Evaluation of Various Calcium-Fortified High Moisture Commercial Products for Improving the Calcium Content of Crickets, Acheta domesticus
J Herpe Med Surg 14[2]:17-20 Summer'04 Nutrition Notes 11 Refs

Crickets, Acheta domesticus, are commonly fed special diets to alter their nutrient content (especially with regards to calcium) to make them a more complete diet for insectivorous birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Typically calcium-fortified dry diets are used to increase the insects' calcium content. In this experiment we compare the moisture, calcium and phosphorus content of crickets offered a typical dry calcium-fortified gut loading diet and distilled water, with those fed several commercial products (two commercial "calcium-fortified cricket waters" and a calcium-fortified high moisture diet designed to provide both food and water). An unfortified dry diet served as a negative control. Crickets fed the calcium-fortified dry diet contained significantly more calcium than those fed the other treatments. Cricket phosphorus content was not affected by diet. In summary the commercial products tested were ineffective in increasing the calcium content of crickets fed these products. For that reason the use of a calcium-fortified dry diet is recommended for supplementing crickets with sufficient calcium to meet the needs of insectivorous reptiles and amphibians to which they are fed. [Abstract]