Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had some real issues with these. I have 2 5-7 month old basilisk who love mealworms moreso then crickets. My issue is that the mealworms will turn into pupa and then beetles too fast before my basilisk go through them. So far, buying online in 1,000 or 2,000 has been the cheapest way to go when buying them, as buying them in a Pet supplies store nearby sells them for 12 for 1$ and i can usually get 1,000 for 12-15$. Does refrigerating them work? Also with the crickets, i buy in bulk (don't have to worry about them turning into beetles )< How many crickets should i keep in one cricket box/tank? I've had issues in the past where a lot would die because of them being over crowded i think. I put fresh fruit in everyday and wet papertowel for water. Any tips or help would be appreciated, thanks!

refridgerating mealworms is a great bet. they can last for months that way.

you can use trashcans to keep crickets in. Just put food and water at the bottom, egg crates stacked up, and viola, perfect cricket tub. If you keep the egg crates at least 12" below the edge of the edge of the trashcan the crickets won't get out.
when I worked at a petstore we would keep several thousand crickets in a trashcan that way. We lost at most a couple hundred crickets a week when it was hot, fewer when it was cool.

I have also been told from a couple reptile breeders that squashes and vegetables actually have more nutritious content to them. Zuccini, carrots, potatoes, and yellow squash are what I gutload crickets with.

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

Just wanted to mention to feel free to feed them the beetle form of the mealworms. You dont have to throw them out or anything, you can feed them as well.

Really on the Beetles? they can handle the shell? Anyways, mine may not like it, as they always leave the mealworms that turn into Pupas while in the tank, they must not like them, not sure.
-Jenny, as far as cleaning the cricket cans, how often do you do that? Thanks for the help guys .