Crickets

[Norm66]

I feel stupid but....

We're going to the reptile expo tomorrow and we're picking up a buttload of crickets for a friend. Either 1000 or 2000. Problem is with schedules he won't be able to pick them up until Sunday.

My question is, do I need to do anything special like heat or humidity to keep them alive until overnight? They'll be inside obviously.

Also, are they going to chirp all night? LOL

[infernalis]

Chirp.. YES

Just like camping inside. ;)

keep them moderatly cool and humid, they will be fine.

[Jenn_06]

have fun with the smell too o-o

[Norm66]

Thanks Wayne. Our house is about 70 and I can put a pot of water or something in the tub they'll stay overnight in. Have to put them in a tub because our cats will find a way to let the crickets out otherwise. ;)

Jenn, they smell? Yippee.

[infernalis]

Careful about the water Norm, crickets drown.

Put a wet sponge in there instead.

[Norm66]

I was figuring to leave the crickets in the box(es) they come in and the bowl of water outside of them, but inside the tub. A sponge is probably a better idea from a humidity standpoint though.

[youngster]

Mine smell worse than any of my herps. Except for when my beardie takes a dump, that's pretty smelly too.

[infernalis]

monitor poop hands down the grossest odour you will ever smell.

[Norm66]

monitor poop hands down the grossest odour you will ever smell.

I have had the dubious pleasure. Yea, pretty bad.

At one point my wife and I had 11 ferrets. Two days' buildup of their waste is in the ballpark with monitor poo.

It's only for 24 hours, I can handle it.

[youngster]

I believe it. Beardie poop is bad enough, I can't imagine monitor poop :)

[Gungirl]

Hrmm.. that I do not understand Norm. Must have been the diet the ferrets where on. I was running a ferret rescue and I had 18-20 ferrets on average. They had the run of 2 rooms and 8 litter boxes. I cleaned the boxes every morning and I never noticed a smell other than that of the littler scent.

[Norm66]

Hrmm.. that I do not understand Norm. Must have been the diet the ferrets where on. I was running a ferret rescue and I had 18-20 ferrets on average. They had the run of 2 rooms and 8 litter boxes. I cleaned the boxes every morning and I never noticed a smell other than that of the littler scent.

Ours were on F/T mice, Bob Church's chicken gravy and some commercial ferret kibble, can't remember which. If I kept up on it it wasn't bad but if I was gone for a day when I came back it was pretty rotten.

[Gungirl]

yeah that explains it.. lol

[KORBIN5895]

Speaking of ferrets ........

My guy eats all the time! How much is too much food wise? Also what can I feed to cut down on the poop smell?

[Gungirl]

I feed my guys this 8 in 1 Ultra Blend Ferret Diet - Ferret.com (http://www.ferret.com/item/8-in-1-ultra-blend-ferret-diet/650120/)
I have no odor issues at all, my guys eat as much as they want and are at a perfect weight. Mine are also out of their cage at least 3-4hrs a day.

[Norm66]

We had really good luck with Bob's chicken gravy which is mainly slightly cooked chicken. It was my opinion (not based in fact mind you) that the worst contributor to the smell was the fish component in the kibble. This was before the really good ferret kibbles were available and a lot of people still fed kitten food.

Kat, I used to get all my stuff at ferret.com. I still have one of their stickers on my guitar case.

[Gungirl]

Any fish product will make ferrets smell horrid! lol Ferret.com is the best site I have found.

[KORBIN5895]

I am currently feeding chicken and lamb jerky. I will be buying actual ferret food today but the stuff he is normally on still makes him stink.

[Norm66]

Korbin, have you ever given him a mouse? A lot of times if they're not started early they won't recognize it as food but it is definitely good for them. And we all have F/T rodents laying around after all.

Actually the very first thing that was ever in our new refrigerator when we moved into our house was 4 cases of Bud Light and 100 frozen mice. Had to pay the movers and be ready for the ferrets. LOL

[Gungirl]

Be very careful and do your research before switching any ferret onto a raw diet. If they are not slowly introduced into it they can get very ill. The first sign is very runny poop. I have seen ferrets die from dehydration after being switched onto a raw diet with out doing it the right way. I do not feed a raw diet due to the fact that I adopted my ferrets older and I am not willing to risk the health issues associated with making the switch. Ferret foods are made as a well balanced diet kind of like Crested gecko food is done for them now.

[KORBIN5895]

I tried a couple of pinkies when we found him last month but he wasn't interested.

[Norm66]

I tried a couple of pinkies when we found him last month but he wasn't interested.

Yea, once they're a year old they often won't recognize new foods. The more I think about it I'm pretty sure it was just the ones we had as pups that would eat mice.

And of course, Kat is right about switching diet carefully. We never had much problem getting them to eat the chicken gravy but we always mixed kibble in with it in decreasing quantities to acclimate new ones. They had kibble 24/7 available but somehow they always had room when we brought out the gravy. :yes:

[DragonsEye]

NO WATER bowl or any such unless you have a sponge in it like Wayne suggested. (As a long term thing that would not be a great idea but short term would be fine.) Crickets are INCREDIBLY stupid creatures and will drown themselves by the truckload. Instead, get some leaves of romaine, rinse them off well (to remove any pesticides that may be present) and put the still wet leaves in the tub. The crickets will eat the leaves and "lap up" the water drops on the leaves. You can also use some slices of raw potato. If you have a cat or dog, you can put some pebbles of cat/dog food in there. The crickets will eat it. If these are the brown house crickets, do NOT keep them too cool ... IME this species has very little cold tolerance.

Chirp? Hell yeah!