Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Tea]

Hi guys,

I have searched for info on and off throughout today and have found a hell of a lot of useful threads but as the sheer volume of results my searches were bringing up were a bit too much to go through entirely I am wondering if you guys might be able to either answer my queries directly or, if it's been covered in a zillion newb posts thousands of zillions of times already, perhaps someone could point me towards the good ones

Anyway, basically, I have a small collection at present consisting of 3 lizards and 4 frogs that all eat varying sizes of crickets and locusts. I am about to place an order with Rick for my first bulk batch of live food rather than continue to buy tubs at £2.50 a pop the contents of which are usually about ready to start dying on me! Now then, what I want to know is, first of all, what I want to be looking into getting to house the food animals in as I am aware that crickets especially will be able to chew their way out of a bag pretty quickly. I saw some deep (by deep I mean over a foot, perhaps a foot and a half?) plastic containers in Dunelm for a few quid the other day. Would these do? Obviously, larger locusts will be able to jump rather high so what would be best as a lid... the original with holes poked in it or a mesh screen? I'm thinking the latter to minimise humidity. I read in the locust thread today about cardboard boxes being used... what's the comparison like as regards frequency of disposal and replacement of cardboard boxes versus hassle of cleaning a plastic tub (bearing in mind where I work has quite a lot of boxes lying around!).

As I mentioned earlier, my animals require food of varying sizes so I'm thinking that breeding crickets is probably going to be the best and most cost effective way of feeding them... I prefer the brown crickets.. where can I find comprehensive info about housing and breeding these?

I have a male and female Yemen chameleon and as some of you might have seen from my post in the chameleons section, the male is a fussy bugger in that he won't eat anything but locusts. In your informed opinions, would you say it would be worth my while breeding locusts as well as crickets or should I just continue buying them in bulk and maintaining them as long as possible if, predominantly, they will only be feeding one animal regularly... I say this because it's likely that the female will have some and my bosc certainly will when he's big enough but that's a while off yet.

I am really rambling now and this has turned into a bit of an essay so for that I apologise, I'm just amazed by the vast amount of info pretty much on tap here and I am really eager to learn!! I have another burning question regarding incubators as well so I'm off to find an appropriate place for that now too!

Seriously though, any help would be much appreciated, even if it is just links to previous posts. Like I said, I did look but there's no telling what i missed!!

Thanks
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http://www.iherp.com/tea

0.1.1 Elaphe guttata guttata
1.0 Python regius
1.0 Xenopus laevis
4.0 Hyla cinerea
0.0.4 Litoria cearulea
0.0.1 Varanus exanthematicus
1.1 Chameleo calyptratus

[Jas]

Hi Tea and welcome to the forum.
I would say as you have quite a small collection of animals it wouldnt be worth breeding your own livefood, but to just buy them in bulk as if they are housed properly they will last out until all fed off. For the crickets you can use one of those plastic containers from dunehlm (I do) but get the high ones as in the bottom of the tub you need some pieces of egg carton(these usually come with the bulk crickets) and then you need about a foot clearance from the top of the carton bits to the top of the tub to stop them jumping out, then this container can be placed on top of one of your vivs to keep it warm. If you put a lid on the container you will probably have a problem with humidity and this will kill them all quick and as long as you have plenty of food dry and moist or some form of water for them cricket gel,slices of carrot they will last a long time.
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[Tea]

Awesome, thanks. That saves me quite a lot of hassle as I wasn't sure about breeding them just yet... I wouldn't mind having a go at some point just to see how easy/hard it is but if I can get away with not bothering for now that would cut my workload down considerably

I've just been and bought 2 huge tubs from Dunelm.... they're the tallest they sell (as far as I'm aware anyway). They're the 'croc' tubs with the hinged lids... £7.99 usually but as between the two of them there was only half a lid I got £3 of each. I was thinking of just knocking together a wooden frame for the top of each and stapling this black nylon mesh fabric stuff I have to it by way of an escape proof screen that won't mess with humidity. I figured one for crickets and one for locusts... Do you reckon the screen top thing would be ok? I can't see why it wouldn't be but then this isn't something I've done before
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http://www.iherp.com/tea

0.1.1 Elaphe guttata guttata
1.0 Python regius
1.0 Xenopus laevis
4.0 Hyla cinerea
0.0.4 Litoria cearulea
0.0.1 Varanus exanthematicus
1.1 Chameleo calyptratus

[Jas]

Yes the screen idea is probably the best idea, my crickets are kept in the reptile room so im not bothered about the odd escapee but if keeping them in your house you will probably benefit from the extra protection of a screen lid
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[Tea]

In all honesty, I couldn't give a toss about escapees... but a certain mother of mine could The screens are purely a 'keeping the peace' measure whilst I'm living back at home. I decided after 3 years of renting whilst at uni I'm not leaving this joint til I can buy a place
_________________
http://www.iherp.com/tea

0.1.1 Elaphe guttata guttata
1.0 Python regius
1.0 Xenopus laevis
4.0 Hyla cinerea
0.0.4 Litoria cearulea
0.0.1 Varanus exanthematicus
1.1 Chameleo calyptratus

[kroakykaren]

Tea i use a pair of tights, just stretch the waist over the top job done
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[Tea]

Haha, that's a good idea.... Christ, now I've got to find a pair of tights big enough. My arse might be large but even I'll admit, it's not *that* big
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http://www.iherp.com/tea

0.1.1 Elaphe guttata guttata
1.0 Python regius
1.0 Xenopus laevis
4.0 Hyla cinerea
0.0.4 Litoria cearulea
0.0.1 Varanus exanthematicus
1.1 Chameleo calyptratus

[Devon_Paul]

Hi Tea, not meaning to put a spanner in the works, but can I suggest an alternative to you? I would suggest breeding Cockroaches!! I have 3 different types on the go at the moment. I have beardies and they absolutely go mad for them. They are also VERY easy to keep and breed like crazy, effectively giving you free food!! I feed them the odd apple core, vegetable offcuts from the kitchen, porridge oats etc, so extremely cheap to feed. They do not smell and as long as you pick the right kind - Dubia's for example, they do not climb out of their enclosure and grow large enough to provide a good enough meal for all of your Reps, including your Bosc when he/she gets bigger. Any photo's by the way? I am picking up my new baby Bosc tomorrow, so am keen to see what yours looks like

regards, Paul.
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1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
0.0.2 Blue Tongued Skinks
1.0.0 Bosc/Savannah Monitor
0.2.0 Cats!!
∞.∞ Cockroaches - Lobsters, Dubia and Turkistans

[Tea]

Hiya Paul

I do have a couple of pics as it goes, yeah i'll deal with that in a sec though...

I'd be all for breeding roaches, for sure... but unfortunately my ma is deathly terrified of them and being that I am lodging in the family home again for the forseeable (just finished uni, don't wanna move out til i can buy a place as renting is 'poo'!) I wouldn't want to 'wee' her off too much... she's just about coping with the sudden influx of animals as it is! I might try and broach the subject as my bosc gets bigger as I ideally would like to include them in his diet. I'll buy some in in smaller quantities to begin with and see how we go from there. Thanks for the advice on them though, that's awesome. I'm taking mental note of everything everyone suggests.

On the subject on boscs though... you are going to LOVE your baby Mine is just amazing. I cannot wait til this guys starts to grow big, he's already taming up nicely and he's only about 6 or 7 inches long and only been in the house just over a week! So yeah, anyway, pictures eh? I have 2 for now







That's my little Steve
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http://www.iherp.com/tea

0.1.1 Elaphe guttata guttata
1.0 Python regius
1.0 Xenopus laevis
4.0 Hyla cinerea
0.0.4 Litoria cearulea
0.0.1 Varanus exanthematicus
1.1 Chameleo calyptratus

[Devon_Paul]

OMG, Steve is sooo cute - thanks for posting the piccies!! I am even more excited now. I am picking my new little man/lady tomorrow afternoon and am sooo excited. You would think I was like a little kid It has been a real race against time to build his/her first viv. I have only just finished putting the sealant around and getting the temps right. Hopefully by tommorow evening, it will all be right for him to move right in. I think mine is a similar size to yours, maybe a little smaller. When I first saw him in the rep store, he was wallowing in his water bowl. I have also started to build him a 7x3x3 viv for when he or she gets bigger. I will post some photos in the Viv section when I am finished. The viv I have just finished is 5x2x2. What size viv are you keeping yours in at the moment until he gets bigger?
Anyway, I am sorry to hijack the thread!! Going back to Cockroaches, my wife and kids (and admittedly me) were all quite disgusted with them when we first got them, but over time, they become very interesting and we have now excepted them readily. I have to admit that we have had one or two escape and due to the fact that they like high temps (90's), they just seem to die. They will not breed or travel far if they do escape. Let me know if you want some as I know some good suppliers and at good prices

Regards, Paul.
_________________
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
0.0.2 Blue Tongued Skinks
1.0.0 Bosc/Savannah Monitor
0.2.0 Cats!!
∞.∞ Cockroaches - Lobsters, Dubia and Turkistans