# live crickets?



## darthvader (Jul 15, 2013)

I sent my boyfriend to get mealworms for Juliet yesterday, and said to pick up some crickets also when he was there, to give her something else to eat other then mealworms for her thanksgiving feast. I thought when you buy them that they are freeze dried, so when he came home with over 100 live crickets in a bag i didn't know what to do... attempting to open the bag and get a few in Juliet's travel cage with a lid on it, did not work out well, leaving about 20 crickets jumping around my room. Thankfully my cat loves chasing bugs. 
So my question is how does everyone else feed their hedgehogs crickets? without having your cat run around your room with a crazy look on his face?


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## GoodandPlenty (Feb 4, 2012)

LOL. Live crickets are a real hassle in every way, IMO. (People that feed a lot of them will raise them.)

Second option is to dump them in a box with lightly balled up newspaper and give them a 24 hour feeding of apple or carrot slices (no water) and then freeze. You would probably be fine to skip feeding and just freeze. They keep decently, thaw quickly, and are a very healthy snack.

Crickets can be hard for some hedgehogs to digest and can cause constipation. I would give no more than three to five at a time and just keep an eye on poop.

If you get crickets just once a while, just get a few and stun-freeze before feeding.


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## Annie&Tibbers (Apr 16, 2013)

The only time we attempted to feed my small friend a cricket, he ignored it completely. Even worse, the cricket thought he was a bush. As the cricket nuzzled up under his prickly sides, apparently it tickled, because he stomped irritably, casually squishing the cricket's leg. Maimed, the cricket stopped moving around so much, but little hedgehog continued to ignore it. Desperate to end the insect-torture, we buried it in mealworms, and little hedgehog accidentally ate it in his eagerness to slurp them up.

Never again...

More helpfully, if you want to have a live hunting-experience, I've seen some people set hedgehog and a single cricket loose in the bathtub where it can't hop enough to escape. Putting them in the fridge or freezer will stun them enough to slow them down if they're too quick for your tiny friend. Lizard-owners will use cricket-keepers that keep the crickets contained and have a tube to allow extracting just one at a time, and feeding-tongs to hold the cricket.


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## SiouxzieKinz (Oct 10, 2013)

I've heard of some people placing the hedgehog and the cricket in a bathtub (empty of course) to allow natural instincts to kick in. I actually found a can o' crickets that were apparently "cooked in the can". Dakarai, my little prickly boy, ate the head and thorax of one cricket and then the next night ate a whole one leaving only a leg. Now, he could care less if a cricket is nearby.

Of course I've only tried meal worms up to this point as an additional insect. I've never tried the bathtub trick with live crickets though.

Good luck.


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## Tongue_Flicker (Jun 11, 2013)

Lol..

Most hedgehogs are afraid to smell a cricket and would rather eat a mealy/superworm. If she does eat it then go 5 a day/night


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I also never tried the live crickets in bathtub thing, but it's an option to try before freezing, if you want. Definitely try freezing them even if he doesn't seem to like them live. Lily's first attempts at trying crickets were with live ones, with me holding them. First she got freaked out because it grabbed at her nose with its legs. Then she gave another shot & chewed it up...only to spit disgusting chewed up cricket back out on me because it had a stomach full of carrot, which she hated. :roll: But once I froze them, she was more than willing to eat them, and loved searching them out in her cage when I hid them for her.

As far as amount, I'd start slow & work your way up while watching the poop and such. Like GoodandPlenty said, they can cause constipation & appropriate amount varies by hedgehog. Lily did fine with 5-7 hid in her cage each night, but it just depends.


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## darthvader (Jul 15, 2013)

Thank you all for the advice! ill defiantly try the bathtub one or freeze them and watch the amount i give her Thanks!


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## Haley (Nov 18, 2013)

Did your Hedgie like them?


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