Posted by:
Moonstone
at Sat Jun 26 13:56:46 2010 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Moonstone ]
Well, I am trying to raise my own crickets and I have week old pinheads doing very well. They should be feeding size when my first clutch hatches and we will see. I feel the need to feed baby dragons crickets because they still are the backbone of the reptile hobby, and I want to make sure when a baby goes to a new home, there are no feeding issues.
I do lobsters and dubia, and really can't say that crickets have a single quality that is superior to roaches. When it comes to buying, crickets are cheaper, but thats about it. For the price of shipping and handling one order, I can feed all my roaches for months. At the end of this season, I am setting up 4 mega colonies that will be left to breed all winter, and I should be cricket free next year. For someone with a pet dragon or two, a small rubbermaid tote can produce all the bugs you will ever need. I am also going to try some new to the market species of roaches to see how they work out. E. distanti is one I already have.
My observations so far. Crickets make noise even during the day, roaches do not.
Even in the dry desert, crickets do smell, and roaches don't.
Crickets max out at maybe 1 to 1.5 inches, roaches max
out at about 2.5 for dubia and 1.5 for lobsters and weigh
5 times as much, leading me to believe there is more in
the shell.
I have to buy crickets, which I can't do in the west any more
My roach colonies cost almost nothing to maintain and
are little or no work.
My Observations have been, my adults don't like crickets,
everybody loves roaches.
The single biggest contribution to the crickt virus, from what I have been told, and some of the people are research scientists who understand immunology and biological security, is the use of USED egg crate. Used egg crate have held eggs, and have been handled and god knows what else. Since egg crate burns really nicely, there are sprays sold to make them flame retardant. How do I know a cricket procucer using used crate isn't using ones that are chemically treated? My egg crates are recycled paper, but are brand new/untreated, and I know how clean my enclosures are. I did visit a big cricket producer once, and I have to say, it was so nasty I scratched myself until I blead. Flies and bugs everywhere. Flies carry disease, and there are no flies around my roaches.
Based on the above information..............VIVA LA ROACH! :O)
That is my point of view, and I have to say it is working really well for me. Not to mention saving me lots of money I can reinvest into my husbandry.
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www.moonstonedragons.com
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RE: Cricket virus closes another farm - Moonstone, Sat Jun 26 13:56:46 2010
