Live food care sheet

Crickets are nutritionally the best staple diet for any reptile. It is possible to keep them alive for a long time and make sure they are full of flavour by the time they are served to your pet.

Housing

Cricket can be housed in plastic enclosures such as a cricket keeper. This will give them the space they require to live and will also give them the ventilation they require. Crickets do like to hide and cricket keepers come with dark tubes that the crickets will climb into. You can also use cardboard tubes or egg crates. No additional decor or substrate is required as this will only hinder your cleaning regime.

Food

It's important to feed your crickets for two reasons:

1. To keep your crickets alive, healthy and active

2. Anything your cricket eats, your reptile will in turn eat. This is called gut loading.

Crickets should be fed a mixture of fresh vegetation and commercially available cricket foods. Crickets foods, such as Bug Grub, are loaded with vitamins and minerals that will be passed on to your pet. Always make sure food is available in their enclosure.

Water

Crickets will die of dehydration before starvation. It is crucial to keeping them alive to offer them a source of water. Crickets will drown in a water bowl so a Bug Gel is a great alternative. Crickets will drink from the gel with no risk of drowning. A small blob of gel in a bottle cap is sufficient.

Maintenance

Daily, check your crickets have sufficient food and water gel available. When you have used all of your crickets, clean out the enclosure using a disinfectant and give yourself a pat on the back for being a great reptile keeper.

Feeding

Lightly dust the crickets in a vitamin and mineral supplement like Nutrabal. Offer as many crickets as your reptile will eat in one sitting. Ask us for advice if you are unsure which size crickets to feed.

Locusts are active insects and reptiles love them! They are not as nutritional as crickets but you can care for them to make sure your pet gets the most out of them.

Housing

Locusts can be housed in plastic enclosures such as a cricket keeper. This will give them the space they require to live and will also give them the ventilation they require. If you want to grow the locusts to a very large size when they have wings then a larger enclosure may be needed. Locusts do like to hide and cricket keepers come with dark tubes that the crickets will climb into. You can also use cardboard tubes or egg crate. No additional decor or substrate is required as this will only hinder your cleaning regime. Locusts will grow faster at higher temperatures so if you want really large locusts then use a heat mat.

Food

It's important to feed your locusts for two reasons:

1. To keep your locusts alive, healthy and active

2. Anything your locusts eat, your reptile will in turn eat. This is called gut loading.

Locusts should be fed a mixture of fresh vegetation and commercially available cricket foods. Crickets foods, such as Bug Grub, are loaded with vitamins and minerals that will be passed on to your pet. Always make sure food is available in their enclosure as locusts do eat a lot.

Water

Locusts will die of dehydration before starvation. It is crucial to keeping them alive to offer them a source of water. Locusts can drown in a water bowl so a Bug Gel is a great alternative. Locusts will drink from the gel with no risk of drowning. A small blob of gel in a bottle cap is sufficient.

Maintenance

Daily, check your locusts have sufficient food and water gel available. When you have used all of your locusts, clean out the enclosure using a disinfectant and give yourself a pat on the back for being a great reptile keeper.

Feeding

Lightly dust the crickets in a vitamin and mineral supplement like Nutrabal. Offer as many crickets as your reptile will eat in one sitting. Ask us for advice if you are unsure which size crickets to feed.

Worms and grubs should be used as a treat food for your reptiles and not as a staple diet. Therefore it may be necessary to care for them for longer as you wont be using so many at at any time.

Wax Worms

Wax Worms require no additional care. They can be kept in the fridge in their original container and will keep fresh for months

Worms & Beetle Grubs

Worms and Beetle Grubs should be housed in a plastic tray or a plastic tank. They are burrowing animals so a deep layer of substrate should be used. We have found that Spider Life substrate is great for this job. Provide them with a layer around 10cm deep. Keep the substrate moist but not wet. For food, mix some Bug Grub into the substrate.

Mealworms

Meal Worms should be housed in a plastic tray or a plastic tank. They burrow into the substrate but do not like to be kept damp. They will eat their substrate so Bug Grub is good and this will also gut load the mealworms. They will require a moisture source so provide chunks of vegetables and change them as they start to decay.

Flies are naturally short lived animals. They are fruit flies so keep them in their original container with small cubes of fruit. They will lay their eggs in the fruit for the next generation.