When we talkabout pets, the ones that most often spring to mind are dogs, cats, maybe evenfish. Although reptiles are slightly more uncommon as pets, there are thoseamongst us that do like their lizards and salamanders. The more commonly tamedones are tortoises or turtles, frogs and sometimes even spiders.If you have a pet, you have to feed it andthe diet for this range of pets is usually constituted of feeder insects likemealworms or . They also consumefruit flies and crickets.
Let's look at thecricket in a little detail. If you've seen a grasshopper before, a cricketlooks quite similar to it.Predominantlynocturnal creatures, you are most likely to come across them during night time.Live crickets are very commonly used as a feed for most reptile pets. Livecrickets also make up the main feed for animals like the hedgehog or a pethamster. They are also very popular as bait for fishing and can be tied to theend of hook to attract fish in ponds and streams.
If you have had achance to hear crickets, they are rather noisy and this noise is their matingcall. They create this sound by flapping their forewings. Crickets feed on arange of food from fungi to organic matter.They also eat decaying plants and sprouting plants. However, if they aredeprived of food for any reason, they also do eat their own dead. It is alsonot uncommon in certain Asian cultures or parts of Africafor humans to consume crickets as well. It is a relatively unknown butinteresting fact that crickets do possess an auditory sensory organ (what weknow as the ear) and this is located in their knee.
Fruit flies areanother common food for reptiles. Their mating call is also through soundcreated by vibrating their extended wings. This call is sent by the male of thespecies.Depending on the temperature ofthe surroundings, it can take anything from six to sixty days for the fruit flyto eventually develop in to an adult.
Mealworms are thenext feeder insect we look at in details. They are the larva form of themealworm beetle. They typically measure around 2.5 cms. Once the larvae hatchout from their eggs, they go through a stage of eating everything (usuallyvarious vegetation) very quickly and grow into a pupa. They then undergorepeated moulting.The pupa is initiallya creamy white colour and then changes to an attractive brown. The body issegmented and generally mealworms can be quite attractive to look at.Mealworms play an important role in our ecosystem for recycling organic matter.
Zoophobias Mariois a species of the darkling beetle and the larvae of this beetle are called superworms. They can be between 1 to 2.5 inches long and resemble mealworms inappearance but are bigger than mealworms in size.Lizards, salamanders, turtles and even birdsare fed as part of their diet.
