Cricket Crisis

[Roachman26]

I just called my reptile wholesaler to inquire about some tokay geckos to be wardens in my roach prison ward. He told me that there is a huge cricket crisis going on right now. Apparently, there is some disease running through them and all the breeding colonies are dying. I heard about something like this a few years ago, but I thought it was done now. Anyone know about this? Things are looking up for the roach world.

[Kimix]

Something like this happens every few years. A year or two ago their was a massive mealworm shortage. Some kind of mold/fungus get into the food supply and all the mealworms died before reaching adulthood.

Adult crickets are back in stock at my local stores now, so the storage is already ended/ending,.

[Toirtis]

Adult crickets are back in stock at my local stores now, so the storage is already ended/ending,.

You speak too soon...the virus has been devastating producers across North America, and far from licked....it could well still take out the 3 big producers, and if that happens, the shortages will be extreme and all over.

[Zephyr]

... What a perfect time to get into roaches!

[Ozymandias]

i might add the virus already went through Europe and but because thay use more species of cricket and other insects as feeders thay weren't as effected. where as here in the US we really only use one species of cricket as a feeder so the consequences can be drastic. i know places like ghanns crickets wont let new stock or in some cases mail come into the facility because of the virus and how effective it is. in fact i think some supplies have closed down because the virus wiped out all there stock of crickets. also from personal experience working in a pet store, our supplers of crickets (ghanns & one other) have been sending us smaller crickets then we used to get before the virus. so yes this is a good time to get into roaches

[Toirtis]

i know places like ghanns crickets wont let new stock or in some cases mail come into the facility...

Yes...should Ghanns and/or Armstrong go down, it would be disastrous.

Sadly, since roaches are illegal here in Canada, any persons growing and distributing roaches here must do so underground and very quietly.

[Roachman26]

I sure like my dubia, but they just don't breed fast enough to cover the huge demand that crickets have been filling for years.

Now my B. lateralis can match the pace of any cricket producer. Holy cow, I can't feed them out fast enough. I've just started B. orientalis and they seem to be pretty quick too.

The lobsters breed pretty quickly too, but they are so much harder to contain.

[Ozymandias]

agreed the dubia can take a while to breed i think to make them a more viable feeder with them you need quite a few of them if you have a lot of reptiles. have to agree about the lobster roaches we have them at work and i swear thay can go through glass despite every precaution i take.

Toirtis i've always wondered but what is you're governments reasoning against tropical roaches? it not like they could survive in the winter?

[Toirtis]

Toirtis i've always wondered but what is you're governments reasoning against tropical roaches? it not like they could survive in the winter?

It is a bit extreme, but it is also understandable....the government is strict on all potential plant pests...we have a lot of agriculture, forestry, etc, and erring on the side of caution seems a good way to avoid an epidemic like the pine beetle. Where they fail is in not doing the needed testing to eliminate species as non-threats, as 90%+ of roach species would be.

Now although it would seem obvious what species are 'safe', it is not....here in Canada, we have a very wide range of climates (tundra to desert, rainforest to montane), with some areas barely dropping below freezing during parts of winter (we are far from the land of snow and ice that most of our southern neighbours assume). We have native scorpions, rattlesnakes and cacti....as well as some surprising introductions of exotic species.

[Ozymandias]

o i know that i have driven across quite a bit of Canada still the climate it's exactly optimal for most roach species we keep. though i do understand there concerns though i must say i'm not for just banning all of one animal with out proper research. i think that if you want to really introduce laws that would alow certain roaches in you might see if you can get in contact with USARK. while thay may be for mostly reptiles thay have dealt with law in the US and the concepts of just banning all of one animal (attempts at python bands) so thay have the support group at least to maybe get a law changed. though i will admit thay are a U.S. organization you might have something similar up there in canada

[Toirtis]

o i know that i have driven across quite a bit of Canada still the climate it's exactly optimal for most roach species we keep. though i do understand there concerns though i must say i'm not for just banning all of one animal with out proper research. i think that if you want to really introduce laws that would alow certain roaches in you might see if you can get in contact with USARK. while thay may be for mostly reptiles thay have dealt with law in the US and the concepts of just banning all of one animal (attempts at python bands) so thay have the support group at least to maybe get a law changed. though i will admit thay are a U.S. organization you might have something similar up there in canada

Very different here. The bug laws are in place by our Agricultural ministry (and federal statutes are very difficult to change)...and their main concern is protecting our vast agri-industry. What needs doing are studies on various species showing them to be a non-threat....the framework is in place, but the studies take time and money, and the CFIA has far more pressing and important matters to spend their resources on. Now, a private citizen could fund such a study, but finding someone to pony up a few grand so that a relatively small number of people can culture roaches, is a hard sell. We have PIJAC up here, which is somewhat similar to USARK, but this is not only outside their purview, but of zero interest to them.

Fortunately, we may see some review before long...recently, the CFIA argued that they have no mandate to issue permits to allow certain potential agricultural pests into the country under the category of 'pet food'...when current permits expire, there will be no new ones for the import of superworms, waxworms, butterworms, or hornworms into the country. This has raised some considerable concern amongst businesses who have a large percentage of revenue coming from the importation of these feeders.

[Ozymandias]

good to know hopefully there will be some changes later on then