Gut-loading crickets - how do u do it?

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Reptiles101

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When I buy crickets from my locale pet store, when I get back home I put all my crickets (2 tubs) into a cricket keeper with the clean egg carton they have and place a couple pieces of carrot then sprinkle some-gut loader over the carrot. My question is, is this a good way of gut-loading crickets?

Or is there a better way to do this? as I've been thinking lately are my geckos' crickets gut-loaded properly.

I would love some of u guys to tell me how u gut-load and look after your geckos dinner. :)
 
Don't sprinkle it on the carrot, keep the dry food and wet food separate. The gut load will go moldy when in contact with moisture.
 
Thanks for that mad_at_arms, I'll start gut-loading them in a separate container then, do I still need to put carrot when ​I gut-load them?
 
Okay thanks, I'll put the gut-loader in a dry bottle cap away from the carrot, can I ask how u look after your crickets?

Also why I've got u, do u breed any Nephururs Levis Levis?
 
Basically like this:


The green stuff is plastic scourer that I wet for the crickets to drink from(and prevent them drowning).
Chinese takeaway container is full of a mix of coco peat and sand for the adults to lay in.
I make my own gut load mix to feed them.
The lid has flyscreen mesh replacing 80-90% of the lid.
Like so:
 
Cheers, I'm going to get one, so I can start breeding, how'd u cut the lid & stick the fly wire (is that the soft or the wirey fly screen)?
 
I used an angle grinder to cut the lid but depending on the plastic you can use a sharp knife or soldering iron.
The crickets can chew through the fiberglass fly wire and escape (which I learnt) I now use dog scratch proof fly screen (I can get it for free) but the wire one is recommended.
 
Sorry to jump in but I was only today thinking of starting a cricket colony as well as woodies.
Do you have the tub on any heat source? Also how is the noise level or is it located somewhere that you don't hear it?
 
I keep most of mine in a cupboard in the shed on two runs of heat cord at 26-28 degrees.
I keep the pin heads on a shelf with my hatchy geckos until they get bigger and move them to larger tubs.
 
Thanks for that, so you allow the eggs to hatch in the new tub already I take it?
I had a cricket colony breeding many years ago but wasn't a great success.
 
Hi although I'm not keeping anything at the moment that needs crickets I have used crickets on and off for about 15 years.

Gutloading is easy to do yet I think many people over see it and then feed the crickets out to their critters having very little nutritional value!

A piece of carrot or equivalent should be in with the crickets all the time. This will generally give them enough moisture and food. I also had instead of water I used thin slices of oranges for them to drink and eat. This will keep your crickets alive but are they actually "gut loaded" at the time you go to feed them?

When I knew I was going to feed my frogs, dragons etc approximately an hour before feeding I'd make up salads with different veggies and fruits. I would change these items to vary what the crickets ate which then in turn the reptiles would get something different also. I also provided in with these salad mixes about a teaspoon or two of insectivore mix and calcium/multivitamin powder which when mixed the crickets would eat also which saved dusting! Between half an hour to an hour I'd then feed out the crickets. You could see what crickets had eaten what with the couloirs of their poo or if a dragon had burst one open!

Breeding crickets is easy! The hard part is giving them enough space and the right heat requirements to get them to a size you need to use. To breed I used peat moss soaked in water then rung out just like you'd do to a face washer. Place a tub (old cricket container) works great in with your adults. The females will almost instantly start laying. Females are the ones with the big spike at their bum, this is an egg laying tube which they stick into the peat moss laying heaps of eggs. Once you have a sufficient amount of eggs laid put the lid on the container and put them somewhere around 30 C and in two weeks pin heads! Soon as you see them hatching take the lid off and place the tub into a large cricket tub where you'll grow them up. I found once you had hundreds of them hatched you could just blow gently over the tub to get the majority of them out into the larger tub.

Hope this helps
 
This is useful to have a read through :)

What I do at the moment is put the crickets I plan on feeding to my dragon in a small feeding tank that I'm using. I put a couple of bits of carrot in with them, and the gut load powder. My timing is usually I put them in before I go to work, let's say 8am, and then they get fed to my dragon about 4 hours or so later. Not sure how right that is, but seems ok to me xD

I like the idea of feeding them more different salad type things though, I might try that, since my dragon is a bit slack when it comes to eating that kind of stuff of his own accord. Also the calci/multi vit powder too, good ideas :)
 
I don't breed crickets (but do breed woodies) but have found that crickets LOVE nasturtium leaves as a food & a hide,since I started using it I have had almost zero deaths and much fatter crix.
Also don't gutload just before feeding,feed crix all the time
 
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Oh yeah I should add that I always keep carrot in with my main supply of crickets. Should vary it more though I suppose.
 
Thanks everyone for some excellent ideas on feeding crickets. And Mad at Arms, thanks for the cricket breeding tips on AGF.
 
Thanks for that, so you allow the eggs to hatch in the new tub already I take it?
I had a cricket colony breeding many years ago but wasn't a great success.

I remove the lay container after a couple of days and place it in the incubator with a lid on the container. Once I see the pinheads emerging I move the container and place into a tub set up for rearing them.

Here a document I did up a while ago
 

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