Petsmart is great for feeders and equipment

[markdneck]

I just visited our neighborhood Petsmart to get feeders and housing for them; crickets, pinheads, cricket food plus stuff for my terrariums that will be delivered in the next day or two. I am a newbie, have "ooths" and a Giant African L3 on the way and I needed help. I didn't expect much expert help with Mantid questions from Petsmart's staff but boy was I wrong!

I had checked with Petco first as they are closer to my home but they didn't have much, pretty much are in the dog & cat and bird business. Petsmart has a large department that deals with reptiles so they have lots of feeders and associated equipment. I told one of the clerks that I needed mantid supplies and they brought over a clerk who was an expert. He sold me and helped me with a cricket cage, cricket food that is both food and water, substrate material, a mister, etc. The prices were better than I see on line and I didn't have to pay freight. Plus the kid really seemed to know all about mantids and feeders.

I don't know if all Petsmarts are this good but the one here in Irvine/Tustin is super! FYI

 

[Butterfly]

Cool.

My local one doesnt have any Mantid experts but they sure dig it when I mention im buying supplies for them, Ive taken my mantis in to show one girl because she said she had never seen one. She now wants to buy one of my babies when theyre ready.

 

[mrblue]

Cool.My local one doesnt have any Mantid experts but they sure dig it when I mention im buying supplies for them, Ive taken my mantis in to show one girl because she said she had never seen one. She now wants to buy one of my babies when theyre ready.

get in there my son.

 

[markdneck]

I just retired last Friday, less than a week ago and I decided to be a mantis hobbiest last weekend. I have four young professional kids; three of them are getting on board, a nurse, a biologist and a lawyer and they all are getting mantids as is a friend of mine who is a doctor. I tell people about the joy of mantid raising and then universally say "I want to get some too"!

I am not kidding. Into the stock market anyone? Buy stock in a mantid food corporation! This is going to be big!!

 

[Rick]

Crickets cheaper than you can get online? What are their cricket prices?

 

[markdneck]

No Express mail either.

 

[OGIGA]

Do they sell the crickets individually or in a (huge) pack?

 

[markdneck]

I'm sorry but I can't remember the per cricket price. I am lucky in that there is a Petsmart within two blocks and I buy my cat supplies there and visit frequently so I guess that is the solution for me. I guess major dealers like some on this site have to figure how much per feeder but believe me, this is still a heck of a lot cheper tham feeding my cats who will only eat wild caught salmon (restaurant inspired) in those little bitty $1 cans.

Let me ask again; L3s really can handle Pinheads? They are not any bigger than my nymph but the seem heavier and more energetic ... so smother father that I am, I put a couple pinheads and a couple wingless flys into each of the two enclosures jut to make sure they have a good dinner. How long until they get big enough to hold? How often do they molt?

This is more difficult than I expected!!!

 

[markdneck]

They sell flys in a cup and have a few sizes of crickets. They sell a lot of lizards, frogs, little frogs for aquariums and so have the feeder variety for them.

 

[HempKnight]

Petco and Petsmart don't sell boxes of crickets in the 1000 like you can order online. Where I live they charge over 10 cents a cricket which doesn’t sound like a lot but it is. They usually bag them in 10s or 20s. I personally get my crickets for free. We go through American Cricket Ranch (http://www.americancricketranch.com/). These guys are good people and we buy over 10,000 at a time. They deliver to use so I am not sure how great they are at shipping but they supply almost all the stores down here in San Diego.

 

[wuwu]

i wanna go check out that petsmart, maybe this weekend. i remember seeing it while going to lunch a few weeks back, but it wasn't opened yet.

 

[bluebman52]

You're lucky! Mantids arent from around my area natively so i get weird looks from people at Petland, Petsmart and such when I tell them that I need food and supplies for them.

 

[OGIGA]

If I recall correctly, my local PetCo sells large crickets for 7 cents each and small crickets for 6 cents each. However, they don't last for more than a couple of days.

 

[Rick]

Petco and Petsmart don't sell boxes of crickets in the 1000 like you can order online. Where I live they charge over 10 cents a cricket which doesn’t sound like a lot but it is. They usually bag them in 10s or 20s. I personally get my crickets for free. We go through American Cricket Ranch (http://www.americancricketranch.com/). These guys are good people and we buy over 10,000 at a time. They deliver to use so I am not sure how great they are at shipping but they supply almost all the stores down here in San Diego.

That's what I was getting at by asking their prices on them. THere is no way petco or petsmart has cheaper crickets than the online vendors. Even with shipping it's less than half the price.

Petco is ok but I don't get any advice from anyone there on anything. I buy all feeder insects online unless it's an emergency.

 

[markdneck]

I think I paid .05 each but if I only need 10 crickets a week, for me, I'd rather stop in and get .50 worth than pay shipping and be in the raising crickets business. If I needed lots of crickets I would do what you do. Also, I rarely pay full price at Petsmart anyway. Yesterday I got a "20% off" coupon in the mail. That makes my next crickets .04. Saturday they are having a "Grand Opening" and there will be discounts for that. They always have deals and I work as a volunteer there weekends as they give us space for a cat spay & neuter & adoption program. Both Petsmart and Petco refuse to sell cats and dogs and they raise money and donate space, surplus pet food too, for animal charities. Good people!

I just like going into those big pet stores I guess anyway!

 

[Rick]

I think I paid .05 each but if I only need 10 crickets a week, for me, I'd rather stop in and get .50 worth than pay shipping and be in the raising crickets business. If I needed lots of crickets I would do what you do. Also, I rarely pay full price at Petsmart anyway. Yesterday I got a "20% off" coupon in the mail. That makes my next crickets .04. Saturday they are having a "Grand Opening" and there will be discounts for that. They always have deals and I work as a volunteer there weekends as they give us space for a cat spay & neuter & adoption program. Both Petsmart and Petco refuse to sell cats and dogs and they raise money and donate space, surplus pet food too, for animal charities. Good people!I just like going into those big pet stores I guess anyway!

The stores are a bit different out here. Crickets I think are like .20 each or maybe more. They do have cats and dogs here but I think you pay an adoption fee of close to $100. So technically they're not being sold.

 

[Butterfly]

I got 15 pinheads yesterday for 1.07 at Pet People, and these guys were SO small my Chinese didnt even see them. So I fed em to my smaller guys and they dug it.

As for adopting pets, I got my cat Mulder off of a website called Craigslist. I had wanted a pure white cat with blue eyes since my mom and I are both blond haired blue eyed girls, and found someone on the website who's neighbor moved to New York and left her cat in her apartment for a week before anyone else noticed and broke in to rescue him. I saw the ad and decided to just go get that kitty, he turned out to be the pure white blue eyed guy I was looking for. He didnt come with a name but has learned the one I gave him. Ive had him now for a good 4 or 5 years since I moved back to California from Colorado. He's a love and I'm so glad I adopted a needy cat rather than a new one. Dont get me wrong I'd have loved a new baby kitten but he needed a home and worked out just great!