Handling of Feeder Insects

People commonly ask us how to move insects, especially Crickets, without actually touching them. This Article looks at our method, including pictures.

Arrival and Unloading:

Crickets ordered in bulk by mail-order usually arrive in bags, like the one shown below, which are inside boxes:

Get an empty tank to put the crickets into. At this point, it should be completely empty.

Hold the bag vertically and give it a shake to ensure that all crickets fall to the bottom. Open the bag, and remove one of the egg cartons/newspaper balls that are usually inside. These will probably be covered in crickets, so do this over the tank:

Place this carton in the tank, and repeat until all of the cartons/newspaper has been removed:

Give the bag another shake to make sure there are no crickets near to the mouth of the bag. Pour the remaining contents into the tank, including the bran and crickets:

Once all of the loose substrate and crickets are in the tank, turn the bag upside down and, starting at the highest point (the actual bottom of the bag) tap/flick the bag to get any crickets clinging to the sides into the tank. It is possible to skip the first couple of steps and pour everything in - however this can lead to escapes/crickets getting squashed by the egg cartons:

Once all crickets are in the tank, tilt the tank to about 45 degrees to get everything to one end. Add a shallow dish with a wet paper towel and some greens to the other end. Tilting the tank first ensures that no crickets will get trapped under the dish. This is the final result - 500 crickets in a tank with food and shelter, and not a single escapee:

Feeding to your Reptiles:

Getting the crickets from the tank, dusting them, and putting them in the cage with your reptiles can be a little daunting if you don't like insects.

Firstly, open the cage and pick up an egg carton with crickets on it. Gently shake some crickets off back into the tank until you are left with roughly the number you want. As long as you are fairly quick, the crickets should stay put on the egg carton, and not come near your hand:

Put the egg carton with crickets on into the top of a plastic bag:

Shake both the bag and egg carton, whilst still holding the egg carton as shown. I hold the carton between my first finger and thumb, and the bag between my ring finger and little finger. This will shake the crickets to the bottom of the bag, where they can't climb out. Put the egg carton back into the tank. These first steps can be repeated until you have the desired number of crickets in the bag:

The bag can be sealed and put in the fridge for a few minutes to slow the crickets down if your reptiles have trouble catching them.

Add Calcium or Vitamin powder directly to the bag if they are due to be dusted today:

Shake the bag to cover all the crickets in dust.

Pour the entire contents of the bag into a shallow dish in your pet's cage. We use small plastic plant pot trays. Once all of the crickets have been eaten/left the dish, you can remove the dish and reuse the Calcium or Vitamin powder. Powder that has been used once tends to be slightly damp, so should not be re-added to the tub of powder. It will usually keep for 24-48 hours in the bag before it becomes so damp that it starts to clump together:

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