SMILE FOR THE CAMERA

[casey]

Leanne, how do you feed crickets?

I want to get some for Stella and Martini, but I'm a bit scared of things that jump. I get a fright when Stella or Martini jump if I have my hand in their tank - like if I'm trying to replant something that they've uprooted!

I feed my girls earthworms with chopsticks - could I do this for crickets or do I have to pick them up?

Do you have to hand feed the cricket to the axie or can you just drop it on top or under the water?

I'm guessing the small crickets are the best size?

I love that pic, too - what a Kodak moment!

 

[jordan]

yes it does look like his tongue!

 

[apryl]

Sometimes I hate technology,but when we get digi cams that take the perfect pic,and we can load them and put them up for others to see on line I love it.Sideshow Bob looks so cool!!The tongue is great!!We all have such beautiful pets,and although they are all axies they all have their own character .That,and how much we love them shows in our pics,how cool are we!!?

 

[apryl]

Sorry guys,was feelin a bit down til I saw my axies thismorning,and then came on here and I see more happy axie faces,couldnt help saying something

 

[rheann]

Hey Casey, I feed my guys Crickets as treats once a week or so. Sometimes every two weeks. Now these days it has been more like two weeks.

I hand feed the crickets. I sometimes feed the earthworms by hand, but I usually let them hunt them on their own

As for the crickets, I would hand feed them. You can feed them by removing the legs or not not. I don't remove the legs because I feel bad for the crickets when I do that. Tweezers or chop sticks are good to use to feed them

 

[jordan]

yes many people use tweezers or chopsticks to handfeed their axolotls.

 

[rheann]

Ah, Apryl, it's the same with me, i don't have a camera that works very well, so I hope to get one so I can take some cute pictures of my Axies smiling

 

[casey]

Thanks, Rheann, I'll try chopsticks - but still one of my questions remains unanswered... Do they jump?

Why on earth do people remove the legs? I would hate doing that? yuck!

I know you're going to feed it to the axie anyway, but what a horrible way to die - have your legs pulled off and then swallowed by an axolotl!

Just out of curiosity - how long does a cricket live for inside an axie? or does the swallowing or digestion process kill it?

Sorry about the morbidity, just wondering if maybe it's better to kill them first, so they aren't trapped inside waiting to die.

 

[rheann]

Hey Casey, it's no problem

Yes, the little brown crickets that they sell as food in pet shops jump, but they don't bite, and if they do it doesn't hurt one bit, can hardly feel it

but they will try and bite each other, so it is best to keep them seperated with bits of egg carton or toilet paper tubes if they are in a container.

They are a little spring loaded, but don't go too far when they jump if kept in a small space.

Hey, I am afraid of spiders, BIG TIME. some I am not like little jumping spiders, but any other type, just watching them crawl so fast across floors and walls just makes me jump and gives me the chills!

I just can't bring my self to pull the legs off the crickets, I feel the same way about you. Also I am not sure if the crickets die right away in the stomach or not... I hope they do.

Now you got me wondering about that.

 

[leanne]

Well, this might be even more morbid than taking the legs off, BUT maybe more humane in a way....

the way I feed my axies crickets is to (are you sitting down? This is going to be gross) take a cricket's head off, since that part is not digested anyway (and comes out in their poop), and that way also the cricket dies quickly and the axie can smell it easier too. I do hand feed them the crickets, and they love it that way! They love variety and treats, and it is a refreshing change from worms, as are mealworms and waxworms as snacks (which I decapitate too--mealworms HAVE been known to chew through a predator's stomach; they LOVE mealworms and waxworms like we love candy bars---lots of fat in both of those kinds of larvae!). And Apryl, I hear ya, I only have to take one look at Sideshow Bob and Nigel and forget all my troubles!

We are lucky to have these little living miracles in our lives!

 

[casey]

I bought some crickets!

I got medium ones, as the lady at the pet shop said that the small ones are so small that it would be very difficult to pick them up with chopsticks.

Anyway, I've managed to get two of them into a separate feeding container which I put a carrot and some cricket feeder called "gutload" which has lots of nutrients in it, so that they are full of nutrients when I feed them to Stella and Martini.

Unfortunately as I was picking up one of them out of the carton another jumped on the chopsticks and then managed to jump away and I've now lost him - he's probably hiding in my bed somewhere (my axie is in my room). So, they jump far enough to get away from me, that's for sure!

I don't think I could bring myself to pull their heads off - they are so gross! I don't like insects much, as you can probably tell.

The container I got them in has egg carton stuff in there as well as gut load stuff! OMG!!! I just saw the cricket run across the floor - I tried to step on him, but he jumped! I feel all itchy!

I hope my girls eat them after all this that I'm putting myself through!

 

[leanne]

It's definitely an acquired taste (so to speak!

), but you will get used to it---in the meantime, it might help with the heeby jeebies if you get some rubber gloves, like the close-fitting medical kind, and use them to handle the crickets---it will hopefully make you feel less creepy about it

Oh, and take the egg cartons out of the cricket enclosure, or they will eat the cardboard instead of the gutload--the egg carton stuff is a pet store's cheap way of feeding crickets.

Keep posted, ok!! Don't give up!

 

[jordan]

I don't understand you guys.

, Afraid to pull off a cricket's head that is doomed to die anyway? That just seems a little weird that you care enough to not rip their heads off for a quick death, but will allow them to be eaten by your axie where he will be burned in stomach acid.

I don't mean to argue, but i just find that funny.

 

[casey]

Jordan, it's not that I care so much about the cricket - I just don't want to touch them - they scare me! Plus I don't see the point in ripping their legs or head off. I couldn't bring myself to do it b/c I'm a chicken!

My boyfriend had to kill a white-tail spider for me last night whilst I stood on the bed, so it couldn't get me. I don't like insects, but I want to provide some variety for my axies.

 

[jordan]

thats pretty funny Casey, considering that in your life you eat like 5 spiders or something like that.

 

[rheann]

Actually Jordan, the average human eats 8 spiders in their life time while they are sleeping

But I can understand how she feels about the crickets, I feel the same way

 

[apryl]

Hahaha,I love it!Bugs!I went to the pet shop to get some magnet wall cleaners,ended up with a scrubber on a stick handle,with a scraper side and a plant fork on the other end,its great!!Anyhoo,I came across mealworms on the frog food table,50 for $5,thought that was reasonable,but I wasnt sure if axies could have them till I got home and looked on here.They now have two leucistic beautiful long gilled axies.They have put the price up too,$40 each!And they have a bubble feature that makes it look like an earthquake,poor things cant sit still,bobbing around like boiling carrots,grr!So,me being me,I said "I dont think axies like so much movement",the pet shop girl goes "Oh,I know,but these ones dont seem to mind." and walked off.No telling some people.Funny thing was they didnt have forward gills or bent tail ends.Although they are very pretty I wont pay $40 for an axie.

 

[rebecca]

was the shop animates
in welly the animates we have is selling wildtypes for $40 there s so many in the tank and they are taking eachothers limbs off

 

[apryl]

We have Animalz in Johnsonville.I was planning to go to Animates for a nosey.Stock is just a dollar sign to most pet shops,they see so many animals come and go they seem to be immune to any feelings for them,so the animals suffer in discomfort.Still,I think $40 is too much for an axie.People sell them on Trademe and the Trade and Exchange paper for $10 or $15,much more reasonable price.

 

[suzanne]

If you look at buying axies from Sydney pet shops etc they aren't that cheap either...most of them want about $30 for poor axies that look undernourished and have half their limbs missing!!!
I got little dude from a recently opened pet shop for $20 which i didn't think was too bad (he had the nicest little face...still does except when he's upset with me!)