# Feeding crickets in a large mossy paludarium question



## fullmonti (May 10, 2013)

I have a large paludarium, link to thread
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/me.../133898-jims-display-paludarium-my-first.html

I added some lizards (green anoles & long tail lizards) a little while back. I can put 2 or 3 dozen small crickets in this tank & in a few minutes you can't see even one cricket. They just seem to disappear into the moss & plant life. I have never seen a lizard eat one & wonder if there are so many places to hide the lizards are not getting any of the crickets. I alternate between crickets & meal worms. I put the mealworms in a little jar lid & they get eaten in short order. Do you think the lizards are getting any of the crickets?

Thanks
Jim


----------



## Friggy_frogger (Aug 24, 2014)

They eventually do crickets don't hide forever. It may take a little while for them to be found


----------



## jimmy rustles (Mar 10, 2013)

Can`t tell you if they have eaten some o not, but i had a cricket survive in a viv for quite some time, despite some very inquisitve geckos inside. A problem is that your lizards are diurnal, while the crickets are nocturnal. I usually feed my crickets in a small plastic jar, that is just tall enough that they can`t jump out of it. I attach the handle of the plastic-jar with a wire to a branch, the lizards can get in but the crickets cant get out.


----------



## fullmonti (May 10, 2013)

I planed to keep putting crickets in, thinking eventually there would be so many in there they would run out of hiding places.

I thought about a tall cup or jar, but those guys can really jump. Will have to look for one & find a place to put it in the tank.

Also thought red eyed tree frogs could eat the same crickets at night. Good to know the crickets are out more at night, will look into that.

Thanks
Jim


----------



## jimmy rustles (Mar 10, 2013)

Also, From what i know, the Calcium/Phosphor Ratio of meal worms isn t really The best one, so don't forget to up The Calcium amount of the worms if you feed them regularly. from what they say over here in europe, crickets, locusts and roaches are the best feeders when it comes to nutritional values. flyes and worms( in the sense of mealworms, zophoba larvae etc.) not so much, theyre rather seen as a complementary feeder, although i gotta confess that Ive seen that there are reptile studies out there, where lizards where fed only with mealworms with no problems. so small roaches like young dubias and crickets both wont come out of the glass and will be a good food.
i used to feed crickets like you did, just throwing them in the viv, but shied away from it after finding a whole load of pinhead crickets in the room. took me several weeks to collect them all out of the room, but luckily I did manage to get em out, although the viv was supposed to be drosophila-escape-safe.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## mwallrath (Mar 8, 2013)

If you are putting any adult female crickets in there and they are not eaten right away they will probably lay eggs. You may end up with a sustainable it at least supplemental cricket supply.


----------

