# Catching crickets without disaster?



## milligerb (Feb 13, 2011)

Is this actually achieveable?

I hate feeding crickets to my scorp, the amount of them that must be roaming around my room is beyond me, and my mother would have a heart attack if she knew 

So, do you seasoned cricket feeders have any tips on how to catch them without escapees or kamikazee box jumpers?

I normally use tweezers/feeding tongs to catch them but sometimes their legs drop off and then I've basically lost them :roll:


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## iiisecondcreep (Oct 29, 2007)

use your fingers! And don't pick them up by the legs. Much easier to catch them.

If you really don't want to touch them then put them in the fridge for ten minutes first, it will slow them right down and you should be able to use your tweezers and pick them up by the legs as they won't struggle.


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## malky201 (Sep 16, 2006)

It used to freak me out (mind you so did spiders) but yeah I just pick them up too, I don't think they bite or anything....or at least i've not had that pleasure yet :lol2:


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

Fridge for 5 minutes slows them right down, then you can just grab them. For escapees in your room, get a couple of those sticky traps and put them next to the skirting board.


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## malky201 (Sep 16, 2006)

Sticky traps?


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## JurassicParking (Nov 20, 2010)

How I do it:

1.) Buy pack of small sandwich bags.

2.) Go out side with one bag and your cricket tub

3.) Put / grab / shake crickets into the sandwich bag

4.) Take whereever to feed. 


I also use this method to dust crickets for my amphibs, only had three escapees so far and they seem to either get killed by me in the end or die off in corners.


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## Willenium (Apr 17, 2008)

When I remember, I open the tub inside a carrier bag so if any jump out they are contained and can be caught easily. Usually I don't remember however and a couple end up on the loose until caught.


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## DougSandland (Mar 14, 2011)

I stand in my shower cubical :2thumb: then they cant run/hide/jump out of reach. And those who evade capture....well they either learn to swim or they dont :devil:


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## milligerb (Feb 13, 2011)

Ahh cheers everyone, will try the fridge method next time 

He only eats once in a blue moon & I usually alternate between crickets and mealworms so the crickets don't actually come out all that much tbh but it's useful to know


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

iiisecondcreep said:


> use your fingers! And don't pick them up by the legs. Much easier to catch them.
> 
> If you really don't want to touch them then put them in the fridge for ten minutes first, it will slow them right down and you should be able to use your tweezers and pick them up by the legs as they won't struggle.


not tried the fridge, but grabbing one results in 3-4 jumping out & scarpering to where they can be heard but not seen!:devil:



malky201 said:


> It used to freak me out (mind you so did spiders) but yeah I just pick them up too, I don't think they bite or anything....or at least i've not had that pleasure yet :lol2:


some can bite- silents & blacks can nip pretty bad.


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## Janos (Oct 26, 2009)

It requires a degree of ninja skillz (sic) blind luck and trying very hard to not either shake the box, put your shadow over it or basically do anything to startle the wee bastards. Also, buy a few of these


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## thething84 (Apr 26, 2010)

i tend to just catch mine in my hand. never been bitten yet. also i transfer my crickets into a bigger rub which they cannot jump out off.


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## milligerb (Feb 13, 2011)

Thanks for the ideas 

Might get a tall rub or something, at the moment they just live in the box they came in


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## PeterUK (Jun 21, 2008)

milligerb said:


> Thanks for the ideas
> 
> Might get a tall rub or something, at the moment they just live in the box they came in


If you move them to a larger box, you can feed them easier as well 
Little bit of fishflake food and a piece of carrot or orange and they will thank you forever :lol2:
ps. . . a substrate of porridge oats (50p 1kg asda) will make them smell much better and they eat it as well : victory:

I use different size containers for different size crickets, makes things much easier : victory:


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## JonnyB359 (Apr 3, 2011)

Transfering the livefoods into a larger container is far better. I keep mine in a 1ft(H) x 2ft(W) x 1ft(D) ATM. Will probably invest in a plastic storage box at some point.

Oh and any escape artists i've had have been picked up by hand or had a cup placed over them and then paper slid underneath


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## MustLoveSnails (Aug 2, 2009)

milligerb said:


> I normally use tweezers/feeding tongs to catch them but sometimes their legs drop off and then I've basically lost them :roll:


 Legs drop off? Is that all? The one time I attempted to tweezer a cricket something made me jump so I squeezed to hard and itts guts exploded everywhere 




Those sticky cricket traps are awesome for escapees, I tend to just let my cat eat them though :whistling2:


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