Crickets? Roaches? Worms?

Hey guys. I hope this can be here for a while for discussion and for the new people like myself. I have 2 G. rosea's and a rosy boa. I've been feeding the t's crickets and they die off so quickly.

Now I know what you all are saying, "use "insert roach here"". Well I can't. My roommate is terrified of roaches. My question is what should I do? Should I get worms? Should I breed crickets? What are my options?

Breeding crickets is a viable option and they are terribly easy to breed. There are plenty of good methods for breeding them available on here.

For just two tarantulas I wouldn't breed crickets. You will have more crickets then the two tarantulas can eat. The easiest way to keep crickets for a few tarantulas is to buy say 25 small crickets from the pet store. They will grow quickly.Get a cricket keeper or small container, pick up some chick starter and some Fluker's Cricket Quencher (water gel) and that's it. Put some chick starter in the bottom of the cricket keeper ( lightly cover the bottom) put water gel in and add crickets. Make sure you keep adding water gel when needed and the crickets will last until most are fed to your tarantulas. I don't add water to the chick starter nor do I put carrots or fruit that can mold.

I wouldn't breed anything for only 2 T's. Especially crickets, the stench they put out is awful. Either buy the crickets once every 2 weeks, or if your T's will eat them, buy mealworms and keep them in the fridge.

Roaches are very easy to hide, but if that's really not a viable option I would suggest mealworms. One tub will last you a while and you can refrigerate them to slow down their growth/dying too soon.

My wife and daughter hate roaches too. That's why I haven't told them there are hundreds of them living in my office ;-)

Here's the thing....some t's won't eat roaches....some t's won't eat worms....but virtually all will take a cricket. My (old) adult rosehair is picky, she won't touch a roach or any type of worm. Crickets, hoppers are what she likes. In the summer she will often refuse (despite being in what I consider obvious hunting posture) unless I feed a moth, something about those beating wings brings out the hunger in her.

I also agree that breeding feeders for 2 t's is big time overkill. For many years I only had that one rosehair, and I ran into a similar issue....I just couldn't keep the crickets alive very long, so I would just pick up a single cricket at a time when I went for dog food/bones/treats. As I acquired a few more, I quickly realized I needed to abandon this. I then kept changing things until I figured out how to keep them alive. Now I find them exceedingly easy to keep.

Funny thing that when I tried to keep them like I hear all the time...well ventilated, egg carton and those water crystal/gel things, I had no success. It wasn't until I started reducing ventilation (still decent), and offering water in a cap full of stones and feeding primarily dog food, and the occasional carrot or potato piece that I started to find success. I don't have them drown, in fact I find they prefer to molt in the dish, I speculate that its probably a reason why they drown so frequently....just looking for a place to molt, perhaps. With all the stones its tough for even small ones to drown...it seems that their molt is the only time they need moisture. Everything else needs to be kept dry, dry dry, otherwise mold springs up instantly, then one dies, which triggers mass deaths in a short time. They are filthy, so there's always things waiting to mold.

I also use wood pieces instead of the egg carton. I noticed they would munch on the egg cartons, I figure if they eat wood instead, at least its organic..gotta be better than egg carton. I should mention the egg carton material I am speaking of is the pressed foam stuff, not the cardboard. They seem to get more comfortable as they have more nooks and crannies to tuck into.

I have my crickets molt quite often (they grow pretty fast), and have even had successful breeding occur a few times.

Once you figure out your magic formula to keeping them alive, a dozen crickets will last a month or two with your 2 rosehairs. On the other hand, if yours are unlike mine and will take worms, superworms are ridiculously easy to keep, last a long time and make for a nice fatty feeder...that's your easy choice...IF...your particular t's will eat them.

Im soon getting 3 new slings and they need little crickets. But in my country its hard to buy crickets i need to drive 30 km for buying my crickets. So i want to try breeding them that i have large crickets for my adult T's and little crickets for my slings. What is the best way to do it?

Neoza said:

Im soon getting 3 new slings and they need little crickets. But in my country its hard to buy crickets i need to drive 30 km for buying my crickets. So i want to try breeding them that i have large crickets for my adult T's and little crickets for my slings. What is the best way to do it?

Click to expand...

You don't actually need tiny cricket for slings, just cut up or pre-kill a larger one. One decent size cricket can feed several slings just fine.

If you keep crickets to breed, there are plenty of ways to rid yourself of the excess crickets. They make awesome fish bait, in fact I get mine at a bait store at the moment. I had a cat once that loved them and I trained her using crickets as treats. Ok, maybe that's a bit weird but I'm sure that everyone can find a friend that could use a few extra. If you sell T's, throw a few in as freebies. Know someone with a fish aquarium? They make excellent treats. Don't know anyone with fish, birds, reptiles, arachnids? Put them outside and let them do what they do. You can even keep excess in the freezer and throw them in a bird feeder from time to time. As for keeping them, get a tub, plant some grass in it and mist it to keep the grass alive. They will thrive and you won't have to buy anymore for a while. It's not that hard to do and if you don't know what to do with the excess then you probably haven't given it much thought.

Python said:

....As for keeping them, get a tub, plant some grass in it and mist it to keep the grass alive......

Click to expand...

oo awesome idea!! I didn't even think of that when I was trying to breed crickets years ago. Could you just keep the adults in there then? kind of just a little micro environment to keep them all together?

I don't like breeding crickets, mainly because I can't stand the noise. The smell is something I've been able to overcome in the past, but the chirping drives me insane. With only two spiders, it's a lot more economical to just buy crickets now and again. I breed roaches, but offer crickets and various other feeders as well. They're not exactly expensive.

They aren't expensive but sometimes they aren't readily available either. I have to go across town to get adults at our local bait shop and pinheads are almost an hour drive. My bait store won't sell just a few either. They sell 50 or 100. Not exactly solving the problem of what to do with the leftovers if you only have one spider. As far as keeping them in a tub with grass, there is no smell, they can all be kept together with no problem but the noise, well, I don't keep them in the same room with me. It's simply easier to keep them in a tub like that. Maybe there are too many but I wouldn't have to plan a day to go get them and I do live near lakes and rivers so I could fish with them as well. I haven't set them up that way as of yet but when I do, I'll have a steady supply of any size cricket that I might need from the tiniest pinhead to the largest adults and I won't have to waste a tank of precious gogo juice to get them. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do and there really isn't a down side to breeding crickets except for the noise. As far as economical goes, it doesn't get more economical than that. Don't let people discourage you about keeping crickets. It's not that hard, it's not expensive, it offers a full line of every size cricket you may need and if you do it just right you can sell the excess and it will pay for itself. I don't see how that's not economical. Worst case scenario, let the excess go outside somewhere. You still won't be out anything and you'll still have plenty.

How do you feed them living in the grass? Getting some sod or something would be easy, but do they just eat the grass?

Yes, they just eat the grass

I've got a dozen T's, and every other Saturday I buy 30 crickets and divvy them out. Costs $2.14 with the 7% tax and I usually get double what I pay for There is no upside to me to be had from breeding anything, and as noted I have 10 more T's then you do. I would just buy crickets when necessary.

I would agree on the crickets 19 bux critter keeper 8 cent crickets and one giant carrot - make sure you have it in a wa dark area and you should be good