# caring for crickets



## pokerplayer (Jul 22, 2007)

you know those tubs you usally get live food in, well i had an idea, a poor one thinking about it now but...
i thought getting micro crickets, you get hundreds in a tub, and growing them to the right size for my leopard gecko.
i thought they can grow to perfect size, and be fed the best food till they are eaten by the gecko. plus you get more in a tub for the same price. so e.g instead of getting 50 small crickets for £2, i can get 100 micro crickets for £2, grow them, feed them good foods and i will have more
anyway...now in the tub i bought them in. i was going to transfer them to a cricket keeper, but the ventalation holes are too big and the crickets will escape.
so how do i manage to clean the tub without the crickets escaping. i manage to get tweezers in and out to collect old food. but the floor is now covered in cricket poop.
is there an easy way.
next time i will just buy small crickets, have them in a cricket keeper, and do it that way.
sorry for sounding stupid. this is my first reptile, which i havent got yet (getting the gecko on saturday) so arent very good with everything.
thanks
scott


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## slither (Jun 20, 2007)

Hi, my advice would be to make yourself a pooter. Type 'pooter' into google and look at the pics. Dead easy to make and very handy for collecting and moving large amounts of cricks or any other small bugs. hth


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

Problem is, if getting a young gecko they're going to be eating a box of crickets a week... and buying small ones and growing them on will take a while... so your gecko will be hungry before then.

I'd personally just stick to buying the right size.. makes life so much easier.


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## pokerplayer (Jul 22, 2007)

i will buy the right size after this, well i will buy the right size before so my gecko can eat, but in the mean time, what should i do with these crickets?
i may as well still keep them, and grow them bigger, but how can i clean them out.
my idea was a rubbish one, lol. why make things harder then they have to be?


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## hermanlover (Jul 8, 2007)

this may or may not work. i have never tried it but it is worth thinking about. could you get a net, put it over the top of the cricket keeper. turn it upside down so all the crickets fall into the net. then shake the poo out the cricket keeper. it should fall through the net and the replace crickets into clean keeper tank.

sorry if its a stupid idea,
lee


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## pokerplayer (Jul 22, 2007)

sounds like an idea that may work. i could give it a try, whats to lose?
thanks for the suggestion, will let you know how it works.


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## pokerplayer (Jul 22, 2007)

well i said i would let you know how it worked...well it didnt.
it started working well, all crickets went into the large net, and some poo shook out, but some bits didnt fall through the gaps, and trying to put them back into the tub...
well lets just say i ended up with less crickets than i started with. lol, thanks for the suggestion anyway, maybe someone else can get it to work? how does everybody else clean out there crickets?


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## Mr-T (Jan 25, 2007)

i agreaa with athravan, by time you've fed, cleaned out and grown on your crickets it would probably work out to be more cost effecient to have just bought the right size. Then also by time you need to clean the right size ones out they'd all be fed to the rep or dead so I personally wouldn't bother


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## pokerplayer (Jul 22, 2007)

i now know that. a very bad idea on my part.
i have now bought some medium crickets, and some medium locusts. i prefer locusts as they are genarally slower and easier to handle/look after, but i also got some medium silent crickets too for a change for the gecko. its defently easier having the right size now, instead of growning them on. the only thing is i will need to buy atleast 1 box a week, which isnt a problem money wise, only i have to get to the shop which sells bugs every week. im sure i will cope, lol.
thanks for the help anyway. 
can anyone tell me an easy way to clean out medium sized crickets, or for the time they are alive, is it pointless cleaning them out? clearly remove old food and dead crickets tho. i have them in a cricket keeper.
thanks


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## UrbanGeckoWarrior (Aug 13, 2007)

I keep my crickets in a cricket keeper and get the same problem. you take the old food out but theres still the dead crickets. It gets worse as your gecko grows older cos then they dont eat as many crickets. I keep mine in my room and have always just accepted that whatever smell the crickets make i have to live with. Make sure your crickets cant escape through the little holes above the tubes cos they are vicious little buggers.


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## pokerplayer (Jul 22, 2007)

vicious? will they bite and nibble on sleeping humans? i have a few loose ones around...
i alway find dead crickets in the tub, a small number everyday, just guess they dont make it to be eaten.


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