free roaming lizard to eat the A.W.O.L. crickets

asphyxia · 02-22-03, 06:40 PM

Question:
How long does it take to infest a new house with crickets.

Answer:
6 weeks, yep, they are now own the utility/workshop room, are overtaking the herp area in basement and have been spotted numerious times on the main floor, which leads me to this question, allthough I think I know what the answer will be

Does anyone have a free roaming lizard to eat the A.W.O.L. crickets, I'm thinking Tokay gecko.

If infact that is not possible what are some of the members doing to surpress the cricket uprising

Thanks
Brian
When, every night is like a summers night

ballpython5000 · 02-22-03, 06:48 PM

yes a tokay gecko would be great for that purpose. i have one as a pet, never tried doing that. they are from southern china and around there. but they also in habit florida in significant quantities becuase people have used them for that purpose. I bet if you released 4, your cricket problem would be well taken care of. but is it worth having some malicious tokays running around your house? they bite like crazy, watch your step!

sSNAKESs.com · 02-22-03, 06:55 PM

lol Brian you should have been taking more precautions while feeding :P 5 come out of the container, 5 go into the enclosure :P

after i stopped feeding crickets a long time ago and i NEVER saw one escape, i was still seeing them for 2 months later

dave · 02-22-03, 07:05 PM

house gecko's work great so I've been told they will eat alot and they are inexpencive

Weather1 · 02-22-03, 07:05 PM

My cats take care of all my escaped crickets and they do not bite like a Toyko.

marisa · 02-22-03, 07:09 PM

My dog eats any escapes.

You could try a cat as well?

My only thoughts about the geckos free roaming are what happens if they DO in fact take care of the problem? You have to release more crickets to fed them? *L*

marisa

Lisa · 02-22-03, 07:33 PM

Maybe bring in your ducks?

Mardy · 02-22-03, 08:05 PM

A few years ago we had a house gecko running around for about a year. Yup no more Crickets.
We lost him one day to a mouce trap.

The only downside was the bathroom was always right in the middle of the wall and just out of reach.

norman · 02-22-03, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mardy

The only downside was the bathroom was always right in the middle of the wall and just out of reach.

yeah i was thinking that might be a problem, as well as it escaping outside or in my case into a neighbours apartment.

Mardy · 02-22-03, 08:23 PM

That's how it found the mouce trap, and it was 2 rooms away.

nouserpif · 02-22-03, 08:28 PM

A house gecko would work great, just provide an open area in the house (or two or three...) that has a 5 gallon tank or similar with a couple crickets (shouldn't be able to escape, or maybe try a bunch of mealworms), with a heat lamp or something nearby, so you are sure the geckos stay as hot as they want, and that they can eat as much as needed if your problem goes away, but you can't find all the geckos... be prepared for breeding! My advice is get set up with 2 or 3 house geckos, or 2-3 tokays (Tokays are vicious creatures, but beautiful and big, so they are neat to have around...) Just make sure that they can't escape or get injured, I.E. screens over windows, not leaving doors open, put the toilet lid down, etc. etc.

I hear free roaming pets are quite popular someplaces too, even in colder areas, as long as they have the Heat+food Idea I mentioned above...

Just my rants,
Dan Conner

asphyxia · 02-22-03, 08:32 PM

Quote:

lol Brian you should have been taking more precautions while feeding :P 5 come out of the container, 5 go into the enclosure :P

Ya dont say! Hey Jeff you have quite the nack for statiing the obvious LOL

I have to admit I was kinda kidding about the free roaming Lizard at first, however, I kinda like the idea, So how big and how expensive is this House gecko.

It would be a good addition to my free roaming AWOL snake lol

Brian

nouserpif · 02-22-03, 08:43 PM

Well, house geckos run from $3 to $20, but usually around $5-$10 each. Tokays are more pricey... The houses get about 4"-5" long, and are tiny, neat little things

And actually, it is a very good idea! lol

Dan Conner

Lisa · 02-22-03, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by asphyxia
It would be a good addition to my free roaming AWOL snake lol
Brian

It might even be food for the free roaming snake.

ballpython5000 · 02-23-03, 09:08 AM

tokays get about 11 inches and max at about 14. they are 30.00 max for a captive bred adult. and 20.00 or less for wild caught. so long as the crickets are always getting out they will always have food. they can only starve if you stop letting them escape. in that case you could put them in a cage and keep them as pets until anothertime they are needed. tokays are big geckos, and they have big bites.