CRICKETS

House cricket (Acheta domesticus)

House crickets have been a favourite for decades, and for good reason. They’re easy to produce and resistant to cold, making them suitable for shipping during the cold winter months. They’re ideal for all of the most popular insectivorous animals and, if it weren’t for the cricket virus, these would likely be the only brown cricket available in the trade.

SUPER CRICKETS?

The story of house crickets is an interesting one. The species was once the backbone of the livefood trade and the most popular prey insect, until the late 1990s when they were essentially wiped out by a paralysis virus which affected captive colonies all over the world. It’s not entirely clear where the virus came from but its effect was devastating, killing the insects before they could reach maturity.

As a result the trade switched to producing other cricket species, such as silent crickets and banded crickets, which we’ll discuss later. A few people attempted to breed A. domesticus in the following years, but most failed as the virus took hold. Only a handful of small colonies were able to exist virus free. Only in recent years have virus-free colonies been able to establish themselves, but the virus worry remains a constant threat.

Silent cricket (Gryllus assimilis)

Although this species is quieter than other crickets, it is something of a misnomer to call it silent. Male silent crickets do chirp when they reach adulthood, and indeed, this species is more commonly called the Jamaican field cricket in entomological circles.

These became the most popular and best-selling cricket species following the cricket paralysis virus which killed off house cricket colonies. They are similarly slowmoving, but can be aggressive. They also grow quickly and get to be somewhat bigger than house crickets, which makes them a good option for larger pet reptiles such as beardies, but some care is needed if customers are buying food for smaller species of reptiles or amphibians. Should a small silent cricket get lost in an enclosure, they could quickly grow to become predatory monsters for small herp species such as Dendrobates.

From a business perspective, some cricket producers are less enamoured with this species because they are not as prolific and must be kept in lower densities, which means fewer can be produced in the same square footprint of space. As a keeper, this won’t bother you too much though. Silent crickets are a fantastic livefood and, so long as common sense is used to select the right size, these are a great prey item. It’s no surprise that these are the most popular brown cricket in the pet trade.

Banded cricket (Gryllodes sigillatus)

This species was another which came to the market because of the paralysis virus which killed off house cricket colonies. They’re fast and jumpy, which means they’re difficult for some animals to catch, and they’re more likely to escape and get lost in the keeper’s home.

As a tropical species it’s not keen on cold weather and susceptible to dying during transit if shipped in the colder months – a real pain when your store’s cricket delivery arrives DOA. They’re also more aggressive and likely to turn from prey to predator if they get left uneaten. They are a relatively smaller species which, depending on the animal you want to feed, can be a pro or a con.

They’re bred in the trade because they’re easy to produce in high numbers, making them a more profitable option – if you ignore the husbandry issues. They also do well in tubs, providing a better shelf life, but this shouldn’t be a major consideration for those who keep and gut-load their livefoods properly.

Black field cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus)

It’s a mystery why these crickets are at all popular in the pet trade, given they are almost identical to the Silent cricket in behaviour and appearance, colouration aside. They’re from the same family of crickets as the silents, but have a major disadvantage. They can be a bit stinky. The pheromone odour this species emits when stressed is off-putting to many animals, and those which have never seen a black cricket before will often refuse to eat them. They’re also the noisiest of all the cricket species produced for the pet trade.

On the plus side, this is a relatively cold-tolerant species which ships well during the winter. And some keepers like them, usually oldschool keepers for some reason. While there’s a market for them then producers will continue to sell them.

Locusts

Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria)

Locusts are by far the most popular and best-selling livefood on the market today. There are several reasons for this, most notably the benefit of convenience for the keeper. Crickets can easily escape and evade recapture, progressing to hide away somewhere in the home to chirp annoyingly for days or weeks on end. Add to that the fact that few normal people (as opposed to exotic-animal enthusiasts like us) are happy with the idea of having free-range insects in their home, and you can see why locusts are the go-to livefood choice for many.

However, the real market driver for locust domination has been the popularity of the bearded dragon as a pet. Locusts are, of course, an ideal choice for these popular lizards, and as beardies become ever more popular, so will locust tubs. Leopard geckos and Yemen chameleons also favour locusts, thereby compounding their dominance at the top of the livefood sales league. Chameleon keepers particularly favour locusts as they will more likely climb up branches inside the enclosure to be eaten, rather than hiding in the substrate like a cricket often will.

The vast majority of the locusts available in the trade are the desert locust – Schistocerca gregaria. These took over from the historically popular migratory locust Locusta migratoria, sometime in the 1990s, but the differences between the two species are slight, the main difference being appearance. Desert locusts are vastly more colourful, thereby making them more appealing to the eye than Locusta. Desert locusts also grow to be slightly larger.

Worms And Grubs

Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor)

mealworms. And finally, they’re slow moving and won’t jump around out of reach as a cricket or locust will. When mealworms are placed in a bowl with a good quality dusting powder, animals are more likely to get a good dose of vitamins and minerals – unlike crickets and locusts which can shake off much of the powder they are dusted with before they are eaten.

These have been treated with the juvenile hormone methoprene to inhibit metamorphosis to a beetle, so the worms remain in the larval stage for longer. They continue to grow and get to be around the same size as morio worms.

Morio worm (Zophobas morio)

Mealworms have traditionally received a bad press, but this is massively unfair. The old wives’ tale about mealworms eating their way out of the stomach of lizards, thereby killing them, is indeed that – an old wives’ tale. The myth likely came about when keepers would find a dead lizard in an enclosure and see mealworms crawling out of the corpse. The more likely explanation is that mealworms had made a meal of a lizard which had already died, eating their way inside their body, rather than eating their way out after being consumed.

In reality, mealworms make an ideal livefood for several good reasons. They’re high in fat and perfectly nutritious for a start, especially when gut-loaded and dusted as they should be. Secondly, they’re relatively cheap, as is witnessed by the fact that several largescale lizard producers feed their livestock primarily with

Best of all, mealworms can be stored in the fridge which means they require virtually no maintenance until just prior to feeding.

Mealworms come in a few sizes, but there are some interesting points to remember when choosing your livefood. Mini mealworms are simply younger mealworms and are more or less the same with regard to nutrition. Bigger mealworms come in two different varieties. The most popular is morio worms (Zophobas morio), a different species from the regular mealworm and mini mealworm. These are naturally much larger than a regular mealworm and, therefore, a more suitable prey for larger herp species. Morio worms should not be confused with the visually similar ‘giant mealworm’.

There is some anecdotal evidence regarding the effects of methoprene on both insects and reptiles. Livefood breeders report problems when methoprene somehow contaminates other invertebrate species, thereby impeding reproduction. There have even been reports from gecko breeders who are convinced of reproductive issues in their breeding colonies.

After all, most pet keepers won’t breed their animals and the small amounts of hormone left in the system are likely negligible.

Worth Knowing

Mealworms and giant mealworms can be refrigerated for storage. Morio worms cannot be refrigerated because they will die.

Buffalo worm (Alphitobius diaperinus)

Buffalo worms are about the same size as, or slightly smaller than, the mini mealworm. There’s not much to discern between the two species apart from a slightly shinier exoskeleton and some small, nutritional differences. That said, nutritional variety is an important component of animal husbandry so any opportunity to add variety should be a consideration. More importantly, there is often an annual shortage of mealworms, usually around the spring or summer when they become a popular product for bird tables. Buffalo worms are a perfect alternative to fill this gap, so don’t worry if your store switches to these during the annual shortage.

However, there is currently a supply and demand issue. Sales of buffalo worms are such that breeders and suppliers don’t always produce or stock enough of this species to fill the gap that is created when mealworms aren’t available. If more stores stocked buffalo worms throughout the year then demand would increase to the point where breeders would produce more, and likely have a greater capacity to supply buffalo worms when required. It’s worth thinking about!

Wax worm (Galleria mellonella)

We really need to talk about wax worms. When we think about nutritional variety or offering a different insect prey item as a treat, the most common response is wax worms. While wax worm sales are dwarfed by those of crickets, locusts and mealworms, they are by far the largest livefood line thereafter. No other livefood comes close in terms of sales.

This is a little baffling as wax worms aren’t a great food item in terms of nutrition. The wax worm’s diet means that their gut is filled with sugary food, making them a bit like a dessert for your animal. This should mean wax worms are used as no more than a very rare treat, so their current elevated position on the livefood league table seems rather unjustified.

It’s not that wax worms should have no place in the market. They’re great for a very occasional treat. But figures show that wax worms are more popular than they deserve and, a bit more variety in the types of livefood species being used would be a move in the right direction.

Sugary treats such as wax worms can cause problems when animals take a liking to them. It’s very much like trying to feed broccoli to children while they’re eating an ice-cream, and there have been countless reports of animals going off their (less tasty) foods in favour of wax worms. Amphibians seem to be particularly picky when spoiled with wax worm treats.

Calci worm (Hermetia illucens)

Calci worms are the soft bodied larvae of the black soldier fly and are so named because they contain up to 60% more calcium than other feeder insects. They are low fat and have a well-balanced calcium to phosphorus ratio, which means they can be used as a more regularly offered food item. As grubs go, they’re a far healthier option than the highly-calorific wax worms, which are, for some reason, significantly more popular.

The calci worm’s high calcium content occurs because the larva stores calcium to use as a protective shell when they pupate, essentially armour plating them from predators during the vulnerable metamorphosis stage of life. All told, calci worms are an awesome livefood choice.

Fruit beetle grub (Pachnoda sp.)

These are another great worm to use as a treat for larger species such as bearded dragons, tegus and larger chameleon species, as well as many mammals and birds. The proliferation of bearded dragons as pets is probably the main reason why pachnoda grubs are fast gaining in popularity.

Other Bugs

Cockroach (Blaptica dubia)

Cockroaches have become an enormously popular livefood option over the last few years, and rightly so. Nutritionally speaking, they’re considered a ‘superfood’ by many keepers, and are particularly favoured by bearded-dragon owners.

Unfortunately not everybody is fond of the idea of having cockroaches in their home and therefore shy away from using them. This is such a shame because, in reality, cockroaches are custom-built for the needs of moderate and large-sized reptile species, such as beardies, tegus and monitor species, as well as many mammals and birds. Big tarantulas seem to particularly like them too.

Nutritionally they’re at least as good as most other livefood species, so if you can get over the fact that they’re a cockroach then everyone’s a winner. B. dubia is the most popular species available in the trade at the moment but other species are available and likely to become more popular in the future.

The variety of available livefood species has mushroomed over the last few years and several producers now specialise in a number of invertebrates for specialist markets and keepers who want variety in their animal’s diet – a pleasing advancement in husbandry which is quickly gaining traction. It’s another great example of how the reptile-keeping hobby continues to grow and improve.

Woodlice (Isopoda sp.)

Although woodlice are more often used as a clean-up crew in bioactive enclosures, they can also be considered a prey item, and they are readily eaten by some species of reptiles and amphibians. Their highly calcified exoskeleton will provide invaluable nutrition, but they are, unfortunately, not produced on a large enough scale to become a mainstream food item.

Bean weevil (Acanthoscelidini obtectus)

As a general rule, beetles aren’t a good livefood due to their hard shell and toxic secretions. This is why stores don’t sell mealworm beetles as a food item, despite having plenty of these from our mealworm suppliers’ breeding colonies. Few reptiles or amphibians favour them, apart from Bufo sp. toads, which will eat almost anything.

Bean weevils are an exception to this rule. They have a far softer shell which means many herps find them palatable, particularly small arboreal species such as anoles and small day geckos. Bean weevils are just the right size and seem to climb up to be greeted and eaten by these small arboreal predators.

Springtail (Collembola sp.)

These are another invertebrate species used predominantly in bioactive enclosures, but again, they’re fine for use as a livefood item for very small animals. Springtails are particularly popular with amphibian breeders who need the smallest possible prey for newly metamorphosed froglets and toadlets.

Beware though, because their ability to climb means these bugs are also expert escape artists. They’ll easily scale glass and escape through ventilation or door seals, and sliding glass doors are no obstacle. Bean weevils are easy to breed and many keepers set themselves up with a colony before eventually realising it’s easier to spend a few quid on a tub from their local pet shop than it is to maintain a colony at home.

Curly wing fly (Musca domestica)

Curly wings are simply a house fly afflicted with a genetic mutation which deforms their wings to render them flightless. Large poison dart frogs will love them, as will praying mantis, anoles, small geckos and tree frogs. As well as adding that all-important dietary variety, curly wing flies are a great way to add enrichment for fast-moving species which will go crazy chasing these bugs around their enclosure.

Surface worm (Dendrobaena veneta)

Snail (Helix aspersum)

Fruit Fly (Drosophila hydei)

These are another reasonably popular prey insect and, although few animals are small enough to eat them, they’re a great livefood option for animals such as dart frogs and smaller species of lizards during the early stages of life.

Lobworm (Lumbricus terrestris)

Lobworms are great for larger amphibians such as axolotls, whereas the surface worm is good for smaller salamanders, newts and lizards. The market for these isn’t huge and they are usually only available to order, but they’re a great way to add variety to your animal’s diet.

Here’s another hugely underrated livefood that deserves to be more popular. Their slow moving nature, along with the nutritious lump of calcium on their back, are probably their main points of appeal. That said, the shell of captive-produced snails are thinner due to them being grown on quickly, making them much easier to eat.

Monitors, tegus and even beardies will love snails, as will blue tongue and pink tongue skinks. Toads seem to be rather partial to the odd snail too. In fact, you’ll be surprised at what will eat them. Beware that some animals will love them so much they become picky. But as an occasional addition to an otherwise varied diet, snails are a fabulous addition to the menu.