Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys,

I have had this problem before. For a second time today, I have noticed thousands of baby crickets in one of the chameleon cages. They die soon after, but how can I prevent this from happening?!?! They keep laying eggs in the pot of the plant. I often find cricket eggs scattered around the bottom of the cage (which I clean up), but how can I stop this from happening. Aparently the misint systems are working like mother nature, but in a bad way this time!!! And, to top it off, the crickets MOCK me by not hatching in their tupperwares where they are suppose to, lol!!!!!

Ank-Inc.
Adam.

Adam,
You can prevent it by making the potted plant soil inaccessible for the crickets, or by not allowing more than a few crickets in there at a time (ie: only feed them what they'll eat immediately in front of you, and don't leave excess crickets running around). There's nothing necessarily bad about them running around in there unless they're getting into your house. Baby crickets won't "nibble" on a chameleon like an adult cricket can. Doesn't your mist system drown them all anyways? If you really have "thousands" of crickets, it's not because one or two female crickets is laying eggs in the plant. It would take a good number of crickets over a decent amount of time. Probably the easiest thing would be to make the plants harder to get into for the crickets and the problem should go away.

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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

You could take weedblocker and wrap up the pot of the plant. Cut a square peice of the black fabric. Put the plant in the center. Pull up the sides to the trunk of the plant. Then take a plastic pull tie, to secure the fabric around the trunk.

Voila, water passes through, birds dont! and crickets...

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is moisture building up which can rot the trunk and/or crown as well as provide a perfect breeding gorund for fungus gnats. Personally, I'd opt for the crickets! lol!
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

pain in the Batooties, They are really pesty and hard to get rid off. I sometimes get them if my leaftail enclosure gets too wet/ sphagnum moss has to dry out.

I would much rather hav ethe crickets too!

Put a piece of eggcrate in the pot or near the bottom and let the crickets get in there, and then dump them in a container and let em grow to feeding size .
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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

Adam - some of the old timer's here will remember that plastic canvas is my answer for just about anything. It is great for covering plant soil. If you don't know what it is, it is used in crafts and can be bought in sheets at any store that sells craft items (Michael's, Wal-Mart, etc.) and is very cheap - cpomes in some cool colors if you want to get it to match your cham - .

Anyway, you can cut it to size and and put it on top of soil and hold in place with paper clips. It comes in 2 size meshes #7 and #10 (number of holes per inch). The female cricket could still fit her ovipositor b/t the mesh, but less likely. The best answer is to not leave any in there or at least not as many try to get the adult females out.

here's a pic

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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet