crickets

Satin’s vet advised adding more insects to her diet. So I added crickets to treat time. Live crickets.

I’ve been letting one or two loose in a big Rubbermaid type container with a little blankie at the bottom – much like the ones in which some people house their hedgies. Miss Hufflepuff turns out to be (how do I put this politely…) not the best hunter. We end up assisting her until she gets them. Good teamwork, no doubt, but I'm wondering: Is there a way of slowing these things down? Would placing them in the fridge for a certain amount of time before the hunt to make them slow, but not dead – kind of like how that works for mealies?

Getting crickets cold will slow them down. It may give her time to learn a new skill, hunting.

I ran into the same problem. My little guy isn't much of a hunter, as much as I love him. Putting them in the fridge for a bit definitely might be helpful. I ended up just getting some canned crickets, because he didn't seem very interested in the live ones, even if they were right in front of him.

I've read about the infamous "Cricket Massacre" where people release some live crickets in a bath tub and let their hedgie loose on them in the tub to hunt to his heart's content. Some hedgies are said to have a ball chasing crickets in the tub.

Not our Geoffrey though. He is an aquaphobic and just being in a bath tub was too terrifying to notice any "yummy food" jumping all around him. He trampled over a few fleeing crickets, but he was no shape to enjoy the macho experience, let along catch a slow-witted cricket. Well, actually, come to think of it, G has great trouble catching slow-moving mealworm larvae too, so I guess he just isn't cut out to be a good hunter.

I've read of some brave hedgie parents ripping crickets back legs off to prevent them from jumping all over the place (this method is definitely not for the faint-heart like me). I've also heard of some people putting crickets in a freezer for a few minutes to slow them down. I'm not sure if it will make the crickets too cold for a hedgie to munch on - would it give your hedgie a chill or tummy trouble? I don't know...

I started doing this with Spike to get him some more exercise and he totally sucked at hunting when first went at them. But he got better once he realized what they were doing.

My little one, Jack, will never get the hang of it... he's already 3/4 blind- missing one eye and recovering from an injured one.

Maybe give her a few more shots? Otherwise, chilling them should help out.

Btw- why not just do mealies? They just crawl... which lowers the chances of one escaping?