughts on that?

If that diet doesn't cause you any issues than well and good. If on the other hand you start seeing a lot of unexplained deaths or see crickets having trouble molting you might want to reduce the calcium content. While extra calcium tends to be good for reptiles or frogs it tends to be not so good for insects and often causes molting or sudden death issues. That is why a lot of people prefer not to feed their crickets or roaches extra calcium unless gut loading shortly before feeding them out. If they live and grow fine for you on that diet though then fine, there is no right or wrong way to do it if your getting the results your looking for.