# how do you store your insects?



## Kelsey the hedgehog (Jun 15, 2012)

i am curious as to what you guys store your insects in, or how you store them. live or dead. mealworms and crickets.  
i was just thinking like tupperware? or lock n' lock containers? are there certain conditions i need to consider? :? 
thanks


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## Orabel3 (Jun 12, 2012)

I have been wondering how others store insects as well. The last time I got crickets I put them in one of those square plastic aquariums things with a wet paper towel and a piece of potato but i'm really not sure for mealies?


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## Desperodo (Dec 12, 2010)

I store my all of my worms in Sterilite containers like this: http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduct. ... section=11 I keep all my worms live. This container is 23"x16". I put a bunch on holes in the lids. I wouldn't use lock n' lock containers, they are pretty hard and would be hard to put holes in. For live worms, cheap plastic containers work best. Even a plastic ice cream pail works good. Mealworms don't need a lid. I put one on them because I don't want my other animals getting in and having a feast and if the container tipped it'd be a mess.

When I'm gut loading my crickets I put them in this Sterilite container: http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduct. ... &section=1 I have a lot more crickets than worms (1700), so they needed a bigger container. The one I use is 30"x20" I made a ton of tiny holes in the lid (they can jump, so you don't want ones they could squeeze through). After they've gut loaded a few days I take that whole container and put in the in the freezer. When they're dead I pick them out and transfer them into Ziplock Freezer Bags in daily amounts. So for me, I put 55 crickets in one bag because that's how many I use a day (7 hogs). It just makes it easier for me. Putting them in ziplock bags works really good. If you just leave them all in a container, they get stuck to each other and when you rip them apart usually part of the one cricket gets ripped off, exposing it's insides. If you lay in in a single layer in a ziplock bag, it doesn't happen so much  A friend of mine went as far as making layers cardboard inserts for a container to separate each cricket. It works great as well.

Of course you won't be working with 4000 insects so you can use much smaller containers. This is just what I use .


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I used a little three-drawer organizer for my mealworms - http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-3-D ... 4/15442451 I put the aliens in a small bowl until they changed, and had my beetles in a bigger bowl sitting on top of the organizer. This worked out great, I usually had mealworms in all three drawers, just different sizes. With crickets, I kept them in a cricket keeper long enough to eat some veggies for a little bit, then put the whole thing into the freezer to freeze them. Once they were dead, I took them out of the cricket keeper and put them in a plastic storage container, then back into the freezer.


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## Quinn (Apr 24, 2011)

You're all so brave. I hate bugs so I freeze them so I don't have to deal with them alive.


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## Kelsey the hedgehog (Jun 15, 2012)

lilysmommy and desperodo: why is it that you put the crickets back in the freezer, if they are already dead? :?


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## jerseymike1126 (Jan 20, 2011)

i cut out a whole in the top and glue in screens to these: http://www.plasticbinssale.com/wp-conte ... c-bins.png
for my roaches (dubia and hissers).

superworms and crickets i keep in a 20 gallon long aquarium

mealworms i keep in plastic "critter keepers" i have bunch of those at all different stages of the beetles life

but i use most of those items because i have piles of empty ones lying around


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

Kelsey the hedgehog said:


> lilysmommy and desperodo: why is it that you put the crickets back in the freezer, if they are already dead? :?


It's so that they don't rot :lol: Gotta keep it as fresh as possible for your hoggies


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## jerseymike1126 (Jan 20, 2011)

Quinn said:


> You're all so brave. I hate bugs so I freeze them so I don't have to deal with them alive.


I must be the bravest then!


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## Orabel3 (Jun 12, 2012)

I buy all my crickets a week at a time and feed them live. However she does have a "cricket cage" that is small so the crickets can't get too far away before she finds them.  I haven't decided how i'm keeping my worms yet though.

[attachment=1:q2l2hl2k]IMG_0509.JPG[/attachment:q2l2hl2k]

[attachment=0:q2l2hl2k]IMG_0510.JPG[/attachment:q2l2hl2k]

That is NOT her main cage, she sleeps in there sometimes when i'm changing her liners and sits in there on my with the lid off for a few minutes when I wake her sometimes so she can go potty before bonding time. It is however perfectly small enough for her to catch crickets in


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## Desperodo (Dec 12, 2010)

Kelsey the hedgehog said:


> lilysmommy and desperodo: why is it that you put the crickets back in the freezer, if they are already dead? :?


It's so they don't rot, which they will quickly if you leave them out. It's best to only take out a meals worth from the freezer at a time 

I forgot to mention I do feed crickets live (the post above me reminded me). Some hedgehogs will catch them, some won't. Right now I only have 3 that will catch them. My oldest boy gets excited (squirmy) around 10 because he knows that's when he's going "hunting". Two of my new girls will hunt them as well, but only if I pull the legs off (with tweezers) so they don't jump around, just walk. I put the two girls in the bath tub and put my boy in a container similar to the one right above this post. My other 4 are afraid of live crickets :roll: .


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## Kelsey the hedgehog (Jun 15, 2012)

Desperodo said:


> Kelsey the hedgehog said:
> 
> 
> > lilysmommy and desperodo: why is it that you put the crickets back in the freezer, if they are already dead? :?
> ...


oh, the rotting thing would make sense. 

i have heard of having hedgehogs "hunt" in bathtubs before, it seems like awesome enrichment.  
can you have hedgehogs jump around? if not, i know how to take the legs off. (i have helped my friend many times with her leopard gecko)
if they are jumping then.. what is your.. "process" :lol: for getting them in the tub?


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## Kelsey the hedgehog (Jun 15, 2012)

Kelsey the hedgehog said:


> Desperodo said:
> 
> 
> > [quote="Kelsey the hedgehog":89mwhzah]lilysmommy and desperodo: why is it that you put the crickets back in the freezer, if they are already dead? :?
> ...


oh, the rotting thing would make sense. 

i have heard of having hedgehogs "hunt" in bathtubs before, it seems like awesome enrichment.  
can you have hedgehogs jump around? if not, i know how to take the legs off. (i have helped my friend many times with her leopard gecko)
if they are jumping then.. what is your.. "process" :lol: for getting them in the tub?[/quote:89mwhzah]

AHHHH!! :shock: hahahahahaha !!!! :lol: i meant can you have the "crickets" jump around.


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## jerseymike1126 (Jan 20, 2011)

great video of PJM feeding crickets to one of her hedgie. i hope pj doesnt mind i link it


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## Desperodo (Dec 12, 2010)

I just stuck my hand in and grabbed some. If you're squeamish I guess that wouldn't work haha. You could stick a smaller container in and scoop some up, then put a lid on quick. The small crickets don't jump very high . You can put them in the bath tub, don't jump too high. I just don't because I feed my 3 at the same time and it's easier having the girls in the tub and the boy in the bin. He also gets grasshoppers, and those jump high (which is why I have a lid). You can also put crickets in the freezer just long enough to stun them.


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## Kelsey the hedgehog (Jun 15, 2012)

Desperodo said:


> I just stuck my hand in and grabbed some. If you're squeamish I guess that wouldn't work haha. You could stick a smaller container in and scoop some up, then put a lid on quick. The small crickets don't jump very high . You can put them in the bath tub, don't jump too high. I just don't because I feed my 3 at the same time and it's easier having the girls in the tub and the boy in the bin. He also gets grasshoppers, and those jump high (which is why I have a lid). You can also put crickets in the freezer just long enough to stun them.


thanks. that sounds just fine, i'm not squeamish but stunning them might be easier for me, at least my first few times.

what would you consider the maximum of crickets to feed a night? (i most likely won't do the tub every night. maybe twice or once a week.)


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