Whats best to feed crickets.

I have always let the crickets sit in there enclosure with food over night, before feeding them to the T's. I usually just go with pesticide free veggies, typically lettuce. Because when ever I give the crickets water, they drown, regardless how big the cricket is, and how shallow the water is. So I go with lettuce to feed, and hydrate them at the same shot. But I feel like lettuce is not the best thing to, basically feed to the T's. So what is the absolute healthiest kind of food, to have the crickets eat?

Commercial products are available, e.g. Bug grub. Do you raise your crickets, or store buy them? If you store buy them, then hydrating them with lettuce or carrot IS a good idea, but not necessarily the most nutritious.

Fish flakes all the way. Both crickets and roaches will eat fish flakes first before anything else. For watering spray a small area with your mister or buy the water capsules online to make your own water gel. Dont waste your money on that gut loading type stuff in jars. Fish flakes and veggies or dry dog or cat food

Yea store bought. I just was never sure if the bug grub type stuff was good for T's. I never had a lizard, but some one gave me a bunch of terrarium pet "paraphernalia" and I have a jar of cricket food that has a lizard on the jar. Would that be cool?

---------- Post added 02-28-2013 at 12:05 AM ----------

singaporesling said:

Fish flakes all the way. Both crickets and roaches will eat fish flakes first before anything else. For watering spray a small area with your mister or buy the water capsules online to make your own water gel. Dont waste your money on that gut loading type stuff in jars. Fish flakes and veggies or dry dog or cat food

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Thank you very much. I will do lettuce and fish flakes then.

I just use those fluker orange cubes

jgod790 said:

Yea store bought. I just was never sure if the bug grub type stuff was good for T's. I never had a lizard, but some one gave me a bunch of terrarium pet "paraphernalia" and I have a jar of cricket food that has a lizard on the jar. Would that be cool?

---------- Post added 02-28-2013 at 12:05 AM ----------

Thank you very much. I will do lettuce and fish flakes then.

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Sounds like food for a Lizard that's made from crickets, not food for crickets. Has it got a Brand name?

DaveSB said:

Sounds like food for a Lizard that's made from crickets, not food for crickets. Has it got a Brand name?

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Oh no, its defiantly for the crickets. I was just skeptical because it is loading with calcium.

I use gerbil food lol And for water I spray the sides, although recently I've tried using a clean sponge

Fish food is a great idea for food I never thought of that. As for water I bought some water crystals at hobby lobby that seem to work really good.

I'm going to try something on my T's next feeding inspired by the information in this thread. I'm going to put in a small amount of fish flakes (as suggested by singaporesling), and a decent amount of lettuce. In theory, they should eat the fish flakes first, and then resort to the lettuce when there is no other food left. I also have apples, bananas, carrots, brussel sprouts, etc. Would any of those do better than the flakes or lettuce? That way, they're being loaded with hydration and nutrition. I've never once seen my T drink from her water dish, so I think this should be good for her.

bravesfan said:

Fish food is a great idea for food I never thought of that. As for water I bought some water crystals at hobby lobby that seem to work really good.

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I've never loaded my crickets, but I always keep them for a couple days in a container. As SuzukiSwift brought up, just misting the sides works like a charm. The only downside is that it evaporates pretty quickly, though I may try using a sponge this time.

Keep in mind the fish flakes alone have multiple food sources already in them

Gut Load Crickets with Fish Flakes

If you want really fantastic information on breeding feeder insects go to herpcenter.com/breeding-feeder-insects/. There they recommend feeding crickets pulverized dry cat food. But a few days before feeding them off to your animals, gut load them with fish flakes. Apparently, fish flakes are extremely nutritious and palatable. Of course, those nutrients are then passed on to your animals that feed on the crickets. However, fish flakes are too costly to make it a staple for your cricket colony as a whole so just restrict it for gut loading purposes.
But that site, herpcenter.com/breeding-feeder-insects/ is incredibly informative.

I use baby cereal for food and a cup of water with wadded up paper towels in it for drink. Doesn't get much cheaper or easier.

jgod790 said:

I have always let the crickets sit in there enclosure with food over night, before feeding them to the T's. I usually just go with pesticide free veggies, typically lettuce. Because when ever I give the crickets water, they drown, regardless how big the cricket is, and how shallow the water is. So I go with lettuce to feed, and hydrate them at the same shot. But I feel like lettuce is not the best thing to, basically feed to the T's. So what is the absolute healthiest kind of food, to have the crickets eat?

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Crickets are basically just another kind of cockroach. What would you feed a roach? And, why, "absolute healthiest kind of food?"

For decades Marguerite and I kept hundreds to well over a thousand tarantulas in a spare bedroom. That, of course, meant ordering in and keeping for a few days to a week or more, a thousand crickets a week. I kept them in 29 gal. aquariums with screen lids. (You can use just about anything else.) One key point is that there was very good ventilation and the cricket cage never got terribly damp or humid. This tends to suppress odors and mite infestations, both being big potential problems.

(Click or right-click the thumbnail to see a larger image.)

How crickets are shipped. Note the egg crate at bottom center.

I would throw a thin (~1/8") layer of plain, "El Cheapo" dried wheat bran on the floor of the cage before dumping in the crickets. Bran like this is available inexpensively at almost every grocery store. Especially, look in a bulk food section. The bran served as both food and as substrate that absorbed moisture from the crickets' feces. I kept 2 such aquariums, alternating between them with each new shipment of crickets, and cleaning them a little between uses. Once a month or so I might give each a more or less good scrubbing. After all is said and done, what better do cockroaches ... er, sorry ... crickets need? They're all going to get fed to the tarantulas in a few days anyway, no?

For water, I would merely quarter a cheap orange. I did learn to cut the orange crosswise at least once to facilitate the crickets' attempts to get through the heavy inner membranes and to the moist pulp. Four to six quarters were usually sufficient. As the oranges began to spoil (let your nose be your guide) I would simply throw them away and add new quarters. After the aquariums had been set up and the bran, orange quarters, and crickets added, I'd throw in 2 of the egg crate dividers that came in the cricket boxes to give the crickets a place to stand, hang, chill, chirp, fight, etc.

Over all those years, I never lost crickets because of my method for keeping them. In fact, the only severe losses were due to cold exposure in Canada as they were mailed to our home in the dead of winter.

And, there was not one shred of evidence that the crickets' diet in our care had any impact whatsoever on the survival or growth of our tarantulas. The message is, "A LOT OF FUSSING WITH COCKROACHES ... ER, SORRY ... CRICKETS DOES NOT MAKE BETTER TARANTULAS."


Enjoy your little 6-legged cockroaches ...er, sorry ... crickets!

Pardon me while I resurrect a 4 year old thread; but I am curious about something specific. Here I have read that "fish flakes" make for a desirable feeder cricket diet. I have access to bonito fish flakes. Are any of you familiar with this product; and if so, do bonito flakes fit into the "fish flakes" mentioned here and in other threads?

Leila said:

Pardon me while I resurrect a 4 year old thread; but I am curious about something specific. Here I have read that "fish flakes" make for a desirable feeder cricket diet. I have access to bonito fish flakes. Are any of you familiar with this product; and if so, do bonito flakes fit into the "fish flakes" mentioned here and in other threads?

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They're referring to fish flakes as in food to feed pet fish, but crickets will eat about anything like roaches. I would think they could probably eat those. Might be smelly though lol, if what came up on google (actual flakes of fish) is what you have.

Ghost56 said:

They're referring to fish flakes as in food to feed pet fish, but crickets will eat about anything like roaches. I would think they could probably eat those. Might be smelly though lol, if what came up on google (actual flakes of fish) is what you have.

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Haha. Heck yeah, bonito flakes are rank! But they seem to be a healthy source of nutrients; although what is considered nutritious to humans might very well be the opposite for feeder crickets (for Ts.)
Just curious.

I've always just used carrots. They turn the crickets orange

Leila said:

Haha. Heck yeah, bonito flakes are rank! But they seem to be a healthy source of nutrients; although what is considered nutritious to humans might very well be the opposite for feeder crickets (for Ts.)
Just curious.

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I would try it with like 10 crickets in a separate container, but it should be completely fine if they're just feeders for tarantulas.

I only have about 6 large crickets. They are leftovers from last week's feeding. I figured I could keep them healthy and save a trip to the pet store. I am way too antisocial to make weekly visits there if they can be properly avoided. Ha