Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys,

I have a very unique idea. My cages aren't completely insect proof. However my chameleon room is basically sealed off from the rest of my house, so the crickets don't bother me, except for in the chameleon room. It crawls with them!!! Since completely insect proofing the cages would be difficult, I just thought up a new idea....Mantids. My plan is to let about a dozen adult praying mantises go in the chameleon room, and let them free range and control the insects. I have thought of doing this with chameleons, but then they will be able to see eachother. So, mantises is the way to go. However, I have a feeling that this idea is going to get out of hand.... Can you guys see anything wrong with my idea???

***brushes a cricket off leg***

Ank-Inc.
Adam.

Just remember all those countries that have tried to introduce foreign creatures to control things. It doesn't always go as planned. I think you should get a free roaming bearded dragon. My sub adult can eat more than 80 crickets a day.
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CANADIAN CHAMELEONS

I was going to say to release a tokay gecko or a leopard gecko.... I had a leopard gecko escape for a few months, and I finally found him better looking and fatter than I'd ever seen him.

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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

He would look Stunning in my Christmas Stocking
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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

I've got about 25 of his kids running around here. Remind me next time I ship you something....
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

I'm going to be getting something soon hunh ? hehhee LMAO

You KNOW what I want, and yeah, a leo kid or TWO would be SWEET !
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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

I've got what you want, you just say the word and "it's" on the way.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

Right off the top of my head, I'd have to say the mantid's own appetite would probably be more than your occassional lost cricket can provide. Plus they're relatively not that long-lived anyways.
I've heard people talk about releasing a few house geckos to help control the 'lost cricket' population, but I personally think that having to police your room for gecko poo would be more trouble than it's worth.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Yeah I'd say geckos would be your best bet. My day gecko got loose and cleaned up my stray fruit fly problem (dart tank) for about 1 month.

*p.s. Bearded dragons = mega poo on the carpet.
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1.0 Picasso panther chameleon (Pablo)
1.0 D. Tinctorius (Cobalt V.)
0.1.1 D. Auratus
0.0.1 Golddust Day Gecko

Agreed, plus, with mantids, they'd probably have a hard time getting to the crickets underneath furniture, tables, etc (where the crickets would be). I've had mantids loose in the chameleon room and they just mostly hung out on the sides of the screen cages all the time. The nice thing with leopard geckos is that they're pretty well "automatically" trained to "mess" all in one area. I found the leftovers from my loose gecko all piled up in a corner underneath some extra sheets of plastic. They do the same thing in the cages, usually keep their mess to one corner or a certain area of the tank. My cham room has a concrete floor, so I don't have to worry about carpet getting dirty.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

If you're going to free range a cleanup lizard, I recommend a phelsuma. Nicer, friendlier, and more managable than tokays, an dless likely to eat your little chameleons. A friend of mine accidently left the lid to his baby veield cage open one night,and his cricket control tokays ate every single last one.

Phelsuma are pretty bright. My brother's got one that lives in his bedroom, free. Female standingi are very territorial towards other females, and pairs lay lots of eggs. They like it hot and will eat any small ting that escapes. I have heard stories of them learning how to open other cages with loose latches, and then eating th eother geckos as they escape.

Suckers are long lived - our breeder female is the same one we used to keep with the panther, 12 years ago. They live at least 25 years, possibly more.

They're also smart enough not to get themselves killed in your house - something tokays often do.

They crap everywhere though.

Hey,

After reading all of this, I have decided that perhaps a free-ranging clean up lizard will just be more of a hassle. I chose mantids at first, cause they are one of my favorite animals. However, it all seems too difficult. So, does anyone have anyother ideas??? I have alot more that "your occasional loose cricket"!!! I have ALOT!!! I tryed putting those glue traps around the room, and either the crickets could walk over it, or they didn't go onto it, cause there was not one cricket ever stuck in it. Any other ideas???

Ank-Inc.
Adam.

I sprinkle gutload in the center of the sticky traps I place in my basement, and they are loaded with loose crickets. But - the crickets are a huge fan of the gutload that I use. If yours aren't, it may not work as well.

Very, very good idea!!! My crickets aren't a big fan of gut load really...I will use a small slice of orange...that 'll fix their wagon!

Ank-Inc.
Adam.

You may wanna consider switching gutloads.... They should love it, and if they don't, your chameleons may be lacking something. There's a few excellent gutloads out there that they'll swarm to, and there's likely nothing more important in a chameleon's health than a good gutload.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

This is just a thought but what about creating a cricket trap? Or is there such a thing? Something that would be able to trap them live to use later? (Not sure if they die from the sticky paper, didnt reall say)

But just an idea that popped into my head while reading, has anyone seen the minnow traps that are a cylinder, with 2 funnels on each side leading in? Would something like that be hard to create, and fill it with gutload or fresh fruit?

As to the following picture... the (c) says it all...

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1:1 Veileds (Gene and Alis)
1:0 Sambava Panther (Knoxville)
1:1 Albino Clawed Frogs (Phedre and Jos)
?? Fire belly toad (Harold)
Various cats and dogs