cricket (?)- myth or reality

[ColleenT]

i have read that crickets will chew on your crestie if you are not careful. have any of you had a crested get bit up by crickets? i am kind of nervous about the crickets, now, b/c of internal parasites that they get from crickets, and also the biting thing. i have to go get my two dewormed on thursday, and i don't know if i'll give up on the crickets just to keep them healthy. Maybe switch to all babyfood, all the time, like babyfood meat and fruit mixed with crested diet.

[Wuntu Menny]

Yes, crickets will chew on herps if left in the cage. To avoid this situation, either remove uneaten crix after a reasonable amount of time, or provide the insects with another food source besides the reptile.

Personally, I prefer dish feeding my cresties. This also eliminates the problem of the crix getting at the crested eggs before I do.

WM

[reptilesalonica]

Crickets and Mealworms can chew on anything. Especially mealworms. That's why we always must gut-load our insect-feeders. (crickets can live by chewing on newspaper)
~Greg~

[Aaron_S]

Crickets can live by chewing on newspaper but why would you want them too? What the crickets eat is what your animal eats. I wouldn't think its too good.

[reptilesalonica]

you believe that i feed my crickets with...newspaper?! lolol...
(That was the joke of the year!)
Man...i breed crickets 4 years!...what are you trying to tell me?
~Greg~

[Aaron_S]

Sorry if I have misread your post. But by the looks of your text and such it looked like you had said you have witnessed it and fed it to them. Also if a beginner in herps saw that they might go and do it so I think it was a good idea for my post. Sorry if I had offended you in anyway. Using the internet is a hard way to understnad what others are trying to say.

[RaVeNo888o]

i think he was just trying to say that cricks will eat just about anything, so chewing on your herp is not outta the question

i just put 5 in at night, and he usually catches 3-4 right away and i let him hunt the other 1-2 throughout the night. I havnt had to worry about removing any in the morning, since thye have always been gone

[dave]

its sad but i had a baby bearded dragon that got a big hole eaten through right to his chest cavity. This was even while there was fresh food for the crixs to eat in the tank. The beardie wasn't in too good of shape anyhow when i got him so i think maybe they sensed a weakness in him or something poor little fella I never thought that would ever happen especial since there was foon in the tank for the crixs. The little guy servived for 2 weeks before he went. Be careful cricets can be very dangorous for your pets

[eyespy]

If you get crickets from a clean source, they don't carry any parasites that herps can catch. The way that herps get parasites from crickets is when the crix are exposed to other herps and become intermediate hosts for reptile parasites. For example, in pet shops employees might not wash their hands before reaching into the cricket bin, infecting the bin with anything that the herps in the store might have. While bugs can't get sick from reptile parasites they can act as a host that incubates a nice little colony that will infest your herp's gut after they are eaten. If your feeders have never been near herps there isn't any risk.

If you get your feeder insects directly from a breeder they will not have been exposed to reptiles and so you only have to worry about water-borne parasites and other sources of infestation.

[reptilesalonica]

Very good points eyespy. :thumbsup: (I watch all your posts and i can say that you have a very keen observant "eye")
Good to meet people whith wide perception that goes into deep.
~Greg~