• Hello guest! Are you a Bearded Dragon enthusiast? If so we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for Beardie enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your dragons and enclosures and have a great time with other Bearded Dragon enthusiasts. Sign up today!

what cricket company do YOU like to order from

dragonfab32

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
114
Location
Utah, USA
i recently had a bad experience with armstrongs crickets as they got the size of crickets wrong and 40% of them arrived dead so i need a new comany to be able to trust any suggestions?
 

PatsyB

Super Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
Beardie Club
Messages
9,390
Location
Chicago
I have used Ghann's in the past and they are real good. I only stopped using them because they ship FedEx and I my FedEx drivers are MORONS! I have frogs so over at the frog forum they recommend Josh's frogs and have had good luck with them. They are in Michigan and ship UPS and I am friendly with my UPS driver so he takes care of my packages! I had one instance where the box came damaged and 1/2 the crickets were missing, I emailed them and they sent me out a new batch right away. I also tried to order when it was below zero and they CALLED me and told me that they didn't feel comfortable sending them out (they would if I wanted them to) and that they would send them out the next week because it was going to be nicer out. I thought that was nice of them, I really needed crickets but I made due for a week with the pet store. The crickets come packed in the usual box with mesh vents but also placed in a normal cardboard box with heat warmers in them to keep them toasty. In the summer they just come in the box with mesh vents. The bigger crickets get shipped with a potatoe and the smaller ones sometimes have a water pack. They are cold and slow moving when they come but after a few hours perk up.
 

Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
I use Armstrong and have for years and they have been VERY good to me. Great customer service!! They most always send more than ordered, if anything is wrong with them they resend free of charge. I can't have them come FedEx at all!!! as they never arrive alive 1. I think my route driver hates bugs 2. they must have changed their layovers or time on the tarmac making them die off almost over night.. They know to only send them to me via UPS and my driver is awesome they always get to me by 10:30am he see's them and puts them top of his list.
I've also used Ghans and had pretty good success.
I also use Rainbowmealworms and the mealworms came happy and plump.
 

Candybugs

Bearded Dragon Veteran
3 Year Member
Messages
733
I used to order from flukers with next day shipping but I had an order sit in La. Post office for 2 days then at my post office for 2 more days and I had 2000 dead crickets I was furious . I found rainbow and they're 20 minutes from my house so no more shipping. I also found a chameleon expert there who coached me in saving my chameleon from mbd. He's the best bonus ever. The only difference in the flukers and rainbows crickets is the rainbow sound more frantic and flukers were more of a soothing rythmic chirping .. But ya super lucky to have rainbow so close.
 

Gerald Smith

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
45
Anyone watching this old thread? Anyway first time beardie owner and I’ve ordered 1000 crickets from Back Water Reptiles. $39.99 with free overnight shipping. Does anyone have experience with them? I didn’t realize trying to get crickets from the local pet store would be so inconvenient and more expensive than having them shipped.
 

PatsyB

Super Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
Beardie Club
Messages
9,390
Location
Chicago
I’ve heard bad things about animals from Backwater, never heard anything about the insects. When I ordered crickets used to get them from josh’s frogs. Now we use mostly dubia and silkworms.
 

Gerald Smith

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
45
I’ve heard bad things about animals from Backwater, never heard anything about the insects. When I ordered crickets used to get them from josh’s frogs. Now we use mostly dubia and silkworms.
Thanks. I’m glad I didn’t order any animals. I’ll check out Josh’s Frogs. I went with Backwater on the recommendation of another site. I’ll post after I received them to give a very inexperienced and probably not very helpful “review”.
 

Gerald Smith

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
45
C82B45D3-3B77-4C50-BDEA-10981301BB20.jpeg
E6C6C3B9-CE92-40A8-8968-CB617492C2D2.jpeg
I got the shipment from Backwater Reptiles last Wednesday and started feeding my beardie from it the next day. Today, Sunday, it seems there are no more live crickets in the box. I ordered 1000 .25” crickets. I didn’t count the crickets individually each feeding but my best guess is there were only a tenth that remained alive after shipment. I’m really disappointed because I was expecting to get several more days worth of feedings. I’m going to try they other companies you’ve all suggested. For the amount of crickets I actually used I could have bought the from a pet store for less money. How many do you guys normally order at a time? And how many feedings/days do you get out of each order? Thanks to everyone for any advice.
 

HaggridTheBearded

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
42
I'm not sure with Backwater but with Josh's Frogs the Vita_Bugs are shipped directly from them (the supplier), not from the company you bought them from. We had huge die off, in part because Hold at Location for pick-up was not an option when placing the order BUT Josh's Frogs was great about it. I may opt for non Vita Bugs next time, cheaper and shipped by the company I am purchasing from. Plus I like their various videos on care of reptiles and feeder bugs. Their packaging is MUCH better than what I received from the Farm my breeder recommended. Nice people, crickets arrived mostly alive but some were squished by the fairly large piece of potato that was loose in the box with all the crickets. Maybe later I'll share a pic. Pretty gruesome.

I can't remember which type of bugs or what company they were from but one shipment took FOREVER to get here. Granted that was during the government shutdown, and they were shipped by USPS. Was annoyed that the company was like yah so what when I called about them not being here yet. Did not order from them again.

Starting with first reptile and dealing with live feeders in winter in Minnesota, with Polar Vortex thrown in there too, sure was trial by fire! Plus a baby beardie that MUCH prefers Dubia to crickets. Dubias 0.50 each at the reptile store, many places locally don't even have them. Of course now that I have sort of established a mini colony he is much less interested in them. Same with Phoenix worms, ordered a bunch and now he is like nah, not my favorite (after getting a really dark one and some BSFL from Petco) now he thinks they all are no good. Plus now a few random 1/2" or so Dubias have ended up in various places around the house, then hubby freaks out!, and honestly I have no idea how they got where they were. I feel like the crickets were far smellier than the Dubia. Man sure was shocked by how HUGE the breeding size Dubia are.

Oh and hubby was "bit" by a superworm, which somehow ended up in his sleeve, in our family room, in the basement. Hagrid, his tank and all supplies are on main floor. But when superworms arrived they were loose in the packing peanuts with other bugs in their containers. I did not even know they were in there at all at first. Then trying to sort through the peanuts, and the box to find them all was not an easy task, I'm guessing that somehow at least 1 was missed and ended up getting out of the box. So the spot has a red area that is itchy and since then that area has never fully gotten back to normal. Yay! Bugs!!

He now only really likes the horned worms and superworms (which I don't love giving him) but hubby first got meal worms when we were in midst of Polar Vortex and shortage of live feeders was getting worse. Did not have the heart to tell him I was not sure if Hagrid should have them since he was still kinda smallish.
 
Top