Best Cricket Food

Wondering if there is much of a consensus on what is the best thing to feed crickets from the perspective of the Herps health (I have a Leopard Gecko) and trying to keep the crickets healthy for as long as possible?

I feed my Leopard Gecko a varied diet alternating between crickets and worms (usually worms high in calcium such as Butterworms or Phoenix worms).

I've been feeding my crickets some leftover fish food I had lying around and various fresh fruit and vegetables to give them moisture. The fish food stinks and I heard is not necessarily the best gutload so I'm probably going to discontinue that (I just happen to have it and didn't want to waste it by throwing it away.)

My son is highly allergic to milk. He had an allergic reaction last night when I let him dust the crickets as we found the vitamin powder had calcium caseinate as the first ingredient. Caseinate is milk protein. I've ordered a different multi-vitamin formula that is caseinate free.

I recently ran across Flukers Orange Cubes. The ingredients look promising. It seems these orange cubes are a great gut load feed as the provide moisture to the crickets and have Water, Carrageenan, Soya Protein, Maltodextrin, Fructose, Dried Brewer's Yeast, Potassium Sorbate, Dried Kelp, Calcium Carbonate, and Spirulina along with Vitamins A, B12, E, and D3, as well as calcium.

I know a cricket food is a matter of personal preference and most breeders just use fruits and vegetables they have lying around the fridge (since it is cheap). Others rave about "CricketFood" brand I think. I just bought some Chick Starter Mash from mulberryfarms.com and they cannot provide a list of ingredients! I think most chick starter mash has dried milk in it so I'll probably have to toss it unless I can verify there is no milk powder.

But it seems I really don't need anything else besides the orange cubes. I prefer something I don't have to mix with water and something that doesn't rot. The orange cubes seems to fit the bill.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

I checked the ingredients (funny Flukers own site doesn't list the ingredients but Dr. Fosters and Smith does) and there appears to be no milk products. The upside of that product is that it is much higher in protein, although he gets protein from the worms and crickets themselves. The downside is that there no water content so to keep the crickets from getting dehydrated which seems to me the #1 cause they die, you need to mist the keeper or put water in which they can drown in. PetSmart puts ice cubes in which they seem to love although that means you have to change the cubes every day. The orange cubes do appear to be the best all-in-one solution.

Here's an idea, I wonder if you froze the orange cubes instead of refrigerated them, if they'd last longer in the cricket keeper? Seems to make sense.

 

Don't use cricket gel, at least not the ones with calcium. Flukers, as well as other "reptile" companies have found that herpers like you and me will buy pretty much anything that is marketed right, regardless of whether or not it is safe. The cubes are an example. If there is too much calcium in the cricket's intake, they die. Sure, they may seem good now, but come next molt, BAM they're all dead. Don't give extra calcium to crickets, just dust them. What's the point of giving the crix calcium if they're dusted with a largely pure calcium dust prior to feeding anyway? It's a marketing scheme, they know that herpers are concerned about calcium, then they make calcium products even if they can kill, like calci sand and now these cubes. While fish food may not be the best choice, cricket and worm metabolism/diet hasn't been studied all too well for a reptile company to market a product catered not to the crix or reptiles, but to the buyers. Cricketfood.com is no longer in business although when they were they made almost undoubtedly the best gutload in the herp community. There's a gutload recipe out there, but I'm too lazy to find it But yeah, Progeckos.com also offers a gutload which I hear is decent, never tried it myself though. Search around, try stuff, see which gets the best feeding response form your crix and makes your animals healthier and more active/colorful. This process may take months, so you might as well just try one or two. Currently, I use a mix of dry milk (not a choice for you tho), oatmeal, all natural cereal, alfalfa/rabbit meal, fish food, spirulina, and other stuff. Variety is usually key. If you're providing all the right vitamins, then gutload is not TOO important... Gutload just...is an extra chance to get some more umph into your animal if you're dusting. If you want a water solution, you can make a water/gelatin thingie, which I do. It's jello, w/o flavoring. Or progeckos.com has some water crystals, other places have 'em too. As a last point, a reminder to not FEED calcium to your crix.

 

I use Monster diet because I have a gigantic bag of it, Then I mix this with a cheaper diet, and whatever else I find. For water I have been using those water cubes but once their gone I will be making that jello stuff. That's a great idea.

 

I typically feed my crix some of the same greens/veggies I feed my beardies. I don't have to buy anything extra, it provides moisture, and it's the exact same stuff my dragons are already eating. Don't crix in the wild largely eat veggie matter?

Dust crix before dropping into enclosure with calcuim/D3 and multi-vitamin and my guys all seem to be healthy and happy.

 

crickets are omnivores. that said, the eat practically anything. i know that the crickets at the place i work at LOVED the skin off peas.

 

When I get my Bearded Dragon, I'm going to use BD food pellets. I'm going to feed the beardie live crix and worms, but the food pellets are for the crix. They have all the vitamins and stuff a beardie should get, but it will be in the form of crickets instead of dogfood-looking lumps. I am also going to use Rep-Cal Herptivite and Rep-Cal Calcium with D3.

 

I currently feed my crickets tidbits of meal leftovers, moistened beardie food, gutload, lettuce, fruit chunks, ferret treats, guinea pig treats, and breakfast cereal (it gives them a variety to choose from), I will occasionally give them dog food and cat food as well and have found that they will NOT eat canned/moistened dog or cat food. I always have at least 15 dozen crickets in my 10 gallon, and my average loss is about 2 crickets a week. I have found that if you treat your crickets more as "potential edible pets" then "food" they tend to live longer. I also try to make sure at add either paper bedding in the aquarium or aspen chips as well as egg cartons and papertowel/toilet paper rolls for them to hide in. Yeah I'm crazy I know But I have a 3 month old juvie Beardie who is already 11.5" long so I must be doing something right.

 

That's a pretty healthy diet! Good job!

 

i would argue to say that the recipie on dr. geckos site is the best cricket diet. sure it takes some extra work but hey, its worth it.