Another Newbie problem

[Michael Seils]

I was expecting my tarantula to arrive for the end of this week, and in anticipation of that I bought a tub of crickets, which arrived today. This evening I got an email from the spider shop and it turns out there has been a delay and I won't be getting my T this week. So now i have crickets with nowhere to go, how long will they last in their little tub? Is there anything found in your average household that they will eat or anything I could do to keep them alive till my order gets here? It would be terrible waste of the crickets and my money if they all kick the bucket before they meet the tarantula.

[Larry Shone]

Well, Ive found that if kept in a KK, with food and source of water(nt necessarily watewr itself, I have a bit of apple in with mine,etc) they can last for ages!

[Michael Seils]

Please bear in mind that I'm a total novice here, and sometimes just a bit dim too, so any chance you can elaborate on what a KK is? All i have them in is a small plastic tub that they came in. If I stick some apple and other stuff in there you think they'll survive till the housing I ordered for them and my tarantula arrives?

[Larry Shone]

Sorry, Cricket Keeper, a special tank with tubes for them to hide in which you can take out for easy feeding to your T.

let me find a pic:

http://mealwormsdirect.co.uk/shop/files/t_16208.jpg

http://www.wormman.com/prod_images_large/kricket%20keeper.jpg

get them from www.livefoods.co.uk , a great place to go!

[Larry Shone]

as for the foood, well, i put porridge oats in the bottom which acts as substrate as well as food. Half an apple cut up should go miles with them but keep an eye on it so that it doesnt go moldy, and keep the whole thing somewhere fairly cool, i.e not in the warm living room! Mines in the litchen on top of the fridge-the coldest room in the house!

[Adam Smith]

sounds fine to me, just keep feeding them on oats and they like dry dog food, this is if you have a dog otherwise it would be a pricey waste of food to buy for a few crickets. As far as water there are many fruits and veg that will serve that purpose. feed them every other day on either oats one day and fruit the day after, and so on. The best thing about feeding them food with high water content is the tarantula that eats the crickets will also get these nutrients so gets water as well as feed

[Larry Shone]

sounds fine to me, just keep feeding them on oats and they like dry dog food, this is if you have a dog otherwise it would be a pricey waste of food to buy for a few crickets.

I got dry cat food?

[sarah Smith]

they will love dry cat food as well another good food for them would be fish flakes. crickets are omnevorois and will eat most things offered to them.

[Ray Gabriel]

[QUOTE=Larry;8189]Sorry, Cricket Keeper, a special tank with tubes for them to hide in which you can take out for easy feeding to your T.[QUOTE]

A ventialted plastic box (like an old pet pall) with some empty egg carton does just as well and it is cheaper and easier to get.

Be very wary of some stuff you might be offered for your spider there is some rubbish out there such as the tarantula sponge which is desighned to make money for the shops and are on no use what so ever to the spider keeper.

I use flake fish food for my crickets, there is an old BTS article on cricket management somewhere? not sure if it is on the site.

Ray