# Anyone cut the back legs off their crickets for feeding?



## Tetlee (Oct 19, 2006)

Hi all,

rather a barbaric sounding title & I feel pretty cruel doing it so just wondered if anyone else cuts the back legs off the poor crix?

Due to the peat/bark substrate used for my Fire Skinks, I've been finding that every time I put the crickets in the viv they immediatly bury themselves into the substrate only to reappear every evening after lights out. This would be well & good with nocturnal lizards but Fire Skinks are not so they are sleeping when the crickets are out roaming about the place.

Now today I decided the best solution could be to cut both the back legs of the crix(tried just one first but that didn't help matters) & pop them in a tub where they cannot escape but the Skinks can easily reach.

For sure when my girlfriend gets home shes going to feel pretty discusted at this act as she keeps saying, they'll get them, leave them, but the lizards are not going to catch them as they are & the longer they stay in there the gut loading is surely going to be a wasted effort?

Please some others admit to having to do the same vicious act so I can tell the gf I'm not the only one :twisted: 

Lee.


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## nicky (Jul 13, 2005)

i do it all the time for my leo, but i just pull them off mate lol....i do this with crickets and hoppers which are her favs....


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## Candy_Shop (Aug 26, 2005)

I do it too, well I give the knees on their big jumping legs a good squeeze with the feeding tongs to slow them down a bit. I've got the laziest leo in the world. She can't be bothered chasing her food around!


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## speedy123 (Aug 26, 2006)

by squeezing the legs they drop off, but it is really cruel and although i did initially do it when i was worried about the crickets going in the wood i soon realised they came out for food and most died with the heat anyway.

you could try feeding outside the tank i do it on the floor sometimes.


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## nicky (Jul 13, 2005)

to be honest their about to die anyway??


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## speedy123 (Aug 26, 2006)

so if someone is about to kill you, you wouldnt mind having both your legs cut off? cos your gonna die anyway right?

its just more humane but there your crickets at the end of the day


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## Neonius (Jul 23, 2006)

my m8 does it for his leo, they are so fast i doubt many lizards can catch them at full speed


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## markhill (Sep 22, 2006)

i dont bother for my bd, she eats them all as soon as i put them in they dont get chance to run away.


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## bbewekim (Sep 20, 2006)

My Rankins feeds from the tweezers, any strays get munched as soon as they drop as long as she sees them.


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## Tetlee (Oct 19, 2006)

Thanks for the replies, it's good to know I'm not the only one using this not nice method.

At least it does seem to be working well, I actually cut the legs at the knee joint so the crix are still moving around alot to tempt the lizards. The male has been there & scoffed four so far so alot more success than the previous six crix I put in that were still wandering about 3 nights later.

I'd toyed with the idea of moving the lizards into a large container for feeding & covering with mesh but as I've only had the lizards less than a week I really want them to settle in. Even then I wouldn't like to dig them out every time I want to feed them, I don't think it would be fair as these are obviously quite secrative & shy lizards, the female spends most of her time underground.

I also tried feeding by hand & just holding the cricket in the tweezers by one leg, even the male though didn't seem interested in taking it that way & he does seem quite confident in general.

Thanks again for the responses.

Oh, and really for anyone that thinks this is a cruel method. I kind of feel the same way, but at the same time I'm not a veggie so shouldn't as I know alot of the animals I end up eating probably aren't treated as humanely as I'd like to think. At the end of the day I simply care more for the lizards than I do for the crickets.


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## Jinx (May 31, 2005)

I pinch their legs with my nails so they break. Yes sounds horrible but my beardy would starve if i did'nt do it. lmao. 
He's not good at catchin cricks, he gets let out for exercise and goes on mad hyper runs up and down the room and climbs over everything including me. lol


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## beestingbutterfly (Oct 1, 2006)

DON'T PULL LEGS!! you meanies!!! stick them in the fridge for a few mins, they slow right down!! :wink:


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## Tetlee (Oct 19, 2006)

beestingbutterfly said:


> DON'T PULL LEGS!! you meanies!!! stick them in the fridge for a few mins, they slow right down!! :wink:


I read about this before, but despite being a very usefull tip, unfortunatly it doesn't help my situation. 

You see the thing is Fire Skinks spend most of their time underground & are very shy to the viv doors being opened so when I open to pop the crix in they're gone like a shot. The crickets are very quick to dig into the substrate where they stay hidden until lights out when the lizards are sleeping. Even if the crickets eventually get eaten(which is doubtfull), the nutritional benefits of gut loading are obviously lost the longer the crickets evade the skinks.

Perhaps you can see my problem & why I decided I had to adopt this rather cruel method(I hate doing it to be honest).


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## Flake1 (Aug 16, 2006)

Cutting Legs off? :shock: lol

The fun part is the feeding! do it by hand - loads of fun and rewarding. I fed my beardie from hand ever since i had got her as a hatchling. Now I don’t as she is 3500 miles away  But my point is that it only takes 10 minutes of your time and you have the pleasure of letting the lizard take the cricket from your hand... i done it everyday so it's possible to give them this time. If you think it will make your lizard lazy it's not true as i sometimes put some crickets in and she went for all of them... Maybe it’s different for Geckos as beardies are pig’s lol

But anyhow your pet your rules, my advice.


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## Tetlee (Oct 19, 2006)

I'd be happy to spend 30 minutes a day feeding the lizards, the thing is for the moment at least, my Fire Skinks are very shy so hand feeding isn't an option. Believe me I've tried it, but they're gone under the substrate before I can even open the doors.

I don't like to dig them out of the substrate as I'm a great believer in allowing my reptiles to have their spce & not be disturbed if they wish to hide.

Hopefully I'll be able to tame them alot over time, I guess it doesn't help the fact they were wild caught(most Fire Skinks in the pet trade are apparently).

Not meaning to be in any way rude but please people read the full thread before judging me for being cruel or lazy, I don't class myself as either of these things.


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## dragon (Oct 17, 2006)

I no longer feed crickets to my dragons. I found that my C. pictus and C. cristatus were not eating the crickets and at night there was a population of growing (in size not number) crickets in the vivs. 
My female Painted lost the bottom third of her tail and, as she was alone in the viv, the only thing I can put it down to is attack by hungry crickets.
Pulling off the legs may be cruel, but shoving an iron bar through an animal's jaw and hauling the fish out of the water by it, just for the fun of throwing it back is not too flash either. 
We do what we must.


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## beestingbutterfly (Oct 1, 2006)

dragon said:


> I no longer feed crickets to my dragons. I found that my C. pictus and C. cristatus were not eating the crickets and at night there was a population of growing (in size not number) crickets in the vivs.
> *My female Painted lost the bottom third of her tail and, as she was alone in the viv, the only thing I can put it down to is attack by hungry crickets.*
> Pulling off the legs may be cruel, but shoving an iron bar through an animal's jaw and hauling the fish out of the water by it, just for the fun of throwing it back is not too flash either.
> We do what we must.


Thats y u should always feed your live food before they meet your animals!! whats the point in feeding starved insects to your animals?? they have little nutritional value anyway!! i hate insects but they do have a good life at my house!! :lol:


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## scarlettvegetable (Jan 4, 2006)

They are nasty little shites if you feed them or not...


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## beestingbutterfly (Oct 1, 2006)

tell me about it... Ever been stung by a female black cric???  still 100% better 4 the reps if they r fed!!


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## scarlettvegetable (Jan 4, 2006)

Stung?They cant sting can they? Iv been bitten by them and thats enough.

I know they are better when gut loaded, I was just stating that even if they are fed they still bite everything in sight! :lol:


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## beestingbutterfly (Oct 1, 2006)

yeah, we had to breed them in college a few yers back, the Females have chutes for their eggs, they stick them in the soil but in my case my F*ckin finger!! :lol: :lol:


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## scarlettvegetable (Jan 4, 2006)

Oh right, not a proper sting then...I thought you meant properly stung. I bred crickets a couple months ago, they stank though so I fed them all to my bosc, he didnt complain!


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