Where do people get their live feeder insects from?

[Sdaji]

A few pointers on breeding crickets would be handy if anyone has any?

After working on small scale cricket colonies and large scale commercial cricket colonies and having them escape and call noisily and being problematic in so many ways, as of many years ago my method of breeding crickets was to not bother. Nutritionally, dusted woodies are all your insectivores need, and if you want variety there are plenty of easier options such as Soldier Flies, Mealworms, Superworms, and I'd even go for locusts rather than crickets. I used to have fairly large scale stick insect colonies and I'd use those for some of the larger lizards. There are various insects you can culture if you want to, and crickets are overrated. I might consider doing crickets on a large scale but would probably never do it on a small scale, it's just too much work and hassle, they die at the drop of a hat, while other insects thrive on close to zero time/effort.

 

[Sugar]

After working on small scale cricket colonies and large scale commercial cricket colonies and having them escape and call noisily and being problematic in so many ways, as of many years ago my method of breeding crickets was to not bother. Nutritionally, dusted woodies are all your insectivores need, and if you want variety there are plenty of easier options such as Soldier Flies, Mealworms, Superworms, and I'd even go for locusts rather than crickets. I used to have fairly large scale stick insect colonies and I'd use those for some of the larger lizards. There are various insects you can culture if you want to, and crickets are overrated. I might consider doing crickets on a large scale but would probably never do it on a small scale, it's just too much work and hassle, they die at the drop of a hat, while other insects thrive on close to zero time/effort.

Any idea where I can get locusts from ?

 

[dragonlover1]

Any idea where I can get locusts from ?

locusts are just grasshoppers but under plague conditions

 

[Sugar]

Is it possible to start a colony of feeder insects from wild caught specimens?
Or would they transfer any parasites or bad stuff to their offspring?

 

[Laefiren]

Is it possible to start a colony of feeder insects from wild caught specimens?
Or would they transfer any parasites or bad stuff to their offspring?

I believe I read somewhere that was more directed at snails that you could but that it would take several generations before you could use them as feeders. So it would be simpler to get a starter colony.

My frogs have so far been rather fussy about what they will eat. If it doesn’t have legs and run around like a maniac they won’t eat it. They also seem to prefer crickets to woodies but perhaps the woodies are a little large for them currently. There’s been some good advice in this thread and I will look into some of the other insects mentioned… and also possibly into woodies but by gods am I not keeping them in the house. Any tips on catching them?

 

[Sdaji]

locusts are just grasshoppers but under plague conditions

There are thousands of species of grasshoppers and locusts. Locusts are a type of grasshopper and yes, generally they're called locusts when in their plague phase, but only a few species of grasshoppers have this capability, and in this context, these are the species we call locusts, the ones which do have the capability of becoming locusts. The vast majority of species of grasshopper are useless as feed insects.

Yes, if you find the right species you can collect them and culture them, but you might have trouble - I sure as heck would have no hope in the area I'm currently in, though sometimes I do see them and I can remember about 10 years ago when a locust swarm did come through this area (it may be more than 10 years before it happens again and it wouldn't be at this time of year).

If you do culture wild insects they'll be rid of parasites etc after one generation.

Honestly, in terms of pragmatism, I'd just stick to woodies, they're extremely easy, low maintenance, cheap and all you need. Fun as they can be, anything else is pretty much just for the fun of it.

 

[WifeWontLetMe]

Breed your own. It's obviously cheaper and if you get good at it you'll spend less time on it than it takes to go to the shop and buy them.

What are the best sites you can recommend for breeding feeder insects?

 

[Auguriim]

I ordered my feeders off of Reptile Realm.

 

[Sdaji]

What are the best sites you can recommend for breeding feeder insects?

On top of a reptile enclosure where it's warm, whatever corner of the house suits you...

 

[bianca jones]

I use bio supplies, really good speedy delivery and good price

 

[Susannah]

I'm two weeks into my Woodie farm - question time! How do you pick out the big ones!?!? they're so fast! I've done the melted mesh into the top for air...only did one tub, but might set up a second. Australia Post lost my Fluon, but they seem to be staying put nicely with a very high-sided tub and thick barrier of Vaseline.

They're much easier than the silkworms to keep alive. Dog food and a chopped up carrot are keeping them happy. I'm also using the water-saving crystals like for water

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

I'm two weeks into my Woodie farm - question time! How do you pick out the big ones!?!? they're so fast! I've done the melted mesh into the top for air...only did one tub, but might set up a second. Australia Post lost my Fluon, but they seem to be staying put nicely with a very high-sided tub and thick barrier of Vaseline.

They're much easier than the silkworms to keep alive. Dog food and a chopped up carrot are keeping them happy. I'm also using the water-saving crystals like for water

Hey, this is how I keep my woodies. I started this colony in 2012 with a pack of 30 woodies from Brian's Worms. Now 10 years on and the colony lives outdoors in my back yard in a repurposed 240 litre wheelie bin. This colony thrives in full exposure to the elements, 40°C in summer, up to -10°C in winter... rain hail and shine and they keep on keeping on. Probably one of the most important assets I have here for keeping my herps.
I feed them all manner of kitchen scraps (except meat). They get stale bread, apple cores, orange, banana, carrot, potato peels, celery tops, lettuce leaves, egg shells, tomato ends, pineapple skins, zucchini, cucumber, scraps, popcorn, rice cakes, old cereal, dog kibbles, watermelon, rockmelon skins, old grapes, and the list goes on... a good varied diet = healthy nutritious feeders.

 

[Friller2009]

Hey, this is how I keep my woodies. I started this colony in 2012 with a pack of 30 woodies from Brian's Worms. Now 10 years on and the colony lives outdoors in my back yard in a repurposed 240 litre wheelie bin. This colony thrives in full exposure to the elements, 40°C in summer, up to -10°C in winter... rain hail and shine and they keep on keeping on. Probably one of the most important assets I have here for keeping my herps.
I feed them all manner of kitchen scraps (except meat). They get stale bread, apple cores, orange, banana, carrot, potato peels, celery tops, lettuce leaves, egg shells, tomato ends, pineapple skins, zucchini, cucumber, scraps, popcorn, rice cakes, old cereal, dog kibbles, watermelon, rockmelon skins, old grapes, and the list goes on... a good varied diet = healthy nutritious feeders.

Think I’ve found my new favourite youtube channel! I recently set up a small Woodie colony in one of those 9L tubs and I’ve found that toilet paper tubes stapled at one end work a treat. Didn’t realise they could get that low!

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

Another short video taken in the midst of the breeding season... this will give you an idea of the scale at which they can reproduce. This season of plenty coincides perfectly every year with the hatching of all my turtle eggs when I need hundreds of teeny tiny baby woodies on hand.

 

[Herpetology]

i have a little colony getting started, started with "100" adults which quickly turned to about 40 or 50 for one reason or another, but after 2-3 months ive started noticing lots of babies hiding in the trays

 

[Sdaji]

Think I’ve found my new favourite youtube channel! I recently set up a small Woodie colony in one of those 9L tubs and I’ve found that toilet paper tubes stapled at one end work a treat. Didn’t realise they could get that low!

Just use egg cartons. You can use pretty much whatever you want, but anything touched dozens of times by people who just went #2 and haven't yet washed their hands is something I'd prefer to go straight to the garbage bin, stapling is a hassle and a one-ended tube is going to be a hassle for harvesting. You do you though.

I used to feed mine meat. They were fantastic for preparing skulls or skeletons. Let a colony get hungry and they'd strip something like a cat skull down to clean bone within an hour or two. I never went out of my way to give them meat but they did well on it when I did give it to them. I wouldn't want to give them more than they would consume within a few hours though, just because the meat will foul.

 

[Ryan-James]

I keep and breed a variety of frogs and can't always breed enough food to keep up with them all the time, usually the dwarf tree frogs get all the pinheads before they get a chance to grow on. I used to buy 3-4000 pinheads at a time through Livefoods Unlimited but they had a disease go through their colonies recently.
Currently I go through crazy critters, good guys and reasonable prices and always seem to get way more than what I ordered. https://www.crazycritters.com.au/?g...1CBWUZHdgNTk7y5mg-8eEhOfz42M_lHsaAtPaEALw_wcB

 

[dragonlover1]

i have a little colony getting started, started with "100" adults which quickly turned to about 40 or 50 for one reason or another, but after 2-3 months ive started noticing lots of babies hiding in the trays

you will find that the shop sold you a lot of old woodies near the end of life, if they have wings they are old. Also many people feed them too much wet food,which will kill them. better to keep the wet food to a minimum for better longevity

 

[Herpetology]

you will find that the shop sold you a lot of old woodies near the end of life, if they have wings they are old. Also many people feed them too much wet food,which will kill them. better to keep the wet food to a minimum for better longevity

yup i started using old carrots from the crickets + rodent cubes and they started booming, there were so many little ones --- now I have to ask how do people sort them out? I was going to do the bucket method where u sort of sift them through, but just after others' ideas

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

yup i started using old carrots from the crickets + rodent cubes and they started booming, there were so many little ones --- now I have to ask how do people sort them out? I was going to do the bucket method where u sort of sift them through, but just after others' ideas

Personally I don't "sort them out" I just feed my turtles on alternating days... adult woodies with wings for my ELN's and purvisi on one day, half grown wingless woodies for my smaller sub adult Macleays on another day and teeny tiny baby woodies for my babies every other day... so each day I open my woody bin I'm only after a certain size and that makes getting the ones I want easy, just open my egg cartons and select the ones I want my grabbing them with my feeding tongs. Especially easy this time of year when the colony is down into the lower single digits, they are extrememy slow moving lol.