feeding wild crickets

[reptilerob]

I have heard that its bad to feed wild mice and rats to your snake incase they are carrying some kind of disease, but what about feeding wild crickets to your lizards?
With this hot weather, there is black crickets everywhere!!! Is it OK to feed wild crickets to our bearded dragons??

 

[bigguy]

Wild black crickets are a great food source for lizards. Unlike captive bred insects which are only fed what we give them and are not very nutricous, wild insects eat a wide choice of foods and are walking vitimin tablets containing natual minerals and trace elements

 

[reptilerob]

Awesome news bigguy, thanks mate.

 

[garycahill]

I would remove their rear legs as the can damage some lizards, but apart from that they are excellent food.

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

Yes, I always take advantage of insects when they are in large numbers.
Black crix are great and bogong moths,locusts and here we get an explosion of caterpillars on the sides of the roads and in the paddocks.
The lizards,frogs and birds love these.
Plus they make good baits for fishing.
I have tried freezing these inverts for later when they are plentiful but they dont freeze well.
Is there a secret to preserving them ?

 

[Jungletrans]

l remember sitting outside the FernTreeGully pub one nite and the crickets were 2 inches thick on the road . Thought about that every time l had to pay for Gecko food .

 

[GeckoJosh]

All good as long as u dont have neighbours that use outdoor surface spray

 

[porkosta]

What's the easiest way to catch many crickets? Do you just sit and look for them?

 

[cris]

I have tried freezing these inverts for later when they are plentiful but they dont freeze well.
Is there a secret to preserving them ?

I used to freeze them in water, not sure if it made much differance, was a long time ago.

 

[Rhysc]

Has anyone seen the parasitic worms that some of these inverts carry?

 

[Costa]

what abou t grasshoppers. anyone know if they will eat them.
i couldnt ever see why not but i never did as i didnt know
we have thousands of them around atm

 

[garycahill]

Has anyone seen the parasitic worms that some of these inverts carry?

Yes & I have also seen the parasitic worms that bred ones carry

 

[Poggle]

haha i was gonna say i have sen them in bred ones before!

 

[cris]

what abou t grasshoppers. anyone know if they will eat them.
i couldnt ever see why not but i never did as i didnt know
we have thousands of them around atm

Grasshoppers are excellent food for many insect eating herps, even humans can eat them. I catch them in an unmowed section of my lawn at night, they just sit still in the torch light which makes it easier than catching them during the day. Most things will just eat them straight away, but i found my ringtail geks were a bit sceptical and watched them for a minute before a gentle lick and then the usual leap attack :lol:

 

[Costa]

cheers cris