Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi
i was just wondering were everybody gets there crickets from. is there some places i should stay away from? and also how much do you usually pay for a "dozen". i go to super pet because its very convenient. i usually buy 2 dozen every 5 days for my baby beardy. i dont know about there dozens but they give me about 60 a time. they sell a dozen for about $1.50. wer do you guys get yur crix from???
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Thanks in Advance
Stephan S.

I buy my crickets from lllreptile.com. The prices are good and the insects have always arrived healthy and plentiful. Another good one I hear of is wormman.com.

I've heard from 2 different people on another forum who have found a few brown recluse spiders in with their shipments from a certain supplier recently. Brown recluses are pretty easy to recognize if you know what you're looking for, so I believe this to be true. I won't name the supplier here, but it is something to be aware of and if you want to know email me.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
1.0 pictus gecko (Nicodemus)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Calcifer)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

Great one more thing to worry about. Those spiders are nasty. My friend got bit by one of them 3 times while he was sleeping. A strange thing to have happen up here in New Hampshire. But i wont ever forget what he had to go through. all the pain and treatments. It was horrible. now they are possibly in our crickets? NUTS

Right now it's really just hearsay, because I haven't seen them myself. I do believe the people who claim to have found them know what they are talking about, but I won't confirm it as fact. Just something to keep your eyes opened for.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
1.0 pictus gecko (Nicodemus)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Calcifer)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

>>I have seen spiders come out of three different cricket companies packages. I have never taken the time to look at whether it is a brown recluse or not, but if it comes from California than it is definitely not a Brown Recluse. They also do not have recluse spiders in New England there is a lot of people who think they see Brown Recluse but for the most part they are jumping to conclusions. Basically if you order crix from regions that have brown recluse spiders than you are taking a risk of having one shipped to your door. Personally I could care less and I am not worried about it. Here is a link that has the territory of the brown recluse and there is a specific blurb on Brown recluses in Cali. www.hobospider.com/brownrecluse.html#Identify a Brown Recluse.

-Randy
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AlphaDragonZ
www.AlphaDragonZ.com

Oh I know there are no recluses in New england but there is no doubt what he was bit by. The fact that he was hospitalized and all is all the guarantee i need to know what he was bit by. But accidental shipping and transportation are ways they can get into places that are not there range. And I would almost guarantee that is how his got into his house. The fact that specialest examined him and told him what it was while he was in the hospital should be pretty good proof of what bit him. Not many things or any in New Hampshire could do the things that this spider did to him. But you would think that the suppliers would know if they had spiders mixed in with there cricketts or not.

Well I do agree with alphadragon, that there are risks everywhere and it's probably not worth leaving a certain supplier for another. If these are indeed recluses, this could be an isolated case that was brought to their attention and will be taken care of. It is a big supplier and I don't think it's something they would ignore if they knew they had a problem. It's also highly likely that this isn't the first time a company has had a similar problem, but that sort of thing gets taken care of.

So I'm not trying to get anyone to panic or ditch their supplier or anything like that. I just want it to be known that this sort of problem does exist. The risk is out there, so be aware, because it would be a terrible thing if a venomous spider somehow found it's way into our beardie's enclosures.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
1.0 pictus gecko (Nicodemus)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Calcifer)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

A couple spiders may have gotten into the egg crate stack or something?

Amanda is right,, no need to panic or change suplier.
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Joel R

Coming some day.
www.SpikesAndScales.com

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AlphaDragonZ
www.AlphaDragonZ.com

I can believe that it's possible. A friend of mine that orders his adult crix from the same supplier that I have, called to tell me that he's found black widows in his boxes. I've not seen any yet. I have seen quite a few of those ugly orange looking spiders. They really splatter when you kill them. Yech!
Cricket