crickets STINK!

I fed my PZB today, she had six good sized crickets for dinner. I noticed this evening when I went to clean her cage out (27 hours later) she had done some cleaning and moved her left over ball of food across the cage. I thought that this was funny until I got close enough to her cage to smell the inside. What was normally a somewhat pleasant, peat moss smell was now a sickening, rotting smell.

After smelling the cage I quickly removed the left overs and inspected the cage to find the source of the smell. I bent down to see even with the cage and when I did I put the cricket left overs right in front of my face and woah nelly!

I guess my question would be, will this smell hurt my T? If so is there any way that I can get the smell out without completely cleaning the cage? She seems to be content staying inside of the hide as she has not come out (other than to remove the smelly food) since a week ago Tuesday.

Also, I would like to thank everyone who posted to my question about my G. pulchra. I removed all of the food and noticed that her back side seemed to be darkening around the area of her urticating hairs. We'll see what happens in the next week or two. If she hasn't gotten too much darker or molted by next feeding day (Sundays) should I try to feed her again or hold off until two or three weeks?

I know that once she molts I shouldn't try to feed her for four or five days but I don't know much of anything about the pre-molt feeding. Thanks to everyone who is helping me! You've all been great!

The smell won't hurt your T but the pests it attracts may irritate it. Smell is just that a smell as long as you are diligent in getting the chunks out of the enclosure your T will be at peace with the world. As far as pre-molt feeding. Throw a cricket in there if it does not eat it in 24 hrs, take it out. and wait another week to try again. put in, take out, repeat.

Yeah, crickets do smell bad... very bad. As for feeding before a molt, the T knows and stops eating. That's one of the signs of an up coming molt, and that's one of the reasons to remove any food after 24 hours, as prey running around may stress the T. And worse, crickets will attack a T if they were to find it molting and defenseless. No, this doesn't always happen, but it does happen so no reason to take chances

Feeder Crickets are vile little suckers.

I can understand the repugnance concerning Feeder Crickets. They are quite odious and smelly when they have expired. This little drawback has convinced me that maybe Feeder Roaches are the way to go.

Roaches have a sweet odour, sort of like death.
*Dang*, I must probably give mine water and some food. I keep them in the closet and forget about them for weeks on end. They never die though. They don't even drown, they just float until something makes them able to climb out.
*Shiver*, How come 50 roaches have lasted this long? It's impossible. Die roaches, die!

Originally posted by Vys
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*Shiver*, How come 50 roaches have lasted this long? It's impossible. Die roaches, die!

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HEHEHEHHEHE!!!

IMO, 24 hours is too long to leave a cricket in with a T that is suspected to molt soon. Considering the whole molt process for a adult T can take 24 hours. Anything longer than an hour and most likely she's not interested, so I would remove them. No point in taking the risk or losing your prized T to a cricket

And when they are darkening it won't be the actual hairs that darken, you will see the cuticle underneath the hairs darken to a almost pencil lead color. When they start to lay urticating hairs down on their molting mat or around their enclosure before they molt this will be easier to see since they'll likely have a couple of bald areas.

As for the smell it's the moisture mixed with the rotting flesh of the crickets. In my drier cages they don't seem to smell at all, but in the moist ones it is unbearable. The smell should disappear soon after you remove the bolus though.

Jim B.

Originally posted by eleven_68
I guess my question would be, will this smell hurt my T? If so is there any way that I can get the smell out without completely cleaning the cage? She seems to be content staying inside of the hide as she has not come out (other than to remove the smelly food) since a week ago Tuesday.

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There are no people roaming around the wildness holding am air-freshner....The smell wont bother her and since you removed the left-overs I believe it'll be fine... And about your pulchra, spray a bit of water all over the tank to raise the humidity a bit....

Originally posted by Bagan
I can understand the repugnance concerning Feeder Crickets. They are quite odious and smelly when they have expired. This little drawback has convinced me that maybe Feeder Roaches are the way to go.

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I guess you're right but could you convince my mother or some people' wifes/hubies into allowing pet-roaches???? Even some invert-people hate the idea....

Re: Re: crickets STINK!

I guess you're right but could you convince my mother or some people' wifes/hubies into allowing pet-roaches???? Even some invert-people hate the idea.... [/B][/QUOTE]



You know, I had a hard time convincing my husband to let me get roaches until he found out that my sister was DEATHLY afraid of them and would never again set foot in our house...Needless to say I now have roaches and my husband is saying if he'd known how scared my sister was of them he would have let me get them 14 yrs ago =D


Michelle