Alternative to Crickets??

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nerk2486

New member
So I'm wondering if there's some kind of alternative to feeding crickets to my little Crestie. I simply adore watching him hunt them, but all of my reps were just diagnosed with Pinworms due to feeding crickets every so often. I also work at an avian and exotic vet, where I swear I've never seen a parasite-free, cricket-fed reptile. I am officially turned off to the icky, stinky little buggers.

I've tried roaches, which he turned his nose up to. (And they freak my boyfriend out too much. XP) He also ignores mealworms in a dish.

I was just curious if anyone had tried any of the 'alternative' bugs and found any healthy and fun winners. (I am also wanting to try something new with my Leo's, as they've now lost their crickets and are solely on mealies; they also ignored the roaches!!!)

Thaaaaank you everyone!

~Nerk
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Hi Nerk ~

For your cresties: Many folks feed Repashy's Meal Replacement Powder and/or Clark's Frugivorous Gecko Diet. Both are powdered foods which you mix 1 part food to 2 parts water. My one mature crestie gobbles up his roaches no problem!

For leos: Crickets are more nutritious than mealworms. Mealworms can cause impactions. Many leos will become accustomed to eating dubia. It took my mature leopard awhile before she would eat them...handfed her the dubia at first. Now she eagerly eats them on her own. (I use one of those smokey glass Pyrex custard cups for the roach dish.)

What is your cricket source? They must be sending you crickets infected with pinworms. You should notify them of this problem. That, to my knowledge, is uncommon.

Blaptica dubia roaches are easy to breed. Lateralis are much smaller and quicker, but I think there is a bit more of an escape factor with the lateralis!
 
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nerk2486

New member
Thanks for the reply!

I forgot to mention that I do feed my little Crestie the Repashy diet, but he just gets so excited chasing those crickets down that I wondered if there was anything else. I love watching him be the little hunter and cure his 'boredom'. I did try the roaches once, got him 4 and they all stayed in the cage over a month! (I just found one that I thought he'd eaten, triple the size I gave it to him!)

Honestly, the only place I'd gotten my crickets from were the big pet stores. I moved to my new state not too long ago, and haven't been around to look at local stores. I used to get my crickets shipped to me when I had a lot more reps, but I've downsized to my couple Leo's and one Crestie, so I can't see buying a box of 1000 for them. (That, and my apartment complex would FLIP OUT.)

My Leo's are solely on mealworms at the moment for lack of finding anything else. I also tried the roaches with them with similar effects, they completely ignored them until I took them out. Not to mention that my boyfriend freaked out when I brought the roaches home, so roaches are out of the picture completely.

I saw a mention of Phoenix worms out there, anyone know anything about them? (Might be my next post, XP)

~Nerk
 
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nerk2486

New member
You know, I actually am not sure what kind of roaches they were. We breed them at my work, and my boss has referred to them as 'Jungle roaches'.

Unfortunately, any type of roaches are out of the picture due to my sig other's freak out about them. We live in a studio apartment and breeding roaches when someone you live with is terrified of them is a no-no.

So no roaches. *^^;;;;

~Nerk
 
Hannibal

Hannibal

Active member
Phoenix worms don't move that much so might be hard to get your crestie interested in them...your leo might like them; Waxworms are extremely high in fat and should only be once a month type thing...unless you need to put some weight on due weight loss caused by a sickness; Hornworms can cause burns to the geckos skin (a member on Pangea Forum had a couple of her cresties/gargs get acid burns on their face/head from eating them) so use extreme caution if you try them; Blaptica Dubia (roaches) are very popular but I haven't tried them as I'm allergic to them; Mealworms aren't that nutritional for cresties and can cause impaction in cresties.

My gargs loves their crickets, so we do a preventative treatment of Repashy Nematode Fix once a year prior to breeding season. They have never had any pinworm issues, but if one ever came about due to any crickets they have eaten, it would be taken care of by this preventative treatment we provide them.
 
Ozymandias

Ozymandias

New member
nerk2486 said:
You know, I actually am not sure what kind of roaches they were. We breed them at my work, and my boss has referred to them as 'Jungle roaches'.

Unfortunately, any type of roaches are out of the picture due to my sig other's freak out about them. We live in a studio apartment and breeding roaches when someone you live with is terrified of them is a no-no.

So no roaches. *^^;;;;

~Nerk
Click to expand...

just asking because different roaches have different behaviors. my cresties wont even look at Dubia roahces because thay don't movie around alot and will burry then selves in the substrate. the lateralis on the other hand run alot and stimulate there hunting reflex
 
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rhachic

New member
if you put the dubia in a glass cup and have several in there they tend to move around a bit more, but will settle down after a while, unlike crickets. I tweezer feed most of my babies so I don't have this problem with the roaches. Since you can't do the roach thing you could do mini-meal worms. I tried phoenix worms with mine once and they didn't like them.
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
FYI: "glass cup" = Pyrex custard dish is one kind...semi-steep sides...probably comes in clear and smokey...nice because prey is visible and usually stays in cup if not too large

My leopard gecko has a rock for a "step stool" so that she can watch the dubia from above. The rock keeps the dish from tipping over.
 
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WillC

New member
As other folks have recommended, Dubias in a cup work well. I can feed some to my geckos directly using tongs, but a few I have to leave the cup in for them to finish overnight.

I tried Phoenix worms. My guys didn't go crazy over them.

Will
 
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