Hi everyone,

I KNOW. Roaches are better than crickets. And I know all the reasons why. We are working on 2 roach colonies for our T's specifically. But we have other pets (reptiles) that (are supposed to) consume crickets as primary diet, so here is my query:

Is there a mineral/vitamin supplement I can give my crickets that will work for reptiles AND is tarantula friendly? We have a calcium supplement that we sprinkle on the crickets right before we give them to the reptiles (and I know I cannot allow the tarantulas to consume this supplement), so I am looking for something that I can mix with the cricket food/water/whatever that will work 100% for the tarantulas.

Any suggestions,brand names, etc will be appreciated!

If you say "mix with cricket food", what exactly do you feed the crickets that requires an additive?

Just feed the crickets good quality dog pellets, ProNutro and Carrots. This will all end up inside your spiders and no harm can come of it.

What I have gathered is that dead crickets MIGHT be the carrier of the virus that causes DKS, if your live crickets eat dead and decaying carcasses, it MIGHT spell trouble. Keeping your cricket enclosure dry and clean therefor is a good idea.

Thanks! I like the pronutro and dog food idea. At this stage we have oatmeal, bran & rice krispies as substrate. Reason: It keeps the crickets dry, they can eat it if they want and it soaks up some of the ... erm... cricket goo. We feed them fish food & carrots, and we clean their enclosure once a week, replacing the substrate if wet/soggy/dirty and we give them fresh water every 2-3 days, depends on how busy they've been in the enclosure.

I read about the oatmeal idea in "Tarantula Keepers Guide" and I must say, after we started using the oatmeal as substrate, the crickets stopped dying. We also remove dead crickets the moment we see it (I check on their enclosure at least once a day). I also remove the substrate on which the cricket died.

Just to add: An entomologist at Tuks told us about the Fish Food. It apparently has lots of minerals/vitamins/etc that is good for the spiders/reptiles, but the Fish Food costs us an arm and leg every month.

Substrate for a cricket enclosure is a huge load of unnecessary work. Get a stack of egg trays and place this inside the enclosures. Remove ALL other substrate. The egg trays also absorb the erm... cricket goo, BUT is very easy to replace. You just shake off the crickets and put a fresh one in. The ones you took out can be left in the sun and re used. The unwanted stuff will be at the bottom of the tub and is a breeze to clean.

Herein lies a problem for me. If the crickets live on Bran and stuff as substrate "and they can eat it if they want" YET it absorbs erm... cricket goo, are the crickets then eating their own erm... cricket goo?? Just does not sound healthy...

Using egg trays only will save you hours... trust me.

We use egg trays , but it still leaves the enclosures wet at the bottom and the crickets kept dying. You have a valid point regarding the oats, but I still feel they need some absorbent material at the bottom to soak up the crap that falls there. And it actually takes up the same cleaning time!