Major pet supplier out of crickets !!!

[borntobnude]

Our 3 local major pet stores that have wiped out the usefull small local ones are all cricket less and due to their varaciousness ( the pet store) there are NO other shops for 25km . they are blaming the supplier and they are in Qld

Is it just me ???? or is somthing not right here ??? . Is there no NSW cricket supplier ??


if that is not aceptable remove it but i am trying to get a point across .

 

[B_STATS]

I used to have the same issue with pinkie mice. Pet shops are USELESS! Luckily I found a rural trader in town that sells every size rodent I could ask for. Do you maybe have a rural/farming store near you?

 

[lizardwhisperer]

Our 3 local Pet stores are all cricket less and due to their varaciousness ( the pet store) there are NO other shops for 25km . they are blaming the supplier and they are in Qld

Is it just me ???? or is somthing not right here ??? . Is there no NSW cricket supplier ??

I bought 10 tubs on Friday from my local big box in the same franchise, different region (got them the same day they got their bulk delivery from Pisces, I like their crickets as they come with a little packet of gut load with which is handy), so supply from cricket breeder is not the issue.

They are not the only shops that sell crickets in tubs.
Try another franchised pet shop , there will be stacks of them all over the place in S Sydney region. Do your shopping to find them by yellowpages and the phone (will save on the petrol and you might even be able to buy them over the phone to be delivered to your door).

Or perhaps buy them in bulk online yourself every couple of weeks to be posted to you by priority paid parcel post. I'm sure there are several others here who can give you the url for good reliable suppliers of crickets.

The other healthy options are woodies, calcigents, silkworm lavae.

 

[sharky]

Same issue over here except with woodies! They are extinct :evil: Can't find them anywhere in the Hills!!!!!

 

[KaotikJezta]

The shop would be supplied by Pisces who we stopped using because they refused to pay the extra freight to get insects to us in the morning. They were turning up half dead and mouldy, so it is not necessarily the shops fault. Also, the Pisces gut load is essentially chicken food and pretty much useless, better off making your own. They also frequently have issues with woodies and mealworms.

 

[Tobe404]

Sharky I''ve got a tub of Adult Woodies going at the moment.
Do you want some when I get the numbers up a bit?
I have noticed moving from the Country to the City Woodies are scarcer in number though.
Apparently only avaliable by special order. At least at the pet shop I use.
I used to have a colony of about 2000. Although, either the Mice got to them or they escaped. Had the tub lined with flurion type stuff though so how they managed it I'll never know.

 

[wokka]

Perhaps the sudden cold snap has slowed growth and so left a hole in production. From what i know they use temperature to adjust production to meet supply, however heat costs, so it is probably used sparingly.

 

[saintanger]

my local pet shop still sells crickets, i just bought 6 boxes for $30 off them. i breed my own but they are not breeding as uch and my supply is low so i went in and got some more. i am gonna buy some in bulk off livefoods unlimited next week, they are also a sponsor on here.

 

[lil-red]

I work for a pet store and we go through 200-300 crickets and woodies per week, pieces freights overnight and if you order enough there's no freight charge tell your locals to pull their finger out

 

[MesseNoire]

As far as I know Pisces are not out of stock, I received mine this morning in the ACT.
As for other suppliers I'm not so sure.

 

[wokka]

Generally business will give priority to long standing clients. Building relationships with your suppliers should help when supplies are tight. Insects are coming into a tight supply period as the temperature drops.

 

[Rogue5861]

Generally business will give priority to long standing clients. Building relationships with your suppliers should help when supplies are tight. Insects are coming into a tight supply period as the temperature drops.

Do they not keep temps up during winter so they can still provide feeder insects during the off period? Would of thought they were in a temp controlled room all year round so they could keep production up.


Rick

 

[wokka]

Do they not keep temps up during winter so they can still provide feeder insects during the off period? Would of thought they were in a temp controlled room all year round so they could keep production up.


Rick

Who would pay for the additional cost of heating? I know with rodents many breeders cant be bothered spending the capital to keep rodents cool so as to maintain production in heat waves. After a heat wave many breeders lose their breeding herd and so a shortage develops in supply. The fair way to distribute the limited supply from the breeders who have invested in climate control, is then to look after the regular long term customers. I am assuming the same principle appleis to keeping insects warm. It is difficult to allow for demand whigh might occur and far easier to cater for regular demand.

 

[Rogue5861]

Who would pay for the additional cost of heating? I know with rodents many breeders cant be bothered spending the capital to keep rodents cool so as to maintain production in heat waves. After a heat wave many breeders lose their breeding herd and so a shortage develops in supply. The fair way to distribute the limited supply from the breeders who have invested in climate control, is then to look after the regular long term customers. I am assuming the same principle appleis to keeping insects warm. It is difficult to allow for demand whigh might occur and far easier to cater for regular demand.

So your saying they dont keep the insects at optium temperatures for breeding/growing? I did breed my own for a while but the pinheads were dieing at around 16-18c.


Rick

 

[Thyla]

Ha. I have a heat mat under the container I use to keep my feeder crickets for my geckos. I took them off heat so they were less active for my geckos to catch (I spoil them I know), and after about 20 mins 4-5 crickets went belly up. I then brought the heat back and within 5 minutes they were all behaving like healthy crickets once again. I never knew temperature could have such a rapid affect on them but this just proves it does.

From my experience of buying crickets in the past five years, Pieces have a steady supply of crickets, although they are usually sold with 1 or 2 different species of pests per tub (furry worm thing, spiders, zig zag flies etc). Their mealworms are well supplied but occasionally are out of stock. They also have pest species present (lesser mealworm, etc).

Biosupplies (recently purchased by Aquatic Solutions?) have a great quality cricket, very rare to see pest species present (in fact I cannot remember ever seeing any).

Amphibian Research Centre (ARC) average quality crickets, many pest species present.

Livefoods unlimited, I cannot comment as I have never seen their crickets however I hear they are good quality and they come recommended by many.


I would love to enter into the cricket breeding business, I believe there is still a market out there for good quality reliable crickets marketed properly. I just need a business partner and come capital 8)

 

[lizardwhisperer]

Seems to me that the quality of both crickets and mealworms AT PET SHOPS is often lousey, i've brought home some really bad tubs from the local PB , crickets infested with tiny flies or wasps and very maggoty bedding , tubs of meaworms that are half head , even putrid. I now check every tub i buy and will not buy second rate insects.

I don't use enough crickets to warant buying on line in bulk.

 

[wokka]

So your saying they dont keep the insects at optium temperatures for breeding/growing? I did breed my own for a while but the pinheads were dieing at around 16-18c.


Rick

What is optimen breeding/growing? It depends upon demand. I am saying that insect breeders manipulate temperatureso as to match production to demand. To do that they have to predict likely demand which is based upon past demand from their regular customers. If their predictions are wrong or if there is a catastophe with an alernative supplier it is likley there will be a shortage in the combined supply. Insects are a perrishable commodity so overproduction is thrown away. There is no sense in producing overs, particularly if it involves heating which can be costly.
I suggest that the sudden cool weather has caught some breeders unawares. It only takes a small change in production to cause a shortage.

 

[Rogue5861]

What is optimen breeding/growing? It depends upon demand. I am saying that insect breeders manipulate temperatureso as to match production to demand. To do that they have to predict likely demand which is based upon past demand from their regular customers. If their predictions are wrong or if there is a catastophe with an alernative supplier it is likley there will be a shortage in the combined supply. Insects are a perrishable commodity so overproduction is thrown away. There is no sense in producing overs, particularly if it involves heating which can be costly.
I suggest that the sudden cool weather has caught some breeders unawares. It only takes a small change in production to cause a shortage.

Well i believe 25c is best for growth but i could be wrong. Im sure companies like piscies do run a temperature controlled room/setup for their insects and move them to a cooler room to keep them at current size ect.

Their is alot more to it then just keeping them at room temperature and hoping for the best. Demand would be higher in the warmer seasons but their would be estimated figures of sales from previous years of sales and growth of business for them to work out how many they should have at any given time.

I highly doubt that they are out of stock but that isnt to say this is not true. I found it harder to purchase crickets from local petshop during summer just gone then i did last winter.

I have been buying in bulk from ARC for a few months now and they havent been out of stock of crickets, woodies are the ones that are alot harder to get at the moment. Livefoods, amazingamazon ect. dont have any instock at the moment.


Rick

 

[spongebob]

I can only comment on Bio Supplies as I've seen how they produce their crickets. The whole set up is temperature moderated (there is no lowering of temps to slow things down) and production is geared towards always ensuring every sized cricket is available on demand. In order to do this they have to over produce, and the whole process is incredibly labour intensive.

Crickets and woodies need to be kept warm. Every year on this forum about now people start complaining of their feeder insects dying. Yes warm day and night so get a heat mat for the poor things!

 

[saintanger]

Seems to me that the quality of both crickets and mealworms AT PET SHOPS is often lousey, i've brought home some really bad tubs from the local PB , crickets infested with tiny flies or wasps and very maggoty bedding , tubs of meaworms that are half head , even putrid. I now check every tub i buy and will not buy second rate insects.

I don't use enough crickets to warant buying on line in bulk.

have had the same problem, i've bought tubs and got home to find more than 50% dead, maggots in tubs, other bugs in the tubs ect. so i just check all tubs before buying the.

i asked a pet shop worker once for a large tub of mealworms and he went and got it for me and put it on the counter and i noticed it had mould all through the container so i asked him to swap for a another one and he did.