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Post by sherrylynne on Jan 12, 2009 12:11:06 GMT -5
Since hubby has firmly stated "No live insects in this house!"  , I was reading on a raw cat forum that I'm on about canned crickets. So, when I went to the pet store, I asked about them! The clerk promptly brought me up 2 cans, 1 each of crickets and grasshoppers. I bought them, brought them home, and tried them with the ferts. Lucrezia and Vincent love them, Sinnead had one, and Boris, of course, thinks they're poison  . The funny thing? My youngest cat, Watson, also adores them. Lucrezia, Vincent, and Watson, were each trying to keep the others out of the dish, and eat the crickets, at the same time! It was hilarious And when you look at the ingredient lists- just the insect, nothing else! |
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Post by harrisi on Jan 12, 2009 12:42:53 GMT -5
Canned crickets..hmm, never heard of that before! But if they are just the insect then no problems there. I can understand the no live insects in the house thing, crickets are one insect I absolutely hate, they stink, hop, are ugly and bite lol!
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Post by sherrylynne on Jan 12, 2009 17:03:11 GMT -5
Since the closest pet store sells reptiles, they have a lot of goodies like that! Not cheap, though, so they'll be kept as a treat only!
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Post by Kerit on Jan 15, 2009 11:58:47 GMT -5
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Post by spiritualtramp on Jan 15, 2009 14:55:24 GMT -5
My kids love them! I buy them canned too because I don't want buggums in my house but the crickets go over real well! Try the canned mealworms, too! |
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Post by sherrylynne on Jan 15, 2009 22:48:31 GMT -5
Not a chance in you know what any kind of worm will be in this household!!!  |
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Post by luci on Jan 16, 2009 2:27:10 GMT -5
I had no idea! I did buy mealworms for the girls to try, but they were decidedly uninterested. I'm still deciding what to use for dig box material. I'm leaning toward beans. Then I'll stick some wormies in there and see what happens. Is there anything to worry about if I put ten or so worms in a closed dig box with a tunnel access? Will they breed or do weird things if they aren't all eaten? How many pounds of beans do you think it will take to for a good dig layer in a 28 quart Sterilite? Sorry, sherrylynne. Didn't mean to jack your thread. I just got on a tangent there.  I also have a reptile place nearby and I'll have to ask about the canned buggies. I'm pretty darned sure the cats will like them if the ferrets don't. My cat, Khina, ate up mealworms like they were the best thing ever when I brought those home! |
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Post by harrisi on Jan 16, 2009 8:25:34 GMT -5
Will they breed or do weird things if they aren't all eaten? They will turn into "aliens" (pupae) and then emerge into beetles. You would be better off getting a bag of top soil, bake it for 20 minutes on 300F in the oven then put it into a box and put the meal worms into there, use half grown meal worms, then after a week or two go through the box and see if you can find any. As they were only half grown they by this time they will probably be a week away from pupating however they might starve to death. Alternatively put them in the freezer for a minute or two then take them out and leave them to warm back up then use them. The freezer will usually "send them to sleep" within 10 or so seconds then they will loose body temp. and die. |
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Post by Kerit on Jan 16, 2009 9:28:02 GMT -5
They will turn into "aliens" (pupae) and then emerge into beetles. And I haven't found a single animal that will agree to eat the horrible little beetles  |
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Post by harrisi on Jan 16, 2009 14:08:55 GMT -5
They will turn into "aliens" (pupae) and then emerge into beetles. And I haven't found a single animal that will agree to eat the horrible little beetles Ugh, no they are disgusting! I used to have a litter of kits that ate them and all you would hear was *crunch, crunch, cough, crunch, crunch, guts being chewed, swallow* lol! |
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Post by harrisi on Jan 16, 2009 14:10:45 GMT -5
Oh and I went out and got some of the canned crickets, I put them into a little bit of warm water to re-hydrate them and warm them up and the ferts loved them. No more live crickets! whoop! The cats love them aswell. I wish they did Can O CockRoaches though.
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Post by spiritualtramp on Jan 16, 2009 21:08:39 GMT -5
Hahaha the can o cockroaches might creep me out a little TOO much...!!
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Post by josiesmom on Jan 31, 2009 2:32:24 GMT -5
Here's a nice page with good descriptions of raising your own Super Worms. I recently purchased two paks of 25 worms from Petsmart. Fed several when I got home to the ferrets. mmmm yummm candy they said!
Then I counted when I put them in the keeper bin. I've fed another half dozen to the mice with pups this past week and just did a worm count - I'm back up to 54 again! Obviously the substrate they came in had baby worms that have since grown. I added some oatmeal and wheat bran for them and an apple for moisture.
I'm going to set up a forcing bin to get them to pupate and then turn to beetles, using the suggestions found online. Wish me luck! I'll keep you posted. The mice really enjoy the worms as do the ferrets. I'm suffering from sticker shock at the canned insect prices!
geesh!
Cheers!
Kim
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Post by harrisi on Jan 31, 2009 6:40:11 GMT -5
My brother used to breed superworms for his reptiles, I found they stunk much more then meal worms but lasted longer. The fat content is also higher so great for ferrets! I stick to the meal worms though, at least the beetles are nicer and dont bite |
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