Questions about crickets...

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J

joossa

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Alright, so “the cold” is coming soon, and I will no longer be able to go outside to find food for my mantids so I will have to buy some crickets from my local pet shop. (Of course, I will be gut loading them before offering them up to the mantids.)

I have two questions:

-I haven’t purchased crickets ever since I was about 10 (when I had a pair of anoles). I remember that the pet shop offered them in three sizes: small, medium, and large. Is it likely that they only offer one species of cricket, but in different instars? In other words will the “small” crickets inevitably molt and become the pet shop’s “medium” and then “large” crickets if kept long enough?

-Obviously, pet shops like PetCo and PetSmart don’t feed their crickets nutritional food. After bringing a batch home, how long should I allow them to eat in order for them to become “healthy” for the mantids? 1 day? 2 days? A week?

Thanks for the information and help.

 
So far all the petstores I have gone to use the same species of cricket. The size difference as you said is nothing more but different stages in the cricket's lives.

Personally I like to wait somewhere around 3-5 days at least before feeding new crickets. Usually a good sign of when it is safe to feed is when crickets stop dieing. It seems so often the crickets are so poorly cared for, I can loose anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 of my crickets in the first couple of days. Sometimes I think the shock of good food and water is too much for them to handle. You also might want to look into starting a breeding stock of crickets. They are really easy and it not only saves money but insures your mantises are getting healthy meals.

 
How about just ordering a batch online? It will be cheaper and you will get better crickets. That's what I do.

 
If you haven't heard, PetCo crickets have killed a few of our mantises here. I'd personally just wouldn't risk it.

 
Well, I work at petsmart and we have the standard brown crickets in small and large sizes. Typically the crickets don't get much more than the cricket food/sawdust we're supposed to give them. However, I throw in lettuce and other fresh food whenever I work. Basically, ask the petstore if they feed their crickets real food or cricket food. And yeah, wait a couple days before feeding.

 
I have had good results with Fluker's online. You have to buy in bulk but you choose the size and, so far, the crickets are high quality. I also feed my crix Fluker's orange cubes. The cubes don't stink, aren't messy and supply food and water in a firm, gel cube.

 
I used to gut load my crickets with fruit - oranges work really well but make sure you put them in a bottlecap or some other containment otherwise the juice gets everywhere and makes the cage sticky; fish food - any kind, crickets go crazy over this; some insect part the mantis left over - i find that crickets love insects as much as mantids do! :wink: ; and boiled egg yolk works as well. Crickets love to scavenge, so any scraps off the dinner table work, as long as you don't have an overdose of pesticides in your food. :lol:

However, I don't recommend anything from Petsmart or Petco. I had a batch of mantids that hatched out of season and I was forced to buy crickets from Petco. Those crickets caused my mantids to vomit and drop dead one by one.

I would recommend ordering silkworms, or buying waxworms to raise into waxworm moths. Mantids go crazy over flying insects. :wink:

 
Could check out FlukerFarm. They are pretty affordable but only offer from 250 crix and up. That was a lot for me especially first time buyer, knowing nothing about em and I managed to murder the entire batch in just shy of two weeks. :shock: Also, DO NOT open the box from the top though. Put it in a large bin first then cut a hole of pull back the top just a bit. I learned all these things the hard way. I had crix in my apartment for a few days. And just opening the top of the box not know how they pack em freaked me out when they just began to jump out right in my face . Fluker also offers foods for them which is inexpensive. I don't know of a place which offers less than 250 crix. But, I'm sure one of our other fine members may!! :wink:

 
I went to the pet store last Wednesday and bought a dozen large crickets just to see how they would do in my care. I have been feeding banana, iceberg lettuce, tomato, fish flakes, and crushed dog food to them. So far there has been only one death. Some have even molted. They are kept in a medium sized Rubbermaid tub with holes in the lid.

I guess they’re good to go except that most are too big for my mantids. Next time I’ll buy the small size instead. Thanks for the help/advise. =)

 
I also get crickets from a local pet store. However, I don't feed them or anything. I'm contemplating taking better care of the crickets now... like at least give them fish food.

 
I have found that grapes sliced in half work well too. A dozen brown crickets reduced a grape to nothing in less than half an hour. The pet store i get them from feeds them delmonte fruit cups. However now Im at a loss... My wild caught Carolina mantis loved crickets at first. My video was testament to that. Now she wont touch them. She just hangs from the screen at the top and wont come down. When she is placed on the floor of her den she completely ignores them, and has even had a cricket crawl on top of her without reacting in the least. she just crawls back up and hangs from the screen again. Toss in a wild moth however and it is quickly reduced to wings only. the moths are gonna run out soon as winter approaches. Any suggestions?

 
DARKSPEED said:
I have found that grapes sliced in half work well too. A dozen brown crickets reduced a grape to nothing in less than half an hour. The pet store i get them from feeds them delmonte fruit cups. However now Im at a loss... My wild caught Carolina mantis loved crickets at first. My video was testament to that. Now she wont touch them. She just hangs from the screen at the top and wont come down. When she is placed on the floor of her den she completely ignores them, and has even had a cricket crawl on top of her without reacting in the least. she just crawls back up and hangs from the screen again. Toss in a wild moth however and it is quickly reduced to wings only. the moths are gonna run out soon as winter approaches. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
You should have reversed your feeding method. You should have spent time feeding your mantid wild-caught flying prey until now and reserved the crickets for when there is no more wild insects left outside. You shouldn't worry too much though, because you can order flies and other food online. Remember, mantids like a mixed, varied diet.

 
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