Buggie Snacks, crickets, mealworms, waxworms OH MY! but Where to buy??

[BloominOrchid]

Hi all Just wondering where you all get your buggie snacks from.
Im looking to buying LIVE bugs in bulk. we have a few handfuls of chickens, and well another handful of lizards

And Id like to get some for the whole family of critters. But before I go and spend $20 plus on shipping I wanted to see if anyone had good reports??
I know I can get them from my local petstores but Id rather not pay the mark ups!
Thanks

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Get roaches! Best thing I ever invested in, my bearded dragons and leopard geckos have all the food they could possibly want. I even have plenty to spare for my chickens, I throw out 10 roaches a day for mine. They have the best feathers ever, and their yolks are so orange. No, these aren't the pest roaches you see around. The roach I'm breeding is Blaptica dubia, an exotic roach which does not smell, jump, fly, climb, bite, or breed out of control. Go to www.theroachguy.com for more details. I no longer buy insects for my lizards.

 

[BloominOrchid]

Really?? Wow thats neat... so they wont take over my house? BC Id burnt he house down!

I hate roaches!
We have Uromastyx, Lep Geckos, & water dragons.
Im sure my chicks will love them, they eat anything I give them...except Black berries, they didnt like them

Thanks! going to check them out now

 

[AccioSarah]

I get all my crickets/mealworms from petsmart. Not to expensive, and they have all been alive so far! Not to shabby.

If you don't have a petsmart, most big brand pet stores carry insects.

 

[fldiver97]

Check out the reptile supply places, sometimes thet have discounted shipping. I raise my own mealworms nor for my geckos and my chickens.....When I lived in FL I used to buy a big case of crickets at the reptile show (twice a year) and keep them in a big spare terrarium with a screen to (outside....I hate bugs). Now I live in WI and only do the mealworms as I don't mind having them in the workshop in the basement. No smell, easy to do and you can get started on a larger scale if you just order 1000 or so mealworms once. Also, some of the petstores have better prices than others on crickets, don't buy the little pre-packaged kind, they are usually more expensive. Check out several petstores also baitshops. Many places sell a variety of bugs as fishing bait....waxworms, spikes and worms. Some stuff may not be OK for the reptiles though.....

 

[MakNugget]

Quote:
I ordered my mealworms in bulk from petco.com. So far so good!

 

[FireTigeris]

if you are making a colony of incests get bate to start with from a fishing place- let them breed and feed that.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Grow your own mealworms! They are easy and cheep. I have a link on my BYC page that shows you how. If you don't want to grow your own bugs, I'd recommend FLuker Farms in LA (http://www.flukerfarms.com/?gclid=CIuL352mzaMCFRs2gwodakliuA). I used them for years to get crickets (1000's per week for years) and they were great to deal with. I'm still thinking about the cockroaches that Pet Duck Boy is advocating; they seem almost ideal (if you can get past the cockroach part and all the hissing

). I just don't know if I can get my family to go along with that one.