# Photo-Guide to "Handling" Insects Without Actually Touching Them



## HadesDragons (Jun 30, 2007)

Crickets and other livefood can seem a bit daunting, particularly if you don't like insects! I commonly get asked if I know of any ways that they can be "handled" without actually needing to touch them, and without spending hours chasing individual crickets around with tweezers.

I used this morning's delivery of livefood to make this photo-guide to moving insects without the need to touch them. There is also a copy of this that I host Here, along with guides to how we gutload and otherwise care for our Feeder Insects.


Arrival and Unloading:

Crickets ordered in bulk by mail-order usually arrive in bags, like the one shown below, which are inside cardboard boxes:










Get an empty tank to put the crickets into. At this point, it should be completely empty.

Hold the bag vertically and give it a shake to ensure that all crickets fall to the bottom. Open the bag, and remove one of the egg cartons/newspaper balls that are usually inside. These will probably be covered in crickets, so do this over the tank:










Place this carton in the tank, and repeat until all of the cartons/newspaper has been removed:










Give the bag another shake to make sure there are no crickets near to the mouth of the bag. Pour the remaining contents into the tank, including the bran and crickets:










Once all of the loose substrate and crickets are in the tank, turn the bag upside down and, starting at the highest point (the actual bottom of the bag) tap/flick the bag to get any crickets clinging to the sides into the tank. It is possible to skip the first couple of steps and pour everything in - however this can lead to escapes/crickets getting squashed by the egg cartons. The consequences of an egg carton hitting the rim and bouncing out are also pretty unpleasant:










Once all crickets are in the tank, tilt the tank to about 45 degrees to get everything to one end. Add a shallow dish with a wet paper towel and some greens to the other end. Tilting the tank first ensures that no crickets will get trapped under the dish. This is the final result - 500 crickets in a tank with food and shelter, and not a single escapee:


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## HadesDragons (Jun 30, 2007)

Feeding to your Reptiles:

Getting the crickets from the tank, dusting them, and putting them in the cage with your reptiles can be a little daunting if you don't like insects.
Firstly, open the cage and pick up an egg carton with crickets on it. Gently shake some crickets off back into the tank until you are left with roughly the number you want. As long as you are fairly quick, the crickets should stay put on the egg carton, and not come near your hand:










Put the egg carton with crickets on into the top of a plastic bag:










Shake both the bag and egg carton, whilst still holding the egg carton as shown. I hold the carton between my first finger and thumb, and the bag between my ring finger and little finger. This will shake the crickets to the bottom of the bag, where they can't climb out. Put the egg carton back into the tank. These first steps can be repeated until you have the desired number of crickets in the bag:










The bag can be sealed and put in the fridge for a few minutes to slow the crickets down if your reptiles have trouble catching them. 

Add Calcium or Vitamin powder directly to the bag if they are due to be dusted today:










Shake the bag to cover all the crickets in dust.

Pour the entire contents of the bag into a shallow dish in your pet's cage. We use small plastic plant pot trays. Once all of the crickets have been eaten/left the dish, you can remove the dish and reuse the Calcium or Vitamin powder. Powder that has been used once tends to be slightly damp, so should not be re-added to the tub of powder. It will usually keep for 24-48 hours in the bag before it becomes so damp that it starts to clump together:










At no point during this did I need to touch a single cricket!



I Hope this makes sense and is helpful to people who don't like insects!

Andy


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## Drummerkid (Sep 24, 2007)

what a great idiot proof guide, sticky perhaps?


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## Drummerkid (Sep 24, 2007)

O and what sbstrate do you use in the cricket tank and don't they fly out the top?


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## HadesDragons (Jun 30, 2007)

drummerkid1993 said:


> O and what sbstrate do you use in the cricket tank and don't they fly out the top?


I find it best not to use a substrate - I just put the bran from the bag in a pile, along with some fishfood/duckling pellets/chick crumb/anything else high in protein. Any substrate will only end up getting damp from the wet dish and smelling, plus the whole tank has to be emptied every week or so when it's empty and I get a new delivery in!

The tank normally has a lid on so they can't get out. I think they are called "Critter Keepers" or similar - back when I got mine they were known as "Geo Tanks", but I haven't heard anyone call them that for a bit now. Mine vary in size and are proportionally taller than this, but you get the idea of the lid: 










For small crickets I use a dishcloth stretched over the tank and held in place by the lid to stop them from climbing out of the vent. Very fine netting also works.


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## labmad (Sep 23, 2007)

SUPERB..........maybe now I won't have my other half SHRIEKING like mad as one of the escapee's is happily jumping across the carpet whilst she's watching chuffin corry  

GREAT IDEA


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## ANT (Nov 11, 2007)

thats great, thanks for sharing with us


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## linda.t (Sep 28, 2007)

great guide
linda


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## Drummerkid (Sep 24, 2007)

Ok Kool, if you dont mind me asking, where do you get your crickets from?

is it a site?


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## herp boy (May 4, 2007)

nice guide not that i really need it as im not scared of crix :Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## darkdan99 (Dec 28, 2006)

I prefer to serve with a knife and fork


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## bev1 (Jan 28, 2007)

Excellent guide, thanks loads, I just wish you'd done a couple of months ago when I first got my chameleon!!

Still useful though.

:no1:


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## Harrison (Feb 29, 2008)

Excellent guide, I was linked here from another thread. However, when I've seen crickets before in reptile shops, they are jumping all over the place, against the sides of the container... I don't understand how they don't jump out for you. Even picking up the egg container seems impossible to me after seeing this little things move!


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

Why don't mod make it sticky???


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