# Classifieds > Testimonials >  Ghann's Cricket farm

## Johnny O. Farnen

Best online retailer I have ever done business with.

Prices are in many cases 50% less than all the rest.

A recent order of Phoenix worms, with overnight morning delivery shipping cost me 26 bucks. Total. :EEK!: 

The exact same order from another larger retailer cost 32.50, WITHOUT shipping included.

http://www.ghann.com/store/store_sub.cfm?Category_ID=5

I highly suggest you try them out.

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## Kurt

I think I will try them next month for my crickets.

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## John Clare

Kurt, tell them you are ordering because of Johnny's testimonial on frogforum.net  :Smile: .

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## Johnny O. Farnen

I  took the time to give them some positive feedback on their own site also. To my surprise, the owner Clay Ghann, sent me a reply the next day. A non-form letter e-mail was very impressive to me.

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## Kurt

> Kurt, tell them you are ordering because of Johnny's testimonial on frogforum.net .


I will try to remember that. I just got a case on Tuesday so it will be a while before I need more.

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## Johnny O. Farnen

Just placed another order with these folks for crickets. I am unable to get pinheads, or any other cricket smaller than 1/3rd of an inch here, so this is a godsend. I'll post the results tomorrow morning when the critters arrive.
_
Note:  I ordered 1000 crickets total in two sizes (1/16th and 1/8th inches), next day air shipping- 36 USD and some change. We have some very hot weather in the near future, so I ordered big to get me through._

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## Kurt

Was that a thousand of each size?

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## John Clare

Fruit flies are your friends!

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## Johnny O. Farnen

> Was that a thousand of each size?


 500 of each




> Fruit flies are your friends!


 Got cultures of wingless Drospophila here, however, quite a few of my critters have progressed size-wise to the point they are too small.

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## Johnny O. Farnen

Got the crickets today right on time.  I was very impressed yet again.

Turns out they offer special prices for high volume breeders also, although I have not inquired about them.

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## John Clare

I was 1 click away from ordering 1000 crickets just now but for the hot weather waiver.  I don't want to risk the crickets biting the dust.

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## Johnny O. Farnen

They do ship them with cold packs, but I agree with you on this.

I have not figured out what I am going to do this winter yet, as we get about three months of cold not suitable for shipping cricket. On the other hand, by then, hopefully all my critters will be of the "pet shop" small cricket size.

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## John Clare

To anyone who decides to order from Ghann's based on this testimonial thread, please mention this site.

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## John Clare

I just placed my first order (2000 1/8th inch cricks).  I will let you know what it's like when it arrives in the morning.

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## John Clare

Order arrived this morning before 10:30 am (I got the next day morning delivery).  I didn't see a dead cricket in the entire 2000 (and there seemed like more than 2000).  The outside box is rather amusing and I too am unsure what to do with it but inclined to hold on to it.  I would definitely order again, even with the hot weather - as long as they deliver before the heat of the day then everything seems to be alright, even though I had to sign the extreme weather waiver on the live delivery guarantee since the forecast for this area was 100F today (about 38 C).

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## John Clare

Just placed my second order - the 2000 1/8" crickets are almost out (and most are at least 1/4" now).  I ordered 2000 3/8" crickets to feed my eight toadlets that started eating only 9 days ago - these things eat and grow faster than anyone would believe.

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## John Clare

2nd order - paid for overnight by 10:30 am, sent by overnight by 3 pm.  I signed the heat waiver based on the delivery time I paid for and now I'm hoping they don't die, not to mention now I have to miss work.  I've contacted Ghann's but it's now 11 am and I don't see what they can do.  *Not happy*

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## Kurt

Bummer.

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## John Clare

No crickets, not even by 3pm.  It's now 6pm.

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## Kurt

That just sucks!

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## jclee

I'm more surprised that you used up 2,000 crickets in a week than that the delivery was late.  I thought I went through a lot of crickets.  Wow! 

I hope everything gets resolved with the shipment.  I wonder why the delay this time.

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## John Clare

They're 3/8" crickets so not very big.  They were supposed to last me to the end of the month but at this rate (I placed the order on Sunday night) they'll be here when it's too late.

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## Kurt

On the plus side there are few pick up options where your headed.

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## John Clare

Arrived today 3 pm, instead of 10:30 am yesterday.  Due to the heat the majority were Dead On Arrival - the remainder were rather big from eating their brethren - they're a little bigger than I need now (I ordered 3/8" and got mostly 1/2", I assume because of eating each other and the heat).  Have emailed Ghann's.

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## Johnny O. Farnen

Ugh.


This is horrible to hear. I have just placed my order for the month for Monday delivery. I have 2500 1/8th, 1000 1/4, and 500 adults on the way.

I will let you know how I make out.

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## John Clare

Tammy has said she'll send a fresh order on Monday so hopefully things will be alright (though I needed the crickets a few days ago...).

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## jclee

I have to admit that I'm curious: with the amount you guys need, why don't you breed crickets yourselves?  (Although, I guess the answer's in the question, since I imagine it would be a pain to breed that many for a regular monthly supply.)

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## John Clare

2000 very small crickets is really not many crickets.  My 8 toadlets eat most of those in less than a week.

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## Johnny O. Farnen

> I have to admit that I'm curious: with the amount you guys need, why don't you breed crickets yourselves?  (Although, I guess the answer's in the question, since I imagine it would be a pain to breed that many for a regular monthly supply.)


I hate farming crickets. It is noisy. It stinks. It is expensive to do and requires time, effort and space I would rather use for my critters and my vivaria projects.

Second only to the smell, the worst part of cricket farming in my opinion, is sorting them out by size when you need pin heads and 1/8th inch in vast quantities.

At my current "inventory" of pets, I go through about 4500 tiny crickets, well over 5000 fruit flies, and easily 1500 medium to adult size crickets a month. This is in addition to supplementing my wild caught stock with wild caught foods as suggested by Mr. Indiviglio.

Currently, I am in an "overfeeding" phase with many of my juveniles, in order to increase their size. I will not be able to mail order live foods for a good portion of the winter and live food purchase options are limited and overpriced here. I am farming stink and noise free lobster roaches, however my cultures are young. Once they become better developed, they will be able to provide larger amounts of feeders of numerous sizes to get me through the winter.

Ghann's has been a godsend for quite a while for me, saving me well over 100 dollars a month in critter food bills.

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## John Clare

They have now sent the "re" order but once again have sent it for 3pm rather than 10:30 am.  It's supposed to be 100F here tomorrow.  I am giving serious consideration to never ordering from Ghann's Cricket Farm again.

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## jclee

> the worst part of cricket farming in my opinion, is sorting them out by size when you need pin heads and 1/8th inch in vast quantities.


 
I've found that misc. sifters can help sort by size.  You can improvise a basic one (or multiples) by gluing appropriate sized mesh to a butter/margerine/creamcheese/whatever container after you cut the bottom out.  If you want the smaller ones, you just sift a bunch into a separate bowl and dump the big ones back in the bin.  (I'm always sifting for the larger ones, so the small ones have time to grow.)  

The smell is horrid, but I've just worked a tank-clean into my weekly maintenance.  The chirping... annoys me some nights more than others.  Frankly, I don't really breed mine fast enough to keep up; it just supplements my purchase, and cuts my cricket cost in half.  Added bonus of doing it this way: tI do, eventually, run outof crickets, which gives me an opportunity to scrub the heck out of their stinky cage with a vinegar solution.  Now that my "local" reptile store moved a bit farther away, I might be re-visiting Ghanns, myself.

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## Kurt

Has Regal opened their door yet?

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## Johnny O. Farnen

> They have now sent the "re" order but once again have sent it for 3pm rather than 10:30 am.  It's supposed to be 100F here tomorrow.  I am giving serious consideration to never ordering from Ghann's Cricket Farm again.


I am sorry to read of your troubles John.

I have had nothing but good experiences so far.

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## jclee

Regal's opened at the new location, but once my schedule gets more hectic in a few weeks, I don't think I'll want to make time for regular trips to Pawtucket.  I'll play it by ear.  I'm not out of crickets yet.

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## Kurt

BTW how is the big eye settling in? Is it signing autographs for the other frogs yet?

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## John Clare

Hey, stop hijacking my thread...

I got the second batch of crickets today and they gave me a refund on the shipping I paid, presumably because of all the cockups (twice sending via the wrong shipping method and the way fedex delayed the first shipment a day).  They treated me decently but I was still stuck for feeders last week.  I will give some thought to this before ordering again.

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## jclee

At least they were decent enough about the shipping.  That's more than I can say of some of my purchase-related mishaps.

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## Kurt

Well, I for one am glad that your crickets made it and you got a refund on your shipping. Fedex really sucks! 

Thats one of the reasons that I had switched suppliers. I was getting them from Coldbloods in Kingston, MA but the shipping was killing me and most of the time Fedex would screw things up. When they deliver anything they never even ring the door bell. One day they left a case of crickets on the front porch in the middle of a snow storm. I only found them when I happened to open the front door and there they were with a half inch of snow on them. I asked my supplier if he could change shippers, he could not. I asked if he can put in a request that the driver gets a signature upon delivery, he said they wouldn't do it. 

So I have been getting my crickets from Zoo Creatures/NERD in Plaistow, NH for the past several months. I have to pick them up, but I do avoid shipping charges and I never have massive die offs because of bad weather.

So now for the fun part. I was up at Zoo Creatures today and who do I run into? The owner of Coldbloods. That felt awkward. He was making a delivery there, I guess he does business with them. He said hi to me, but thankfully he didn't ask where have I been and where was I getting my crickets from.

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## Johnny O. Farnen

I placed this month's order a bit later than planned, yesterday. 

My order of 2000 1/8 inch crickets, 1000 5/8 inch crickets, and 1000 large meal worms arrived at 0847 in excellent condition.

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## Paul Rust

*I ordered 1000 3/8" crickets from these guys yesterday and they arrived this morning. I must say that I am extremely impressed with them. The crickets are alive and active. There are only 3 dead crickets in the package!!! Very good job!!!* 
*Thank you SludgeMunkey for turning me on to them, I told them that you referred me Johnny.*

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## Johnny O. Farnen

You are welcome. I think what amazes me most is the availability of sizes. They can get you 5000 newly hatched size crickets alive too.

The hard part is the weather. If it gets too cold or too hot, crickets die. Personally, I do not order from them in the dead of winter here as it is a waste of effort for everyone involved. Some folks have troubles in the really hot parts of the year, but to date, I have not.

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