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Tarantula Feeding and Feeder Insects
Things to feed crickets
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<blockquote data-quote="Combat Advantage" data-source="post: 176839" data-attributes="member: 33095"><p>Hi Becca,</p><p></p><p>I'm a wildlife specialist and a nutritionist, but not for crickets.</p><p>With that disclaimer, I suggest the following brief points. If you want me to give more details, just ask.</p><p></p><p>1. Clean housing. You know what dead crickets smell like. I used to buy them by the thousands/5,000 per purchase sometimes. That's a job to just to remove the dead ones every day. </p><p>If their cage is cleaned between each purchase, the pets immune system will not need to work so hard. It's a GOOD thing that they stink. God designed them to smell so bad because He knows how harmful they can be if eaten in that state. </p><p>One way to do this is to remove the pet store purchase to a high ventilation enclosure as soon as you get home. Should be cool and dry....out of direct sun. </p><p>Twice per day, Remove dead ones and uneaten food. </p><p>Only buy what you can use in a given period of time.</p><p></p><p>2. I offer the crickets a small slice of fruit or uncooked vegetable that I am eating at the time. Removing it before it molds or spoils is the key. Off the top of my head I can't think of anything that is actually toxic to them that isn't to us. However, I'm not a cricket vet. </p><p>If it doesn't look like they have eaten it, simply try a different kind next time. Peel the tough skin from broccoli and like veggies, so their weak mouth parts can get to the moisture. </p><p>This method works better than the little water dish or SpongeBob method for me. You have one less thing that needs cleaned each day. </p><p>Just replace it with a fresh piece of what you are eating. If you don't eat vegetables......do it for the health of your pets. . LOL!!</p><p>I doubt if your mom ever used that reason! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>3. What is harmful to people is likely harmful to your pet over the long haul. Most of us don't know what those are. Even more don't care. It's a long list. So this doesn't turn into a book, I'll just throw out a few more common ones. </p><p> A. Glutens</p><p> B. Soy based people food or animal feed ..toxic</p><p> C. Corn. If not non gmo,....most are not....its TOXIC.</p><p> D. Dog food....some fish foods. Contains the above ingredients. Won't probably kill your pet right away, but my educated guess is that it will shorten their lives. I accidentally killed thousands of $ worth of my smithis by feeding reportedly high quality fish food to my feeder crickets.</p><p></p><p>4. High moisture content with low ventilation.</p><p>I already mentioned that but bears repeating. Plastic containers with snap on lids hold moisture and ammonia. They are petrie dishes for bacteria and molds, which young arachnids commonly die from....quickly.</p><p></p><p>That said, this sounds obvious, but wash your hands after handling cricket chores. </p><p>Pet stores and cricket farms are usually disgusting. The diseases on the bugs come back home and gram negative bacteria can grow fast. It's what led to the outlaw of small turtle sales. Turtles aren't normally that laden with bacteria in the wild. Nor are insects.......but some are. ie. Flies, ants...</p><p>This might be obvious to you, Becca, but lots of people probably will read this. Hopefully this will be helpful to you and to them.</p><p>Its late and I need to get up early for work tomorrow, so maybe PM to get my attention if you have questions. I might be in a hurry next time and forget to check back here. I'm guessing that this forum has that feature? I don't know. It's my second post here.</p><p></p><p>Best to you! </p><p><img class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" alt="☕" title="Hot beverage :coffee:" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/2615.png" data-shortname=":coffee:" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Combat Advantage, post: 176839, member: 33095"] Hi Becca, I'm a wildlife specialist and a nutritionist, but not for crickets. With that disclaimer, I suggest the following brief points. If you want me to give more details, just ask. 1. Clean housing. You know what dead crickets smell like. I used to buy them by the thousands/5,000 per purchase sometimes. That's a job to just to remove the dead ones every day. If their cage is cleaned between each purchase, the pets immune system will not need to work so hard. It's a GOOD thing that they stink. God designed them to smell so bad because He knows how harmful they can be if eaten in that state. One way to do this is to remove the pet store purchase to a high ventilation enclosure as soon as you get home. Should be cool and dry....out of direct sun. Twice per day, Remove dead ones and uneaten food. Only buy what you can use in a given period of time. 2. I offer the crickets a small slice of fruit or uncooked vegetable that I am eating at the time. Removing it before it molds or spoils is the key. Off the top of my head I can't think of anything that is actually toxic to them that isn't to us. However, I'm not a cricket vet. If it doesn't look like they have eaten it, simply try a different kind next time. Peel the tough skin from broccoli and like veggies, so their weak mouth parts can get to the moisture. This method works better than the little water dish or SpongeBob method for me. You have one less thing that needs cleaned each day. Just replace it with a fresh piece of what you are eating. If you don't eat vegetables......do it for the health of your pets. . LOL!! I doubt if your mom ever used that reason! :) 3. What is harmful to people is likely harmful to your pet over the long haul. Most of us don't know what those are. Even more don't care. It's a long list. So this doesn't turn into a book, I'll just throw out a few more common ones. A. Glutens B. Soy based people food or animal feed ..toxic C. Corn. If not non gmo,....most are not....its TOXIC. D. Dog food....some fish foods. Contains the above ingredients. Won't probably kill your pet right away, but my educated guess is that it will shorten their lives. I accidentally killed thousands of $ worth of my smithis by feeding reportedly high quality fish food to my feeder crickets. 4. High moisture content with low ventilation. I already mentioned that but bears repeating. Plastic containers with snap on lids hold moisture and ammonia. They are petrie dishes for bacteria and molds, which young arachnids commonly die from....quickly. That said, this sounds obvious, but wash your hands after handling cricket chores. Pet stores and cricket farms are usually disgusting. The diseases on the bugs come back home and gram negative bacteria can grow fast. It's what led to the outlaw of small turtle sales. Turtles aren't normally that laden with bacteria in the wild. Nor are insects.......but some are. ie. Flies, ants... This might be obvious to you, Becca, but lots of people probably will read this. Hopefully this will be helpful to you and to them. Its late and I need to get up early for work tomorrow, so maybe PM to get my attention if you have questions. I might be in a hurry next time and forget to check back here. I'm guessing that this forum has that feature? I don't know. It's my second post here. Best to you! ☕ [/QUOTE]
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