Cricket Comedy of Errors

[Micherie]

I am a new owner of my first reptile, a crested gecko. I bought a small cricket keeper and I buy 25 medium to large at a time for a one week supply and let me tell you... it is not easy caring for these little guys. They make a HUGE mess and they're kinda stinky!! And they have started eating the sponge that came with their keeper, even though I am feeding them those orange cubes!! I don't know what to do about that.

Also what do I do with them while I am cleaning their keeper?? I just tried to clean their keeper with them in it and it was a disaster. They are too in the way and I was afraid of injuring them and I spilled their water everywhere. I put a paper towel in there to soak up the water for their safety, but now they have climbed all over it so it will be difficult to get it out and I also noticed that I got their food wet and their keeper is still not clean, lol. At least I got the dead one out! Maybe they just need a bigger keeper???

What is the best way to capture an escapee??? This is for future reference... cause I'm pretty sure when I go to get that paper out I'll have some rogue critters on my hands!!

UGH. Any advice would be great!

 

[acpart]

Get a small tank, like 2.5 or 5 gallons. Put powdered grain gutload on the bottom to cover about half the tank. Put in some egg crate for the crickets to stand on (if they have nowhere to stand, they die sooner). Get a small jar lid and put in some of the orange cubes, which are liquid for them, not nutrition. Change the orange cubes if they start drying up or looking filthy. Whenever you use up the crickets, empty the tank and re-do it. I go through 2-3000 crickets every 2 weeks (I use larger enclosures, obviously) and this works pretty well.

Aliza

 

[Micherie]

Wow! Thank you! I have one female crested gecko.... how many do you think she should have per day? I also feed her Rapashy.

 

[acpart]

I put in about 3-4 crickets twice a week for my crested geckos. Some of them love them and some won't eat them. If you can handle your gecko, and she's not eating the crickets, hold her and gently poke a cricket at her mouth. Hopefully she'll bit it and discover how delicious it is.

Aliza

 

[Micherie]

Oh no.... she goes after them like a banshee! HAHAHA!!! The last ones I got were too big I think. She seemed ok with them but I dunno.....