Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi fellow gecko lovers.

I'm a gecko newbie who'll be getting two adult gecko's next week. Instead of getting ripped off by my only local pet store who sells mealworms for a dollar a piece, I thought I'd look into buying food online.

Would it be crazy to buy 500 crickets and 500 mealworms at a time for two geckos? I think the mealworms should be fine but I'm worried about the crickets lasting more than month.

For how long do you keep crickets at a time?

Thanks.

I suggest that you breed the mealworms. This will easily happen by itself if you're buying 500 at a time to feed only two leos. The crickets should be fine too if you can keep them alive for that long. Just make sure to keep their enclosure VERY well ventilated and dry. Don't worry about providing them with water or fresh veggies all the time because the bacterial growth will actually kill them before dehydration does (unless they're baby crickets). You have to make sure nothing moist comes in contact with their poop, but that's difficult to do because they poop everywhere. I also recommend ordering the 3/4" size crickets because you at least get some time with peace and quiet before the crickets grow their wings and start chirping.
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chickabowwow

No, 500 is a perfect number to start with. I got mine from American Cricket Ranch.com (am I allowed to post site names?). That site is good because their prices are lower than most sites, and the feeders are shipped in these little containers that can be used for breeding if you want. I bought 500 mealies there in November, and I left them exactly how they were, and now they've multiplied quite a bit. That way I won't have to keep reordering every month. Crickets, on the other hand, I haven't had much luck breeding, but 500 a month for 2 geckos seems like a substantial amount.
American Cricket Ranch

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~*Chibi*~
Sir Iggy ( 1.0.0 El Salvador Blue Iguana), Ryo-ohki, Orion, Bud, & Finnegan (3.1.0 crazy kitties), Rosebud (0.1.0 cockerspaniel), and Kayko (0.0.1 leopard gecko)

>...500 a month for 2 geckos seems like a substantial amount.

It's true. Most of those 500 crickets would die before you got around to using them. But, there IS a simple solution: Buy More Geckos.

Oh, I wish I could! But I have a 2 yr old who likes to get into things and a space problem. I've been looking into getting a red eyed tree frog at the moment, and maybe another kitty though.
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~*Chibi*~
Sir Iggy ( 1.0.0 El Salvador Blue Iguana), Ryo-ohki, Orion, Bud, & Finnegan (3.1.0 crazy kitties), Rosebud (0.1.0 cockerspaniel), and Kayko (0.0.1 leopard gecko)

Hi there. I think 500 crickets would be alot, but you'll probably save money in the long run. If buying 500, you may want to get smaller crickets so they will live longer. Don't quote me on this, but I seem to remember a distributor telling me they don't live too long after they reach adulthood (5wks) . As for the mealworms - you can breed them yes, or if you don't want to.. you can refrigerate them, it's puts them in a dormant mode. You will want to warm them to room temp a couple times a week and feed them potato's, carrots, apples... fruits and veggies. They can live many many weeks in this condition. I order my food through www.sunshinemealworms.com (M-F 800-322-1100)- those guys are great, and my orders always arrive accurate,on time and alive. I have a price list right here on crickets through Sunshine (any size)
100 @ $5.00
250 @ $7.00
500 @ $10.00
Anyways.. hope this helps! Good luck!

I've found the best way to keep crickets alive is to feed them orange slices. It is a food and water source for them. I also feed mine Fluker's cricket feed.

I'm going to go with the bulk mealworms but will start off with buying crickets locally to start with. Once I have an idea how many crickets my two geckos will eat, I'll think of buying the crickets in bulk.

Right now having 500 crickets in the house scares my husband.

Thanks again.

I went to a show and bought a box of 1000 Crix. They didn't even last a week. I got the 3/4" size, so I assume that they still had time to grow and live once full grown.

I think the reason why they all died was the fact that my apartment was so humid. I use a ruppermaid container to hold them with many many holes drilled on the lid. Although there was air flow, i don't think it was enough becuase the container had major condensation issues. I think that may have been what killed them all. Also, the veggies that I had in there wilted much faster than having a few dozen in the container.

I would recommend a container as large as you can accomendate in your gecko area or where ever you hold the crix. If you have a large amount of crix in a small container, the poop and bacteria will just spread faster, making the crix less helath and the container smellier. Make sure there is proper ventilation and little to no humidity in the conatiner. If you use rubbermaid containers, buy a second one so you can transfer the crix to the second one, making cleaning the other one easy. Do that often.

I've checked out a lot of online places to order feeders from. I've tried American Cricket Ranch and had issues with them. I'm now going to try Flukers because they also sell the Crix and mealworm feed on the same site. They have the best prices I've found. They also sell a special crix container that seems like it will come in handy. I just ordered one so I'll let everybody know if it's worth it.

Jason
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LEOS:
1.0 Tremper Giant Albino (Diesel)
0.1 High Yellow (Ayla)
0.1 Hypo (Red Sonja)
0.0.3 Juvies (Dremel, Ryobi & Mufasa)
R.I.P. (Conan)

CATS:
2.0 Maine Coons (Sam & Tye)

FIANCÉE:
0.1 Tall Blonde (Christine)