First of all, they must have never heard of a thing called "parasites". I have contacted animal control regarding a pet shop before, and it worked (at least for the time being). The next time I did a sneak peak there, things had cleaned up, ALOT, that reminds me, I need to make another stop there to check things out. As far as the crickets go, I too am trying to get my guys off crickets. Pet stores sell crickets, this is why they gave you a hard time about not giving them to them (of course the also sell bearded dragon pellets). Good Luck. Keep us posted!