Canned crickets?

[Turtlynne]

Has anyone fed canned (soft) crickets - for emergencies (or on a regular basis) - seems it might be something to have on hand if live are not available...its amazing the things that come in cans! LOL

 

[Andee]

I would honestly recommend having some breeding colonies of simple and back up insects just in case. Anything will work in situations like that. Stuff from dubias would be the best choice of course, but mealworm colonies also work in a pinch and supers do too. Mealworms will take less work though.

 

[Turtlynne]

Thnx for your reply Andee - I actually have dubias - mealworms - and red runners....its bugs-are-us here LOL

 

[Andee]

You should be fine then, if your T's eat them then you should be good. The sad thing with the canned ones is they are very unhealthy as far as gut content etc. Which for T's I assume we don't dust (not sure since I don't have T babies yet but do have herps and some other insects), but I assume because of that gut content is even more important then? Plus they don't move at all... and honestly smell horrible. If you have a sick T that you worry about feeding live prey to, kill or cripple your live food you feed until the next molt the T has, or blend the bugs and provide the T's with a kind of smoothie? I do it with some of my rescues herps. Sadly I love my insects even my feeders, but am well aware of what other species need. So I treat my feeders like kings and queens and do what I have to otherwise.

 

[Turtlynne]

I like caring for my feeders too...they really are amazingin their own way. I dont know much about dusting - I just know that the Ts dont need calcium(actually harmful to them) like some other critters that eat the same feeders...my runners are not established for feeding yet so I am still buying crickets at local Petsmart - do some volunteer work there with the cats for adoption - so I am there frequently and dont have to keep a large number of them around(crickets not cats...lol) I have heard some T owners refer to crickets as "the spawn of Satan"...a little harsh...and I apply that term to fruitflies - NOT having them!!

 

[kormath]

Has anyone fed canned (soft) crickets - for emergencies (or on a regular basis) - seems it might be something to have on hand if live are not available...its amazing the things that come in cans! LOL

i can see using canned for small slings, or to mash up to nurse a spider back to health. But most T's like live prey, they like to hunt If you want canned prey you can get mealworms, super worms, etc. for pretty cheap online. I've been ordering from rainbowmealworms for my gecko, think i'll keep doing that rather than struggling to raise roaches. They don't seem to be breeding for me now. Super worms won't pupate if you keep them together in bran, and meal works can be stored in the fridge to keep from pupating. My T's all love worms, even the giant horn worms for the larger ones

My B. sabulosum is a moody wench, she does a threat pose to anything you put in her enclosure, then she has to settle down for a few minutes before she eats. I gave her a huge fat 2 inch(ish) hornworm last night, She molted not long ago, so she's pretty skinny, i'm guessing the hunger got the best of her, she barely did her typical threat pose before pouncing on the worm. She should be nice and plump after that one