Feeding crickets to cfbn(nutritional value of earthworms)

[wyatt]

I was wondering if feeding my CFBN pinhead, or maybe a bit bigger, cricket would be nutritional enough. i would feed the crickets on a nutritional diet. I was wondering what makes earthworms so healthy? if i fed the crickets food that has the same nutritional value as an earthworm, it would be good for it right? I plan to breed these because i have so many herps that needthese in their diet. any advice on both those topics would be appreciated! also, can you give some advice on how to breed earthworms, if you can?

 

[jennifer]

Crickets are notoriously deficient in calcium, but are otherwise a decent food. Feeding the crickets a balanced diet would certainly help, but it would not entirely correct the lack of calcium. If you are feeding an AQUATIC firebelly, it's impossible to "dust" the crickets, so I would worry a bit about whether a newt fed mostly crickets was getting a balanced diet. There is a long history of newts fed mostly worms for years and doing well (breeding, etc).

Here is an article and links that should get you started on the subject of breeding earthworms:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/worms.shtml

 

[wyatt]

i can easily correct the calcium deficiency by dusting the crickets food with calcium powder, right?

 

[kaysie]

The dust will wash off as soon as the crickets touch the water.

Worms are much better (listen to Jen, she knows what she's doing).

 

[wyatt]

i meant feed the calcium to the crickets. the calcium would be in the cricket.

 

[jennifer]

Based on what I have read, there is no way to feed crickets ENOUGH calcium without killing the cricket. High-calcium cricket food is a good idea, but does not entirely correct the calcium imbalance.

 

[edward]

Well you can achieve a positive calcium to phosphorus ratio in pinhead crickets fed a high calcium diet for 48 hours but then they tend to die between then and 72 hours....

Ultrafine calcium dust stays on the crickets pretty well even when the crickets get into the water. But as Kaysie said, using worms that have been gutloaded with a calcium containing substrate is probably the best method.

Ed

 

[wyatt]

thanks for your help. i not going to breed crickets, but i think i will feed blackworms or start an earthworm culture. if you have any advice on the blackworm thing, post it the other post please!