Cricket pets.

Jace · September 18th, 2009

I have been ordering in 500 2 week old crickets for my Fire-bellied toads and Leo Geckos. The crickets come in a small cardboard box with egg carton filler. The last couple of boxes have revealed a worm like larvae in with the crickets. They are about the size of 2-3 week old crickets, black in colour, topedo shaped, with a bunch of legs and bristles along the sides. Does anyone know what they are? Are they safe to feed to my animals? Right now I am squishing them-they are very crunchy sounding!!

**John** · September 18th, 2009

Yes they are safe to feed. They are a grub of a carpet beetle and are a symptom of the cricket farm not cleaning their rearing facilities often enough.

Jace · September 18th, 2009

Thanks John. I think I pretty much squashed them all, but next time I will let my toads have a treat.

**Tom Highum** · September 18th, 2009

How big do they get when they are through the larval stage?

Kerry1968 · September 18th, 2009

I get these in with my crickets too, the beetles are only about half to one cm long. I've put them in for my frog to eat, I haven't seen him eat them, but I haven't seen any running around!