How to Gut Load Crickets

Crickets are a readily available source of food for pet reptiles like snakes and lizards. While they are easy and cheap, crickets straight from the pet store are not nutritious enough for your animals on their own. They may be starved or dehydrated, and eating these crickets over an extended period of time can lead to malnourishment for your pet. Gut loading is process designed to imbue the crickets with more nutritive value before you feed them to your animal.

Things You'll Need

  • Deli cup
  • Nail
  • Knife
  • Salad greens
  • Carrot
  • Orange
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Instructions

    • 1

      Punch small holes in the top of a deli cup with the tip of a nail.

    • 2

      Cut salad greens into shreds with a sharp knife. Salad greens like collard greens, cabbage, and spinach are ideal for this purpose, but avoid iceberg lettuce, which has little nutritive value.

    • 3

      Layer 1 inch of salad greens into the deli cup.

    • 4

      Cut two or three slices from the carrot, creating small coinlike chunks.

    • 5

      Place the carrot slices in the deli cup.

    • 6

      Cut an orange into wedges and place one wedge into the deli cup. The orange hydrates the crickets the same way that a saucer of water would.

    • 7

      Place the crickets into the deli cup and put the lid on the container. They will be ready for your reptile to eat within three to four hours.