Cricket experiment

[moonflower]

i picked up some crickets for my fire-bellied toad today, and unfortunately the girl at the pet store gave me a ten large crickets instead of a half-dozen little guys, meaning i'd have to keep some around in the house for a little while (ick). anyway i plopped most of them in a spare critter keeper, and as i was slicing up a potato for them i had an idea... i usually dust a batch of crickets with calcium every other week, since i never keep them long enough to feed them, but i wondered what would happen if i dusted part of the potato with the calcium (Tetra ReptoCal, if it matters) instead. so i put a pinch over half the potato slice and what's weird is, the crickets seem to prefer that side. the calcium-coated half has little nibbles taken out of it already while the plain side has nothing. if they do indeed like this "seasoned" potato, and it doesn't kill them (*crosses fingers*), think it'll gut-load them at all? or would it not matter? if it works i suppose it'd be a cheaper than "gut load" and less messy than dusting.

just an idea...

 

[elgecko]

That should work perfectly.

When I was breeding my Leopard Geckos I raised my own mealworms. I bought chicken feed with extra calcium, used for female chickens to help with the egg shell production, for the mealworms food. That way the mealworms gut loaded the calcium in turn my lizards got extra calcium when fed.

 

[jimscott]

I haven't a clue as to it success or not, but obviously, you are enjoying some success. I just wanted to comment because I saw the magic word in your topic title - 'experiment'. So I salute you for your creativity! Have you tried crossing a VFT with butterwort....?

 

[FlytrapGurl]

Dusting anything the crickets eat is always good and is certainly not going to kill them. I used to use potatoes as well, but they dried out too fast and I had to replace them more than I really wanted to. I also used to dust the fish food I used to gut load them, but for some reason they wouldn't eat it, so now I just give them undusted fish food and a capful of water. The fish food thing is probably the best way to gut load crickets... I recommend Omega One fish food.. it's the best fish food possible, so it has alot of good stuff in it. I take the can and put it on its side in the cricket cage instead of pouring the food in the cage.. that way I don't have to reconstitute the food supply nearly as often. Of course, I guess I could just pour the whole thing in there instead of leaving it in the can on its side in there.. that just donned on me.

........But anyway, it sounds like what you're doing with the potato is good, but there should also be, like I said, some fish food in there to further gut load. Most people use potatoes with their crickets for the sole purpose of giving them moisture, so I wouldn't think it would be enough for full gut loading potential.

EDIT: Why is dusting them "messy"? It shouldn't be.. plus, no matter how you gut load them, dusting is almost necessary for any cricket-eating reptile or amphibian. I have a pill can I've used for years for this.. I always have a little dust in there. I put the crickets in there, cover the top with my hand, and shake it in a circular motion, then release the crickets into the reptile's space.

 

[urban]

no i think calcium kills them cause they have too fast of a metabolism. beacuse i dust crx for my bearded dragon, and i put em in the tank the next day they will be dead layign the the tank, and look sliek they eat the dust off their own body, while th enon dusted ones are still hoping around
just my 2 cents, dont know if its true or not