I totally messed up..cricket invasion!

[kittiekuddles]

I have been feeding my small whites tree frogs pin head crickets, 30 two times a week, they go through them very fast so yesterday i decided they were big enough now to handle large crickets, so i bought 30 large crickets not realizing i over bought
the frogs (four of them) ate about 7 crickets before they were full leaving me with a tank full of crickets..big crickets, chirping and grossly walking around my terrarium.
they even started canabalism and started eating each other, so now i have 5 half eaten murdered crickets laying around..did i mention im afraid of crickets? lol
the frogs are full, fat and sleeping
will my frogs eventually eat the rest of the crickets? or will they just accept them as buddies? can the crickets bite and kill the frogs?
their so gross i cant handle it....i didnt realize when i bought them that i bought too many
i put cat food in a dish for them so hopefully that will stop them from eating each other?

(tank is 220g 72" long x 24" wide x 31" high) now full of crickets

[Tony]

The crickets can bite the frogs, but I don't believe it is as common as some make it seem. Put some greens or a bit of fruit in there for the crickets to eat and they should leave the frogs alone until they are picked off.

[wesleybrouwer]

Must be a lovely concert at night

Can't you just catch the crickets if you don't want them to be in your viv with so many?
Maybe if you are afraid of crickets, you can use tweezers

With me, i always have some crickets around in the terrarium.
They can nibble on your plants tough,
best you can do is place in something not that foul smelling
It is sort of feeding you're frogs cat food now
I always leave in some fruits, especially strawberry seems to attract much buggers.
In my setups, there is always food roaming around for the frogs and i always put in some fruit.
Keeps them from dying and wanting to escape at the same time.

I guess when the frogs wake up they will love to have some more.

[wesleybrouwer]

sorry. now i see Tony beat me to the answer

I also think a healthy frog will just brush a biting cricket off by the way.
Altough i saw them go after other insects to eat them,
and even bit one of my anole offspring in its troat to kill him.
But that was an adult cricket vs. a baby just out of the egg.
The only time i ever experienced a cricket killing an animal, never lost anything else because of them.

*knock on wood*

[DonLisk]

I too leave thenm to fend for themselves... the crickets I mean. I do keep a bowl buried now in the substrate and the crickets fall in to be inhales by the whites at a later time.

Sometimes the singing crickets can get annoying if your viv is 2 feet from your pillow though :-)

[wesleybrouwer]

Well, makes me always think about the camping trips to France or so,
just add some lavender next to youre pillow and you are there

[kittiekuddles]

thanks for all the replies, i feel a bit better now
but heck no am i going near them! LOL im really really afraid of them, they creep me out so bad you dont know lol. i can tolerate the pin heads because they havent reached that gross phase yet, but not these big monsters
hubby had to put them in the terrarium for me, i couldnt even hold the bag
i dont have fruit in the house right now, and i wont be going to the grocery store until after xmas...but i do have green pepper in the house, would that work?
luckily the terrarium is down the basement so i dont have to hear their chirping..ew i even hate the sounds of them lol
omg how am i going to go in the tank to mist it with the sprayer? are they going to jump up at me?

[wesleybrouwer]

They will probably tro to eat you for trying to feed them a green pepper

No, they won't harm you

Anything will do, maybe cereals or something?
Altough, catfood they will eat as well.
Only thing is i think it is quit smelly.
The crickets won't mind, they eat almost everything if they wan't to.

I think everything will be fine
Otherwise, just look at hubby nicely to catch them for you

[Animalnstinct]

If you want to get the crickets out without touching them you could always use a cup and paint brush. Try just chasing them in with the end of the paint brush into the cup and dumping the cup into a bin or whatever you used to put the crickets in the terrarium in the first place.

I think this is the first time I've ever heard of someone being afraid of crickets who keeps a pet that eats them, lol. We'll good for you that your passion for your frogs helps you over come your fear of being able to at least have crickets in the house.

[kittiekuddles]

They will probably tro to eat you for trying to feed them a green pepper

No, they won't harm you

Anything will do, maybe cereals or something?
Altough, catfood they will eat as well.
Only thing is i think it is quit smelly.
The crickets won't mind, they eat almost everything if they wan't to.

I think everything will be fine
Otherwise, just look at hubby nicely to catch them for you

I have total cereal and cookie crisp lol
oh the cat food is kibble, not the canned stuff. they have been eating it, i see chew marks and the pieces are getting smaller...their just so gross! they are cleaning their ***** with their hind legs LOL
so being their eating the cat kibble (salmon based) does that mean they are now gut loaded and healthier for the frogs? because i tried dusting the pin heads with (rashi?) i forgot the name of it...but it quickly came off of the crickets once they started to explore

[kittiekuddles]

If you want to get the crickets out without touching them you could always use a cup and paint brush. Try just chasing them in with the end of the paint brush into the cup and dumping the cup into a bin or whatever you used to put the crickets in the terrarium in the first place.

I think this is the first time I've ever heard of someone being afraid of crickets who keeps a pet that eats them, lol. We'll good for you that your passion for your frogs helps you over come your fear of being able to at least have crickets in the house.

kitten with the frog hat..adorable!!!
if i go after them and one lands on my arm i will die lol
theres too many hidy spots too, its like a jungle in there
as long as they stay in their without hurting the frogs then i guess its ok...i just hope the frogs eat them quickly..but the frogs look very fat and dont seem to want to move now lol
i think the main thing that made me actually feel faint is when i saw them eating each other..this is going to give me nightmares for life lol

[gtr319]

I too leave mine in there, 20 at a time... but none of them give my WTF any problems... nor my pacman frogs...

[kittiekuddles]

I am happy to report the cricket numbers are dwindling
I think Jaba is happy too

[DonLisk]

Sure looks happy and comfortable. :-)