No touching crickets for me!

nellie · 07-12-03, 11:49 AM

Buying crickets from the pet store is getting way too expensive so I plan to buy crickets in bulk for my leopard geckos tomorrow. But I have one problem:
I hate them and I don't want to have to stick my hand in a tank full of creapy crawlies.
I know I'm a wimp, but it totally freaks me out having a million crickets jumping all over my hands and escaping into my house.
Does anyone have any suggestions how I can keep crickets in bulk without having to touch them? Is there any type of container that would allow me to just shake a few into the gecko cages?
Thanks,
Nellie

The_Omen · 07-12-03, 12:04 PM

NP!
We keep the egg crate cardboard in with our crix, just grab a piece or two and shake the crix off in a tote.

There are afetmarket crix carriers that have an extraction tube, but have never tried any of them.

Dark_Angel_x322 · 07-12-03, 12:34 PM

You can also try rubber gloves with the egg cartons so they never actually touch your hand... I usually rinse them with water before using them though so no weird chemicals get on the crickets.

Does anyone know how to keep 3week crickets without them escaping? I use a small critter cage for them now but they can get out of the holes in the top... my mom isn't too happy with me right now cuz of it.

reptilez · 07-12-03, 12:55 PM

My friend puts tape on the inside of the lid over the areas where there getting out and may leave 2-4 spaces for air.

matt_winter · 07-12-03, 01:22 PM

Yes there is a way. They have these things at pet stores and im pretty sure that they had them at the reptile show. Anyway its this container with these 2 black tubes, what you do is once the crickets crawl up the tubes, you take it out and shake them into there cage.

nellie · 07-12-03, 04:16 PM

Thanks! You guys are great!!!
Or maybe it would be a good time to overcome my fear of crickets???

MartinW · 07-12-03, 06:34 PM

I'm working on overcoming my fear of spiders. I don't mind big ones like tarantulas, but I hate the smaller ones with those long skinny legs! They freak me out! Whenever I see one I try really hard to pick it up. It's hard though.

leolover · 07-18-03, 08:31 PM

get one of those camera film cases and scoop them up and dump them into the cage.it goes real fast and i have never had a cricket get out on me that way.

fanmaninacan · 07-18-03, 09:41 PM

I hate it when ppl say this!

U get a herp that only eats "bugs" n u can touch it....

it doesent make sence to me..

Not to offend u but....THERE CRICKETS!!!!! come ON!!.lol
T.P

nellie · 07-19-03, 07:06 AM

Wow fanmaninacan that was extremely rude!
I have had my leos for 4 months and I haven't starved them yet!
As my mother always said: "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all!" I was asking for some advice. If you don't have any, don't reply. Thanks.

For the rest of you who replied with some sense, Thanks! The rubber gloves worked like a charm (except of course when one cricket got on my shirt ~ I'll spare you the freak out!)! I even transfered all my crickets from one aquarium to another all by my self for cleaning!
Thanks again!
~Nellie

fanmaninacan · 07-19-03, 07:26 AM

Hey,

Sorry, Mybad
i was in a bad mood at the time...IM SORRY
But u r gonna hve to get used to the crickets some time

T.P

Pixie · 07-19-03, 07:41 AM

Nellie: I SO understand where you're coming from, I too am petrified of crickets and can't stand them. I rarely feed them to my critters, only when absolutely necessary. My geckos get mealworms, silkworms, butterworms and waxworms and an occasional pinky. With a good variety of worms like that, I've been able to avoid giving crickets to my geckos alltogether. There are only my tarantulas that will get crickets once in a while and I get the shop to prepare a dozen split into two bags so I just have to cut one corner and dump them into the tarantula terrariums.

fanmaninacan: It's nice to see you apologize as your earlier post in this thread was in fact quite rude. Phobias are irrational fears and I can understand how silly it sounds, I get it all the time! "You have tarantulas and lizards but you're afraid of crickets!!! LOL" Geez, it even sounds silly to me when I say it! But I can assure you that my fear is very real! I can't understand the fear of snakes at all but it is very common and real so I don't push people as I wouldn't want someone to push a cricket on me!

Pixie

CDN-Cresties · 07-19-03, 12:59 PM

Hey Nellie, you'll get over your fear, just keep working at it. I once bought 2 dozen large crickets at the pet store and i didnt bother taking them out of the plastic bag that they give you. Well needless to say when i got home that night, i saw something crawl under the rug, sure enough they chewed their way through the bag and were running all over my house!!! I thought my mom was going to kill me but she was cool withit. She even helped me catch a couple and she had a fear of crickets herself. I remember once that she woke me up in the morning and said i caught 5 crickets and i put them in your plastic container. lol

Sorry for ramabling on, i thought it was a funny story to tell

if my mom got over the fear Nellie, im sure you can to!!!

-Steve-

Lisa · 07-19-03, 02:45 PM

I too have an irrational fear of all inverts (though i have no problem eating escargo, lobster, crab and clams). I usually just dump them in to our toad's critter keeper and make sure there's food for the bugs.

nellie · 07-20-03, 04:55 PM

Wow fanmaninacan that was extremely rude! I have had my leos for over 4 months and I have yet to starve them. As my mom always said, "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all!" I posted because I was looking for some advice or suggestions. If you don't any helpful suggestions and only smart a$$ comments, Don't Reply!

For the rest of you who answered with some sense:
Thank you so much for your suggestions. Using rubber gloves worked like a charm! I even transfered all of the crickets from one aquarium to another for cleaning by myself!
Thanks again!
~Nellie