Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can you stop crickets from getting wings? Like temperature...not feeding quite as much or feeding a lot? Or is it pretty much impossible.

Can you feed Crested Geckos crickets with wings? If they are not bigger then the space between there eyes. I have heard some feed them... some don't. I always feed my winged ones to my Bearded Dragon, but it can be annoying to sort them all the time.

I just don't want to cause digestive problems if it can cause it. I also heard that winged crickets can cause impaction in cresteds.

Any help would be great!

Thanks,
Liz
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*~ Liz ~*
liz-taber@moonlightpets.com
www.moonlightpets.com

Wings will develop no matter what, unless somebody developed a wingless variety, which is kind of pointless since they are not used for flight just communication (of course you might want to get rid of that if you hate the chirping…lol). They are also perfectly safe to feed, no worries there Liz.
-Mike

I'd buy chirpless crickets! That would be much more efficient than my current policy of training my dog to root out escaped chirpers.
At any rate, the wings are made out of the same stuff as the skeleton, so it's not a problem as long as the overall size isn't too big. But I buy ones without wings on purpose to cut down on noise.

only way I know of getting rid of the wings is cutting them off. That is even more of a pain than just sorting them out. An alternative is to buy younger crickets in smaller quantities so you run out long before they start to chirp. (or buy a size or two too small this way they get all eaten before they get old enough to have fully developed wings).

Another way would be to separate all the males. They are the ones that don't have a third 'hair' growing out of their ends. This third one is in the middle of their back side and is dark in colour. This is the oviduct and it will grow about an inch long or longer once the female is fully mature. Males don't have this and are a little smaller than the females.