Crickets – YUMMMMM!!!!

Hi,

Today we get to talk about our favorite subject.

Crickets!

As fire-bellied toads we only eat live food.  Don’t try to feed us that dead or thawed out junk!  It won’t get by us.

So April had to figure out how to keep live food on hand without running to the pet store every other day.  You see, we are moving next year to a small town in Wyoming and her hubby said they wouldn’t be able to afford to drive 60 miles one way every other day to buy crickets for us.  It is obvious where we land in the food chain in this household!

 That is okay though because April bought this great cricket keeper from Petco.  It has an opening at the top to drop the crickets in and there are two round holes on each side where these black tubes go.  The tubes have plastic caps on them.  The crickets like to climb up the tubes and when it is feeding time April pulls out a tube, covers the open end with her hand and lowers the tube into our home.  She just leans the tube a little and the crickets come out all by themselves.  Greenie (who is the least shy of us) sits right at the end of the tube and gobbles them up as they come out.  Sometimes Greenie even jumps into the tube a little to get at a cricket if he is not in a very patient mood.

We know when it is time to eat because April feeds us about the same time of day and always puts the black tube into the aquarium and leans it a little to let us see the crickets.  She thinks it is cute the way we scrunch down when we know the crickets are coming.  She says it looks like we are stalking our prey like the lions in Africa.

We don’t have long tongues that fly out like some toads and frogs so we have to pounce at the cricket and grab it with our mouth.  Then we use our front feet to shove it down into our mouth.  April and her hubby think that is cute also.  Her hubby is always watching us and smiling.  So, even though he doesn’t think we are worth the 120 mile round trip every other day for food, we know he does love us.

Another great thing about the cricket keeper is that April buys small crickets and we get to watch them grow.  Before she puts the crickets in it she sprinkles some calcium with supplements into the cage so the crickets have to walk in it.  We need calcium and other supplements and we get it because it is on the crickets when we eat them.  Clever, huh? And, she puts in a piece of egg carton or even a crumpled up tissue so the crickets have more space to go and don’t squish each other by standing on each others heads.  (We never said crickets were smart.)  Then she puts a slice of a tangerine or orange (leaving the rind on it) in the keeper for the crickets to drink and eat.  The rind helps keep the moisture of the orange seeping onto the egg carton or even on the floor of the cage.  It is amazing how fast those little crickets grow eating the orange.  She says you can practically see them get bigger by the second as they eat.  This is important because we should eat what is called gutloaded crickets.  Which basically means a cricket that has just eaten so much his belly is bulging.  After eating on that orange those crickets are definitely gutloaded.

Here are some pictures of the crickets eating.

Well, we have to go now.  It’s time to EAT!

Kind Regards,

Brownie & Greenie

Brownie

Greenie – see my fire-belly?