cricket feeding

[challenger]

I have 2-1-yr old leopard geckos I bought 4 my daughters many months ago. Needless to say they lost interest and I have been feeding them and taking care of them. I am wondering if I can just dump a load of crickets in their cage and let them eat them for a week or so. I buy 100 at a time and it is a pia to feed then 6-7 each every day. I keep the crickets in a rubbermaid clear tub and feed them fluckers & give them water. I keep egg crates for them etc but still many die during the week. Their temp is fine and I keep a tube going through the side they climb up into and dispense the tube population on a daily basis. I'd love to simplify it though. Any suggestions?
Also I bought a male and female and they have yet to produce eggs. I have seperate, moist peatmoss holding hides 4 each one was told they reproduce easily?

[ann0306]

You really can't let crickets run around the tank- they are notorious tail and toe nibblers.

I order 1-2 thousand crickets a month and have pretty good luck with them. I feed them the same greens/veggie combo I give my lizards and mix my own dry food. I firmly believe (and plenty of people will argue with me on this) that commercial gutloads have way too much calcium in them for the crickets to handle. For the quantity you buy, though, you'd be better off feeding baby cereal or fish flakes and an apple for moisture and then dusting with calcium once or twice a week.

[TheOtherAndy]

Yeah, you definitely can't leave that many crickets in your leo cage that long. It's actually amazing how quickly a cricket can chew away at something.

One thing that helps with cricket die-off is really good ventilation. Too much moisture knocks them off for reasons I never did quite understand. What worked best for me was using apples and collard greens for water, and keeping them on a substrate of hen feed (make sure to use a laying mash like Layena, get it at any feed store). Way cheaper than any pet feeder stuff, and a great calcium to phosphorus ratio. Some people use dry dog food, but that seemed to kill a lot of them. As for convenient feeding....just be glad you only have two lizards

[challenger]

Yeah - my cricket keeper is lacking. I can only get 100 at a time w/o too much die off. I will try and add some more ventialation to the container cause it does seem really humid in the tub. It is all adding up. We got a puppy (Labradoodle) a month ago and I have four snakes and now two leos?
Someone has to give and I'm afraid it might be me.
Thanks for all the advice.

[ann0306]

If you cut out the middle of the lid, you can staple gun or hot glue a piece of window screen to the edges of the lid. That should do it. Good luck!

[challenger]

even-w-a lid of 100% 1/8" screen I still had at least 25% die this week. Got them on Mon and had to throw away the dead/clean the container on Thurs. This sucks. I don't let them run wild in the gecko cage-I keep them in a 16Q clear rubbermaid container-w-paper towel on the bottom & the recommended food ( apples etc.). Do I need ventilation on the sides too? I buy crickets at least twice/wk for two geckos and I'm tired of it.

[ann0306]

I have mine in a 10g aquarium with a screen lid. I feed them a homemade dry food and greens/veggies for moisture. I have a really good success rate; however, it sounds like your setup is very similar. Here's all I can think of:

Don't bother with the paper towel. Are you giving them egg crates or anything to hide in?

This may be a stupid question, but are you sure they're dead crickets left and not just moltings (is that even a word?)? Crickets shed their skins very frequently.

You shouldn't be having a 25% die off rate. Could you try getting them from a different place? What about mailorder? You can order 250 from a lot of places for WAY less than you're probably paying at a petstore.

[NicoleRussell]

I used a home depot storage bin---where do you buy them and what size?

[challenger]

Mostly I buy from a bait store for 3.50/100. His stay alive a long time cause I am in the place a lot and know when he gets deliveries. The pet stores get a lot more for them around here and the main thing is they are way out of the way where this guy is very close. They are medium/large and most likely only have about 1 1/2-2 wks left in them anyway but I'm goig through 100-w-casualties in three days-w-two geckos. They are not moltings they are stinky dead crickets. Keep the good info comming please. I need to get his out of my PIA list.

	1.1 One Male and One Female

[TheOtherAndy]

Weird. Well, something is wrong.

Maybe you aren't washing the fruit well enough? Try peeling it. (unlikely, but possible)

Temps too high maybe?

Maybe you should look into roaches. Not only do they not stink or make noise, the things are nearly impossible to kill off.