# dust crickets??



## DiNgLy (May 23, 2009)

Just a bit of advice please, Recently aquired a beardie and
i dont dust the crickets...i put the calcium powder on the crickets food...is this wrong of me...as its still going in to the beardie??

any advice much appreciated, Thankyou!


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## **starry11** (Apr 3, 2009)

It's good to put it on the crickets food anyway, the healthier your crickets the healthier your beardie. You an also buy a calcium paste specially designed to feed to crickets that bumps up the calcium value in them. You can add a calcium supplement to the water too and also leave a small container (i use milk bottle caps for my leo) filled with calcium powder just so they have access to it if they feel they need it. You would better dusting the crickets themselves. My leo generally won't take them if they are dusted so if you dip the underbelly of the crickets in calcium they will still have some dust on them but appear normal to your beardie.
Hope it helps


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## DiNgLy (May 23, 2009)

aww cheers, i will look in to buying the paste...ive herd about the water one before...how do u dust them?..i find it hard i kno people say put them in a bag n shake it up so they get dusty ect...or one by one...but when i have tried this in the past i have lots of escaped crickets jumping round! maybe im just not doing it right! even when putting food in...food goes in crickets jump out!


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## **starry11** (Apr 3, 2009)

Ha it can be tricky! Usually i do it one by one. Get a spoon( i use plastic ones) and scoop em up and into a cup or plastic bag that has some dust already in it. Shake about and there you go. 
Oh and they sometimes jump off the spoon lol so you end up chasing them aroun the floor


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## DiNgLy (May 23, 2009)

**starry11** said:


> Ha it can be tricky! Usually i do it one by one. Get a spoon( i use plastic ones) and scoop em up and into a cup or plastic bag that has some dust already in it. Shake about and there you go.
> Oh and they sometimes jump off the spoon lol so you end up chasing them aroun the floor



LMAO....i will give it a goo  thanks for the advice ur are a star, as ur name says


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## reptiles_galore (Aug 13, 2008)

to dust them we just get a tea spoon of calcium dust, open the corner of the cricket tub and ram the spoon in. pull it out close the tub and take it outside and give it a shake 
Dave


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## DiNgLy (May 23, 2009)

Cheers...i will try this also..:2thumb: and see wat the best outcome is!! hehe


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## smaug (Apr 12, 2009)

my poor crickets get dunked in the calci dust whilst being held in the tongs!!!!! I'm a wimp and hate them.............Spot has got used to white crickets now. However.......................not yet sussed out the locusts - they just escape *mutter mutter*


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## DiNgLy (May 23, 2009)

lmao....the amount of times ive had to grip hold of crickets...by the leg...i dread to think about the leg coming off....they creep me out though...it's the jumping if they just crawled it would be ok!!

I loved the whole "My poor crickets" + "mutter mutter" lmao hahahaha


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## DiNgLy (May 23, 2009)

reptiles_galore said:


> to dust them we just get a tea spoon of calcium dust, open the corner of the cricket tub and ram the spoon in. pull it out close the tub and take it outside and give it a shake
> Dave


i tried this technique today it got a lot of them covered hahaha CHEERS: victory:


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## snakecharmer (Nov 9, 2007)

tip for subduing frisky crickets:- pop the tub in the fridge for a couple of minutes! It makes the crickets sleepy so you you can pick them up easily without all the rest pinging out of the tub! This is especially handy with really tiny crickets. I pop mine stright into the tub of powder and then let them jump out into the tank... :2thumb:


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## Roblin (May 4, 2009)

snakecharmer said:


> tip for subduing frisky crickets:- pop the tub in the fridge for a couple of minutes! It makes the crickets sleepy so you you can pick them up easily without all the rest pinging out of the tub! This is especially handy with really tiny crickets. I pop mine stright into the tub of powder and then let them jump out into the tank... :2thumb:


A tip for larger crickets is to put them in a paper coffee cup with a little vitamin dust in. Spin them around and they should be sufficiently disoriented for you to easily grab them with tweezers/tongs. This also minimises wastage of vitamins. 

Once they're in the tongs, try turning them over so their back is parallel with the floor (easier said than done, I know) - i've found that this stops them struggling. Best place to grab is the thorax - although to initially catch the blighters, forelegs and/or wings are better, then you can hold the cricket between thumb and forefinger to adjust your grip.

It may be possible to get fussy herps to accept dusted crickets by offering waxworms/butterworms - when they get used to eating white food, try dusted crickets.

As a closing note, I've managed to reduce the number of escapes by placing the lid across one side of the tub whilst slecting my frog's dinner - as crickets tend to jump horizontally, they're not able to get the angles necessary to clear the sides/lid.


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## DiNgLy (May 23, 2009)

snakecharmer said:


> tip for subduing frisky crickets:- pop the tub in the fridge for a couple of minutes! It makes the crickets sleepy so you you can pick them up easily without all the rest pinging out of the tub! This is especially handy with really tiny crickets. I pop mine stright into the tub of powder and then let them jump out into the tank... :2thumb:


LOL i actually did put mine in the fridge after reading it somewere...but it didnt say only a few minutes...so i left them in over night to find them half dead they did recover several hours later :S i have lernt from tht mistake..Cheers i will try putting them in for a few mins!


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## DiNgLy (May 23, 2009)

Roblin said:


> A tip for larger crickets is to put them in a paper coffee cup with a little vitamin dust in. Spin them around and they should be sufficiently disoriented for you to easily grab them with tweezers/tongs. This also minimises wastage of vitamins.
> 
> Once they're in the tongs, try turning them over so their back is parallel with the floor (easier said than done, I know) - i've found that this stops them struggling. Best place to grab is the thorax - although to initially catch the blighters, forelegs and/or wings are better, then you can hold the cricket between thumb and forefinger to adjust your grip.
> 
> ...


I dont think he is a fussy eater, eats it as soon as it moves, so hopefully shud be the same with the powder on, so far soo good! 
cheers for the info!!


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## Roblin (May 4, 2009)

No worries - good luck!


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## Dan27 (May 10, 2009)

Ahhh I remember having to do this with crickets!
They're quick little things aren't they D:

I find it's so much easier with locust, since they can't run, and actually have method in their jumps - unlike crickets that just bounce whichever way their legs take them :lol:

Plus, locust are easy to catch because you can grab their big back legs.
Try them, they're much easier & less creepy


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## DiNgLy (May 23, 2009)

i have given him locusts on a few occasions there ok wen there big...my m8 feeds her frillys big locust's they dnt bother me...but if they jumped on me id freak out i think!!


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## Roblin (May 4, 2009)

The other advantage is that locusts don't run for the shadows, which makes them a better feeder than crickets as they won't be disappearing in whatever shelters/backgrounds you have.


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## DiNgLy (May 23, 2009)

yeahh thts true and they are easier too see on logs ect!!


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## reptiles_galore (Aug 13, 2008)

i hate all live food, but its worth doing it for my babies 
Dave


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## dgreenway2005 (May 4, 2009)

locusts are alot easier to feed and catch but i prefer crickets because you get more in a box


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## DiNgLy (May 23, 2009)

reptiles_galore said:


> i hate all live food, but its worth doing it for my babies
> Dave


yeahh, i have to agree with that


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## Grond (Jun 17, 2008)

keep them in a deep plastic box with some eggboxes. They can't easily jump out of the box, and when you want some you just put your bag in the bottom and tap the eggbox over it. Because all the crickets are hiding in the eggboxes, it's easy and I virtually never have escapees.


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## blissfull (May 16, 2009)

i get a big sandwich bag put a lil dust in the bottom then put the whole box of crickets in open the box in the bag count how many get out then slam the box shut and none of the crickets have escaped shut the bag then shake and bake and put em in the fridge for bout 15 mins


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## Jackman94 (Mar 18, 2009)

You can get a proper cricket keeper box that has tubes coming out of the box then you just take the tube out and put the crickets in the tube in a sandwich bag or something with the calcium dust in shake it then put them in. Easy to use and Cheap :2thumb:


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## DiNgLy (May 23, 2009)

Jackman94 said:


> You can get a proper cricket keeper box that has tubes coming out of the box then you just take the tube out and put the crickets in the tube in a sandwich bag or something with the calcium dust in shake it then put them in. Easy to use and Cheap :2thumb:


sounds like a neat device  i will look it up haha..does it have a name??


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## imitebmike (Jun 22, 2008)

be careful with the cricket keepers...apparentaly crickets can escape from them x_x


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