Crickets escaping!

[kueluck]

I use a Sterilite container,love the click sound that tells me it's closed, about 9 in tall. Cut out circle on top, duct tape screen. When ready to take crickets out I just tape the egg crate or paper tubes into the plastic container. I put up to 500 pinheads in one.

[CRZ]

Thanks for the replies! I was all worried my house would be taken over by crickets, and I'd have to hire a exterminator to get rid of them.

[ConVexity]

I eat the crickets around my house!
PROTEIN!

[CRZ]

Just found my last cricket, 4 days after he escaped. Well I hope it was a he. I think he was gut loaded very good. I thought after 2-3 days it would have died. This guy was strong and very much alive.

[Kurt]

I would add, when using screen mesh on a cricket enclosure, make sure that it is aluminium and not nylon. They can chew threw nylon.

Also, this past week I had a massive cricket escape, several hundred. I have been rounding them up and throwing them back in the bins or feeding them to the rococo toad. I wouldn't worry about them picking up any toxins in your house unless you have an open container or rat poison or something similar lying around.

[Sublime]

@Kurt Yes, very good tip about aluminum over nylon. How did the mass cricket escape happen? That sucks. The reason I just throw out the escapes is by the time you catch them they've lost all their nutritional value... Also I take extra precaution because I still live at home, but that does make sense if you make it a habit of not leaving anything on the floor that could potentially harm your herps indirectly.

[Kurt]

They chewed their way out of the case they came in. Given enough time, they can chew their way through cardboard. I got two cases on Sunday at the Manchester show but couldn't set up the bins till Tuesday. In the meantime they chewed their way through one of the boxes, there were crickets every where. I have rounded up the majority of them and put them in the bins where there is food waiting them.
I would't through out a cricket simply because it is no longer "gut-loaded". Just toss it back in the bin and feed it. Besides no matter what, a cricket still has some nutritional value, even if its only protien.