Pet co crickets?

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Shadowmk

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I read that some people have lost they're mantis because of crickets from Pet Co. Why is that? I am new to the world of mantis and would like to know if im doing something wrong

 
Welcome. Please also introduce yourself in the introductions forum.

Crickets get a bad rep around here lately for unfound reasons. Yes, there can be issues with sick crickets, but overall they make a fine food source and I have used them for years without issue. The key to crickets is getting them from a reliable source and getting healthy crickets. More times than not crickets bought from a pet store (especially a chain store) are often not cared for properly.

I purchase mine from online breeders with a good reputation. I house them in a large rubbermaid type container with an inch or so of dried oatmeal as a substrate. Water is provided with a sponge. The crickets are feed leafy greens, veggies, occasional fruit and dog food. Dead crickets are removed as soon as possible. But again, the key is getting healthy crickets from the start.

More than likely you won't have any issue either way, but better to start out with healthy feeders.

 
I use Petco crix, without issue. Key is to gut load for 2-3 days prior to feeding, and observing to make sure they are healthy. I think PetSmart crickets are terrible though, far worse than Petco's stock.

 
Rick said:
Welcome. Please also introduce yourself in the introductions forum.

Crickets get a bad rep around here lately for unfound reasons. Yes, there can be issues with sick crickets, but overall they make a fine food source and I have used them for years without issue. The key to crickets is getting them from a reliable source and getting healthy crickets. More times than not crickets bought from a pet store (especially a chain store) are often not cared for properly.

I purchase mine from online breeders with a good reputation. I house them in a large rubbermaid type container with an inch or so of dried oatmeal as a substrate. Water is provided with a sponge. The crickets are feed leafy greens, veggies, occasional fruit and dog food. Dead crickets are removed as soon as possible. But again, the key is getting healthy crickets from the start.

More than likely you won't have any issue either way, but better to start out with healthy feeders.
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Will do and thank you for the tips

 
All my mantids had PetSmart crickets (same difference) two days ago and they're all doing well. I feed crickets and houseflies, and both of those get a bad rap, but my mantids do fine.

 
WolfPuppy said:
All my mantids had PetSmart crickets (same difference) two days ago and they're all doing well. I feed crickets and houseflies, and both of those get a bad rap, but my mantids do fine.
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Since when do HF get a bad rap? Crickets are fine for some species. For flower and empusidea species I would say do not use crickets.
 
My ghosts have gone most of thier lives on Petco crickets (and whatever other bugs dare to enter my house) without any problems. I just try to gutload them for a day or two first. I've only been changing their diet since they reached adulthood to make sure they can make healthy ooths.

 
I use my box of crickets to fill in when I'm low on flies or too lazy to go outside and catch something. What I did was take the box I got from the petstore, dump it into another temporary staging area and from there removed each live cricket manually and put them in my permanent cricket box. That way I didn't get any of the rotting carcasses, food or waste materials. Then I fed and watered them for a week or so before I started using any as feeders. I felt this would hopefully get them a bit healthier and I'd know what food has passed through their systems.

 
Interesting, I had a European mantis last year (I had seven but I'm talking about this one) I gave it a cricket and it ate it right away and was fine and active, wake up the next morning, it's laying dead on the ground! It was old but, it was rapid, it was about 14 months old! Died on boxing day and it was accsidentily hatched super early!

 
My advice is to only use Pet co crickets when you are in a pinch, otherwise you could breed your own or like Rick said buy online from a reliable site. I do hate seeing thousands and thousands of crickets in one 2ft by 2ft box at the pet store, to me this is alarming. I haven't had any mantids die from freshly store bought crickets, but then again I've only purchased crickets for mantids like 5 times.

 
Been feeding my mantises petsmart crickets since they could even catch them. Haven't had any problems that I could tell were caused by the crickets though. Only thing that ever happened was I fed one of my mantises a pretty black looking cricket, and it threw up some black liquid like from prometheus or district 9. Nothing happened after that though. So from now on I just pick out the black ones and let them loose in the backyard.

Another way to ensure your mantis doesn't get sick by them is to gutload them with some fresh fruits and veggies for a few days before your mantis eats them.

 
For the last 3 years I have bought the boxed All Living Things Medium/Large crickets from Petsmart and have never had an issue. I always take a few minutes and go thru the boxes, checking for dead crickets and fresh feeding cubes. When I get home the very first thing I do is shred up some lettuce and cereal, they love Cheerios. Toss it in the box, give the pile a quick spray with some water and within a day to two they are good to go as feeders.

I do have my suspicions as to why some folks have reported fatal results from crickets as feeders. Crickets that are not gut loaded, that have no source of food or liquid other than other cricket carcasses become dehydrated, this dehydrated state makes them toxic due to this unnatural condition.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
idahomantid said:
For the last 3 years I have bought the boxed All Living Things Medium/Large crickets from Petsmart and have never had an issue. I always take a few minutes and go thru the boxes, checking for dead crickets and fresh feeding cubes. When I got home the very first thing I do is shred up some lettuce and cereal, they love Cheerios. Toss it in the box, give the pile a quick spray with some water and within a day to two they are good to go as feeders.

I do have my suspicions as to why some folks have reported fatal results from crickets as feeders. Crickets that are not gut loaded, that have no source of food or liquid other than other cricket carcasses become dehydrated, this dehydrated state makes them toxic due to this unnatural condition.
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Hey, if you want live ones just get the person to grab you X amount of live ones. I go once a week and get 4 dozen large, all alive.

 
To each their own but I have always avoided the large bins if and when I can. My thinking on this is simply if there is any bacterial or viral issue it's limited with crickets in pre-shipped containers.

 
I have reptiles and I always go for the bin and not the box so I can have all live ones. I bring them home in my clean bin and feed them fresh veggies, some cheerios, and spray some water. I also do a cotton ball with water. give them some time to gut load and they should be good.

 

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