Haley and crickets

[Becki]

First, Haley shed again yesterday and her spots and stripes are starting to show!! It was so neat, I was watching her and she was using her feet and claws to scrape the skin off . I can't wait until she has all her markings! She's growing so fast, I'm going to have to get updated pics soon!
I have a shedding question though, she's got a little piece of skin still covering the very tip of her tail, should I try to get it off or see if she does eventually?


Also, I got my first shipment of mail order crickets today! It really gave me the heebie jeebies, lol. When the ups guy handed me the box there were crickets crawling on it! So I brought em inside and put the box in a rubbermaid bucket while I cleaned out the cricket tank. When I went to get them there were easily 100 crickets out of the box, trying to get the cricket covered box into the cricket aquarium was quite the fiasco, then I couldn't get the box open, then I did and they POURED out all over me! I probably lost at least 20 in the house between the door to bucket and bucket to tank and then trying to get them all out of the box, but the cats and dogs are having a blast playing with them The only problem is that these guys are tiny, but thats ok, I've got plenty, lol.
Rav, what size crix do you feed your cham?

[Lizgirl]

Becki, welcome to the world of mail-order crickets. Get used to their chirping. I think we ordered size 4 cricks for Camille and Clayton our collared lizards. That should be a good size for your Cham, but wait to see what Rav suggests.

[Becki]

I think I usually wind up with about one inchers from the petstore, but I think they're a little too big. I was going to order 3/4" but since 500 was the minimum I wanted them to live a little longer so I ordered the 3 week (1/2") without thinking about how big they actually are. Oh well, I guess she'll just get twice as many, lol. And oooh the chirping! I keep the crix in the 20gal that Haley was in, and it's got a screen top so when we were getting 100 at a time they were LOUD! Thankfully I think most of these ones aren't old enough yet ( )

It really was a great deal though, we were going through $10 (100) crickets a week and alot of them would die, I got 500 shipped to my door for $16! I'm impressed already! I might just have to get another cricket eater (baby beardies are awfully cute ) so I can take advantage of the price break when you order 1000 at a time!

[Deja]

oh Becki!! I can't even imagine that senario!
It sounds like Haley is doing great and that you are having a blast with her!! I can't wait to see new pictures!!

[Becki]

She is doing great, she is the neatest pet I've ever had I think! I could just sit and watch her all day. The other day we were almost out of crickets so I fed her some mealworms too and she ate them right out of my hand Now whenever I go to put her cricket cup in she meets me at the door and eats while I hole the cup! As long as I don't try to touch her we get along great

[Ravnos]

I feed the largest crickets that will fit in his mouth. If he seems to be having trouble with the big adult ones, go down a size.

Ordering online in bulk has saved me money, even if I killed off a few crix, but really keeping crickets alive isn't too hard. Just put them in something that gives them plenty of space. The main issue is them being cramped, then stressing and dying. What I do is put them in a big rubbermaid tub with egg-crating in the bottom, then toss in collared green stems and other leftovers from my other pet's salads, for food and moisture. It seems to work pretty well, just have to be careful not to let the veggies rot. Also, remove dead crickets every few days. I feed those to my salamanders

Rav

[Dena]

A little trick to get them in the feeding cup is to use a toilet paper roll or paper towel roll. They like to hide inside and then you just shake out however many you need. Working at a pet store I have dealt with many a crickets. We also found that leaving slices of orange (still in the peel) works well as a food source along with the greens. I know when we had them shipped they would ship them with potatoes. That was really disgusting and then they would burro into the potatoes and hide there. What a pain to get them out!

[Mallory]

Kinda off topic, but its about crickets...

Today when I went to the basement to get the dog's food, I heard this LOUD chirping/buzzing. I first I thought myself crazy and that maybe I just heard it from outside a window, but no!! It was SO loud when I stepped into the dog's crate room!!! It must've heard me because it stopped, and it very well might've been under Greta's crate, because she stepped inside to get her squeak (totally oblivious to the noise) and then from then on I didn't hear the chirping noise, so maybe she stepped in the right place and squished it with the cage tray??

[Fuzzy_Paws]

About the skin on her tail. If she doesnt get it off carefully pull it off (slowly) because it grows over the tip of the tail leaving a bump. I always have to do that with rex he doesnt mind I dont pull any other skin off though.. Cant Wait To See More Pics