Any Reptile People About Here?

[Brigante]

Bit of a random one, but when I was younger I had pet geckos and also a snake. Going back a fair few years now though.

Due to where the Missus and I currently live we can't have a dog so my Missus has 2 guinea pigs instead.

But for quite a while now I've been wanting something for myself and I really really want some sort of reptile for myself. I'm thinking definitely a lizard.

I know from owning them before that the main thing they eat seems to be crickets.

This may be a problem though as it will have to be kept in our room and the Missus really doesn't like the idea of crickets jumping about the room n the amount of noise they make.

So I'm looking into the possibility of some sort of lizard that doesn't need crickets as a main dietary needs.

Google seems to be saying things along the lines of blue tongue skinks n n crested geckos

Just wondering if anyone about here owns any reptiles and if any information can be offered up about any lizards that doesn't need crickets as a main dietary need and can be fed none noisy alternatives like types of worm etc instead of and not as well as noisy foods.

Everything else concerning welfare and looking after I'm all good on. Just wanna know about dietry needs really.

Nice one

[FOCA]

I don't know anything about, lizards, reptiles, crickets, but i did a search on google and i found "silent crickets", that you can buy live in tubs, for reptiles, so you choose whatever lizard/ reptile you really want to have, then you feed it on silent crickets, presumably?

The other thing i found was a guide to making regular crickets silent/ placid, by cooling them down untill they stop chirping & moving, but are still alive, i speculate that perhaps they could be kept at this temprature, in a cool box or a fridge set warm etc

Alternatively could they be kept in a soundproofed container?

[Steve]

chuck em in the fridge LOL

I used to have a spider and had crickets.. some escaped and for weeks we could not find the cricket that chirped all night in the bedroom

[b1g_dav3]

What's wrong with the crickets, the fact that one or two might escape of the noise?

There's a good deal of silent crickets which don't actually hop, 'hoppers' are the one's that hop. However, there are quite a good deal of non live foods available that are complete formula's and can be fed just on this. Ideally you could do with throwing in some live food depending on which crickets are preferred.

Could always get a snake and feed it mice, sure that'll go down well :P

[FOCA]

if you got a big enough snake you could feed it guinea pigs :P

I wonder if anyone keeps crickets as pets?

[Brigante]

I don't know anything about, lizards, reptiles, crickets, but i did a search on google and i found "silent crickets", that you can buy live in tubs, for reptiles, so you choose whatever lizard/ reptile you really want to have, then you feed it on silent crickets, presumably?

The other thing i found was a guide to making regular crickets silent/ placid, by cooling them down untill they stop chirping & moving, but are still alive, i speculate that perhaps they could be kept at this temprature, in a cool box or a fridge set warm etc

Alternatively could they be kept in a soundproofed container?

Had a look into silent crickets, theres a few stories of being mis-sold none silent ones lol or a none silent one getting in with a batch of silent ones n making a load of noise. Also summin about young crickets being silent but as they get bigger they start making noise.

Not sure about cooling em down to stop em chirping n moving as if they arent moving n jumping about the lizard won't wanna eat it if they appear dead. they like to eat em fresh n jumping about ;)

if you got a big enough snake you could feed it guinea pigs :P

I wonder if anyone keeps crickets as pets?

Lmao I don't think the Missus would like that idea mate

[Brigante]

chuck em in the fridge LOL

I used to have a spider and had crickets.. some escaped and for weeks we could not find the cricket that chirped all night in the bedroom

LOL don't think the Missus would like me keeping a tub of chilled crickets next to her onken's mate

Thats why I dont wanna feed it crickets really, she doesnt like the idea of em escaping n jumping n chirping around the bedroom. she's bad enough with spiders

[b1g_dav3]

There is a clear difference between silent and hopping, and they can't really be mixed in without seeing them, he hopping are the only ones to make chirping noise as they rub their back legs on their abdomen's in order to make it, and the design of these legs arch way up over the back of the abdomen, whereas the silent ones the legs point outwards away from the abdomen more. The antennae on the head are also completely different, on the hopping crickets they're segmented and much more mobile (they can be used to feel the area ahead so can point straight up or down) whereas the silent kind have them jutting out to the front, are non-segmented and are much less mobile.

At a good pet shop you should be good to just trust the place, though never order them by post, they usually end up half dead.

[Brigante]

What's wrong with the crickets, the fact that one or two might escape of the noise?

There's a good deal of silent crickets which don't actually hop, 'hoppers' are the one's that hop. However, there are quite a good deal of non live foods available that are complete formula's and can be fed just on this. Ideally you could do with throwing in some live food depending on which crickets are preferred.

Could always get a snake and feed it mice, sure that'll go down well :P

Basically yeah it's that some might escape n that they'll be jumping n chirping around the tank making noise till they meet a chompy demise ;)

Also about having to keep em a while n feed the crickets to fatten em up before feeding to the lizard.

Been looking into none live foods n supplements, some eat fruit for example n some will eat a powder instead like blue tongued skinks for example will happily live on the powder

Also they'll eat certain types of worms which would be fine cause the just wriggle about but are silent n dont jump

But still everything i see on google says crickets should be the main food n feed em worms n fruit as well as. apparently worms dont have all the nutrient goodness the crickets do.

Lol mate i did used to have a snake after me 2 geckos n i fed it on mice n pinkies. Missus definitely wouldnt like that though n thinks not having legs is too creapy

[Brigante]

There is a clear difference between silent and hopping, and they can't really be mixed in without seeing them, he hopping are the only ones to make chirping noise as they rub their back legs on their abdomen's in order to make it, and the design of these legs arch way up over the back of the abdomen, whereas the silent ones the legs point outwards away from the abdomen more. The antennae on the head are also completely different, on the hopping crickets they're segmented and much more mobile (they can be used to feel the area ahead so can point straight up or down) whereas the silent kind have them jutting out to the front, are non-segmented and are much less mobile.

At a good pet shop you should be good to just trust the place, though never order them by post, they usually end up half dead.

thats good to know then mate nice one

when i had me geckos before many years ago i only gave em hoppers n the tank was in the living room so the noise wasnt really an issue

would be fine throwing in the odd handful of crickets every now n then but still wouldnt want them to be the main food source

[b1g_dav3]

thats good to know then mate nice one

when i had me geckos before many years ago i only gave em hoppers n the tank was in the living room so the noise wasnt really an issue

would be fine throwing in the odd handful of crickets every now n then but still wouldnt want them to be the main food source

The foods are pretty good in fairness. Would it be better keeping them in the garage and just putting in however many are needed for feed at a time?

[Brigante]

i could do that mate but ideally be good to know what types of lizard/dragon can make do without any crickets at all just so i know what my choices are

[b1g_dav3]

Only quite general on my reptile knowledge, I'm more an expert on cats :P

Don't rely on the knowledge of Pets at Home as they're dire for information unless it's a rabbit, and even they don't do a good job at looking after them (though good for the products they sell), not sure how local they are (as i guess Nottinghamshire is a little larger than just Nottingham itself) but you could try these;

Medusa Exotics
6 Westdale Lane
Gedling
Nottingham
NG4 3JA
tel: 0115 9614333

Nottingham Reptile Centre
579a, Mansfield Rd
Nottingham Nottinghamshire
NG5 2JN
Tel: 0115 960 8805

Apparently both are good, and they're both reptile centres so should be able to point you in the right direction, should be able to help over the phone if you're not too local.

[Brigante]

nice one for that mate they quite close to me actually as i'm based in bulwell (ng6)

i'll try n drop em an email n i might pop in at some point