Pinhead Problem

[Glider]

I've recently noticed that in two of my knobtail enclosures, some feeder crickets have apparently laid eggs which have now hatched. This is a problem because the pinhead crickets are annoying the geckos, and I'm not sure how to get rid of them.

Any ideas? The baby crickets are far too small to just pick up, and I don't want to spray them with insecticide. I can clean out the whole enclosure and change the sand and everything, but what's to stop it happening again?

Has anyone else had this problem, or know how I might be able to 'disable' the large female crickets apparatus?

[Kyro]

You could just put some egg cartons in there & wait for them to all jump on it & then remove them

[wood_nymph]

get a toilet paper roll and put some carrot in there and they'll go to the carrot empty them into something else whenever you see them in there and you'll get most of them pretty quick

[cmclean]

Best way in future is too clean out the crickets if they have not been eaten. I tend to check for ones still alive in enclosure, that haven't been eaten, I take those out, and when ready I feed them again.
Last thing you want is your knobbies being chewed on....
Just good husbandry.

[Naxx]

haha t ypical strength in numbers theory, sure u eat the moms but then the babies slowly take vengence on your geckos bwahaha

[Glider]

Originally Posted by cmclean

Best way in future is too clean out the crickets if they have not been eaten. I tend to check for ones still alive in enclosure, that haven't been eaten, I take those out, and when ready I feed them again.
Last thing you want is your knobbies being chewed on....
Just good husbandry.

As most of my knobtails will not come out to eat while the lights are on and people are around, they are provided crickets in the evening and excess removed in the morning. That still leaves 12 hours for the females to lay any eggs in the enclosure.
I don't agree with your suggestion that this is poor husbandry.

[Viridae]

Take the gex out. Add some dry ice in a container of water (speeds the transition to gaseous carbon dioxide) leave for an hour or so. Point a fan at the tub for a few minutes on high to exchange the co2 laden air for fresh. Re-add gex.

[JasonL]

Easy fix, remove geckos for one night and replace with a sand swimmer, by morning it will be free of any bugs.

[Glider]

Viridae- good idea, I wonder where I can get some dry ice from

Jason- thats even better, can I borrow your sand swimmer?

[Viridae]

Originally Posted by Glider

Viridae- good idea, I wonder where I can get some dry ice from

Jason- thats even better, can I borrow your sand swimmer?

Should be reasonably easy to get hold of. BOC gases should see lit, as should Air Liquide. Just find a local retailer.

[PhilK]

How do you know they're annoying your geckoes? Crawling all over them etc?

In about a week they'll starve to death, but you can put a shallow bottle cap of water in and they'll drown themselves, I found.

As for disabling mum's egg layer. Before you throw her in, get a pair of scissors, find the ovipositor (big black thing poking out her butt) and snip it off as close as possible to her body.

[Magpie]

Put a little spider in there.

[snakeman112]

Thats waht i Do Mappie

[Twiggz]

I say take the gex out and get your hands dirty. Pull what you can out of the tub (ie water bowls, branches etc) and grind the sand between your fingers and palms- will squash any remaining eggs and kill of the pesky pinheads.

As for avoiding in future- two options: feed them only males, or only offer females in cases where you know they will be eaten readily.

I have the same problem your querying from time to time, though in my milii tanks-but i'm lucky enough in that regard that i can drown them in water without causing any further issue for the inhabitants.

Good Luck.