I fed crickets for the first time

I put Yoshi in a tub along with 3 crickets. This was the first time for me and, as far as I know, the first time for Yoshi as well.
Yoshi got very fired up.

I was using tweezers to help the gecko out. I had Yoshi in my hand for the third cricket, trying to feed the cricket to Yoshi. Yoshi ended up crawling onto the tweezers. What a goof.

Just reiterate because someone is already giving my grief on Facebook. I, at no point, picked the gecko up with the tweezers.

The last image is of Yoshi fired up tonight, along with a picture when the gecko was fired down the most I have seen.




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Too cute!! I have had my cresties jump onto my tongs as well or mistake my finger for a bug hehe :rofl: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :yum:

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These geckos are so adorable. Also a little unpredictable at times. But make for goofy or what I think is a funny picture.
I can’t wait to start feeding more crickets more often. I know, only once or twice a week. I would like to see this little one grow a bit. 9 months, 8 grams. I have had it for almost 3 weeks.

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Not gonna lie, I feel like these guys take forever to grow! Lol - my leopard geckos grew up so fast it was crazy. I feel like my cresties are just dragging along :weary: the anticipation!!!

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We were just going through pictures of our salamander. He grew so fast. I am sure in a years time, I will be wishing Yoshi was little again.

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Awhhh! I have a special bond with my tiger salamander. Raised him since he was a wee larvae. Now he’s all grown up and eats me out of house and home :pleading_face: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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It was actually proven that Cresties eat more insects in the wild than fruit etc but it is also dependant on availability, so you may find, like my Cresties that sometimes they won’t eat as much CGD or insects at certain times of the year.

I feed most my Cresties insects twice a week, I’ve recently tried more but they don’t seem interested yet, but my baby juvenile Cresties get insects 3 X a week min! They love it!

I have had Cresties sit on my tongs, one of my female Cresties frequently decides to walk on the tongs (post the insect) to come for a cuddle - she does not like insects (something I’m working on, I believe her previous owner didn’t feed insects).

They are funny & adorable creatures.

I feed my Cresties in their enclosure, I don’t move them. Babies I start with tong feeding insects then I slowly move to putting them in their bowl (dependent on the gecko and the insects being fed) and in their enclosure, most of them go crazy for the hunt while others are lazy.

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Depends on the crestie itself, but I’ve found a lot of mine grow quite fast!
We use Pangea, all flavours and also the growth one. We feed crickets twice a week, 3 times for the little ones! They also enjoy wax worms as a treat!
I have a 10 month old male, around 25g now, a 9 month old at 18g and a 11 month old at 35g.
We have have 2 nearly 4 month olds at 7 and 8. Growing quick! So that shows you a rough idea of weights, but not all the same!
All Cresties are different though, I had a tiny one hatch a couple weeks ago on the 9th who I assume will be slower at growing then the ones that hatched 4 days ago!
If you’re only introducing crickets now too, may be a slightly slower start, but give them twice a week! We put them into the enclosure, no need to get him/her out to eat as sometimes that puts them off :blush:

This is the chubster Clementine! Couple days shy of 11 months, she’s already laying infertile eggs and all!

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When you put crickets in the bowl, do you pull the legs?

This little guy was fed Pangea with insects. I don’t think it ever got live food. That one is a beauty.

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I let the crickets run loose, I put dubia roaches in the bowls. I remove any left overs the next morning

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Are you worried at all about them escaping or breeding and then overrunning the enclosure? I haven’t actually fed crickets yet, only dubias.

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I hate crickets and I get my husband to help me feed them to the Cresties.

The insects can’t escape out of the enclosure, that being said we lost 5 crickets in the week and found them scattered around the downstsirs :flushed:

But usually I feed locusts as my choice of jumping insects, again they can’t escape out of the enclosures and usually don’t loose any.

They are too small to breed and I remove any the next morning.

I have lost a few dubia roaches in the enclosures which are too hard to find again! But luckily they end up in the food bowls which they can’t crawl out of.

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Crickets should never be allowed to run loose in an enclosure with small animals, especially geckos. They can eat and kill your gecko if they are not eaten. They can even do damage in a single night. Only tong feed the crickets, or pop their back legs off and put them in a bowl. @mblaney I am sure she would be more than willing to show you the damage crickets can do if needed.

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That’s what I’m worried about. I only have 1 tank with 3 cresties but I still don’t want to risk putting any crickets in there. I’m likely only going to feed roaches in an escape-proof dish and rarely mealworms and wax worms. Unfortunately I can’t find live locusts or grasshoppers for sale in the states but I don’t even know if they remove the risk from crickets.

If you could find small hornworms, silkworms, or BSFL then those would be a good substitute as well. Especially since there is a very good chance of becoming allergic to dubias the more you are exposed to them…which will make you allergic to shell fish as well. If you don’t like shrimp or crab then it won’t matter lol.

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I have a soldier fly colony but it doesn’t seem to be producing. Since adult soldier flies are also edible and not dangerous I might try feeding live, moving larvae (I’ve previously added soldier fly pupa to their food). I think I have some small allergies to dubias but I already have a dubia colony so I’ve been feeding them already. However I might just feed them crickets outside of their enclosures, doing that there is virtually no risk to them and they still get the enrichment of chasing them.

I have always put crickets into enclosures and to this day I have Never had any problems myself with any of my cresties being bitten or eaten(which is extreme). Even the hatchlings get tiny crickets put in so they can hunt and act natural and again no problems. Been feeding like this for years. (I also feed my bugs so maybe that’s why no problems happen)
Then again my lot are also pigs so don’t usually leave any!
Only problem with bugs we’ve seen, was a Crestie we took on last year. He is missing some crests and has a mark on him due to what we assume was bugs.
But I put crickets in with him and never had a problem with him, he eats every one, so who knows what caused the marks on him, since he was only fed crickets once and was kept on jelly pots for nearly 2 years. He’s about 2 1/2-3 now.

I don’t want to hijack the thread so I’ll be brief- the gecko I tried to rescue that had crickets eat through his body wall was a leopard gecko, and they are terrestrial. So, hands-down, I can say that leaving crickets in with a small, terrestrial species without hard scaling is unethical. I have not kept cresties myself, but it’s my understanding that they are arboreal. So long as they never touch the ground except when hunting, I guess loose crickets, without climbing surfaces, wouldn’t be a problem? It would depend on whether cresties are ever unconscious, dozing, or chilling out in locations where loose crickets could be. That said- why risk it? There are plenty of other options.

With regards to dealing with dubia- I suggest wearing a surgical mask & gloves as an attempt to reduce allergen exposure.

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Highjack away.