Shipping & Guarantee Policy
We ship Monday-Thursday with FedEX from Georgia depending on your location.
Shipping live insects is very sensitive, so please read this entire page prior
to making your order.
Live Crickets/Worms tend to die in a warehouse if they sit over the weekend. All guaranteed shipments
will be released to shipping only if the package can avoid
the weekend wait. If your shipment is damaged in transit, do not refuse
the shipment! Please accept the shipment and call us to make other
arrangements.
|
Shipping chart to determine if your order will ship
if placed before 2:00 EST
|
| Worms |
Mon. |
Tue. |
Wed. |
Thu. |
Friday |
| FedEX Ground (Commercial & Home Delivery) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes* |
No |
| FedEX 2nd Day Air |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
| FedEX Priority Air |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Airport |
Schedule is Flexible |
* Only for Ground orders shipped to Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and parts of Alabama.
Cut-off time for same day shipping is
2:00 Eastern Standard Time.
What does Shipping Cost?
Add
item to the shopping cart and click on
Shipping to an Apartment
FedEX will deliver your package to an Apartment. However, they will not
leave the package at the front door of an Apartment if you are not there.
If you make an order and have shipped to an Apartment, it is your responsibility
to be home when FedEX makes their delivery. If you cannot be home, have the
shipment sent to your place of employment or to a friend's house.
We will not guarantee shipments where FedEX makes an attempt to deliver to an
Apartment and no one is home.
Consider Shipping your Crickets and Worms to a FedEX
Staffed Location
If your temperatures are very hot or very cold and you
reduce the risk of receiving dead product, think about shipping your crickets/worms to a
FedEX staffed location.
To get the closest location of a FedEX Staffed Location to you,
click on this
FedEX Locator and put your zip code in.
Do a search on FedEX staffed Location. If you find one close to you,
choose your Ship To address as the address of the FedEX staffed location.
Your order will avoid the hot trip in the FedEX van and FedEX will call you when
they arrive.
Please note: FedEX also lists authorized reseller locations.
These locations may or may not charge a pick up fee. FedEX Staffed
Locations do not charge a pick up fee.
Shipping to a PO Box
Only the Post Office can ship to a PO Box. Since we don't use the Post
Office as a shipper, we cannot ship to PO Boxes. It is your responsibility to put
in the correct shipping address. We need a physical address.
If you put in an incorrect address and we ship, FedEX will try to find the correct
address and make the correction. FedEx will charge us $10.00 for the service.
That $10.00 will be charged back to you - so please make sure you put in your correct
address!
If the delivery is delayed due to you putting in the wrong address, the guarantee
is void.
Live Delivery Guarantee
Our LIVE PRODUCTS are guaranteed to be delivered live if you if the following is met:
- Choose Winter Packaging if temperatures are
below 50.
- Selection of "FedEX Priority Overnight" Shipping service if your temperature from the time we ship to the time
FedEX delivers is above 80.
- Be present to accept the package.
We only
guarantee crickets worms that are ordered of a quantity 500 or above. If you
order a smaller amount and they arrive dead, we will add worms to your next order
to compensate for your loss.
If your temperatures go above 80 degrees, to get the live delivery guarantee,
you must choose the FedEX Priority Overnight shipping method.
We do not offer money back guarantees once an order is placed.
$4.95 Order Reprocessing Fee
In the event you receive a dead box of crickets or worms. We charge a $4.95 fee to reprocess and reship your order. On average, we only have to reship .5% of all our orders.
We reserve the right to determine if we will make a replacement shipment
to you in the event of DOA or add more crickets at no charge to your next order.
Cold Weather Shipping Option
Crickets and Worms live within a given temperature range. If the temperature is too cold they
will die. During cold weather spells, we add
extra
packaging to your cricket shipment. The cost of the cold weather packaging is
$1.50 per box for the packaging. During the ordering process you'll have the opportunity
to select the Cold Weather Package option.
If the transit temperature in your area is 30 degrees or below,
choose the winter pack and FedEX Priority Overnight shipping service if you want
the guarantee.
We'll do everything in our power to make sure you receive clean, fresh, live,
and healthy crickets and worms!
Normal Weather Shipping
When the temperature is above 50 degrees and below 80 degrees, we rarely have any problems with shipping.
In the rare event that your crickets or worms do arrive all dead, call us at (234)
PET-FOOD
and we'll immediately make another shipment of worms to your location and charge
you the $4.95 reprocessing.
If part of your live delivery arrives dead, we will compensate by adding free live
products to your next order.
FedEx as our shipper
On June 3rd 2012, we switched from UPS to FedEx. While UPS was a
great partner for nearly 8 years, FedEX came back with a more aggressive
proposal which we could not ignore. Our overall shipping prices were
reduced and we passed those savings on to you!
Winter Time
If your or our (See Forecast Below) night time temperatures fall below 50 degrees and is above 30, the winter packing option is required for the products that have the Live Delivery guarantee.
If your or our (See Forecast Below) night time transit temperatures fall below 30 degrees and you want the guarantee - do not place an order for Crickets. We will ship your order, but not guarantee the order.
If your shipment arrives DOA, we now charge a small $4.95 Order Reprocessing Fee for your reshipment.
Our only intention is to deliver a live product to you. We appreciate your understanding and working within our policies.
Summer Time
When the transit temperatures go above 95 degrees, we may elect to hold your order until the temperatures are cooler.
Our Weather Forecast
Cricket Care Sheet
Now that you bought your crickets from Premium Crickets, how do you keep them alive? You should plan to keep your crickets for around 1 month to get the maximum benefit from your purchase. Here are a few tips, questions, and answers that will make feeding your reptile with Premium Crickets a breeze.
Where should I keep my crickets?Crickets have some characteristics of people – their like their own space. That means you can’t keep them in the shipping box that we provide as their permanent house.
I recommend to people to go to Wal-Mart, Target, or Home Depot and purchase a plastic storage tote (see pictured):
You can poke holes in the top for ventilation. The top really is not necessary until the crickets start growing wings – which is just after they reach ¾”. If you get a container that is at least 2 feet high then no top is necessary. Deeper the better
Choose a clear plastic container – clearer the better. We found the clear containers are slipperier and the crickets cannot climb out.
Open your box of crickets INSIDE the plastic tote. If you do not then you will surly have a house full of crickets. You have no idea how many first time buyers of bulk crickets make that mistake.
Pull out the egg crates that are inside the cricket-shipping box and place the crickets and the egg crates together in the plastic tote.
Throw a hand full of cricket feed on the bottom of the plastic tote and a small plate full of cricket water – and you are in business.
How do I remove the crickets from the storage container to feed to my reptile?A good trick that I found is to place a toilet paper roll in the container. Crickets like extra space and a good hiding place so they will happily go inside the roll. Just pick the roll up and transport your crickets to your reptile cage. This is a good trick for those of you who don’t like to touch crickets. The pros don’t really care – they just scoop up a hand full and toss them in the reptile cage.
How long do crickets live?It takes 42 days to produce a full grown cricket. Once they are full grown, they generally have two to three weeks before they pass on.
When do crickets begin to chirp?Some people get annoyed with the sound of chirping crickets. The chirping begins when they grow beyond ¾” in size and start developing wings. So if you do not want to hear the chirping, order smaller crickets.
Why do my crickets smell bad?The crickets do not smell bad - it is the bacteria that cause the odor. What causes bacteria to flourish? Rotting food and dead crickets.
What rots? – All the food that you throw in the cricket cage – like potatoes, carrots, etc.
What should I feed my crickets?Try our cricket food. It does not rot and has all the vitamins and most minerals needed to produce a fully ‘gut loaded’ cricket. We have our cricket food specially blended and grounded to achieve an ideal growth rate and gut load for our crickets.
Other food sources work, but not as well. If you do not want our food, go with oatmeal, corn meal, and/or dog food. You can use a potato, however it's full of starch and not a good food supplement.
You also need to provide a water source for your crickets. The cheap way is a wet sponge or paper towel. However, keeping the sponge clean can be a challenge over time. Paper towels dry out quickly.
What is the ‘Cricket Water’ that you sell? We sell our cricket water in a dehydrated form. When you get your bag of cricket water, add the contents to 1 gallon of water. Stir for about 15 minutes and you will see it turn into a ‘jello’ form. It is the same stuff you buy at the Pet Store – just no fancy label. Scoop a small amount on a small plate (or jar cap) and change out every 3 days. It makes watering your crickets a snap.
Do I need to refrigerate the cricket water?No, you do not. I carry around the same cricket water to reptile shows for people to see for over two years. The cricket water should be stored in a cool location. If it goes dry, simply add some more water to rehydrate.
Why do I need to ‘dust’ my crickets with Calcium? (Rather than feeding them with Calcium)Many people make the mistake of trying to ‘gut load’ their cricket with calcium-supplemented products (like cricket water, etc.). Here is the problem – a cricket has an exoskeleton. That means their skeleton is on the outside of their body. Too much calcium makes their skeleton brittle and they cannot molt it off as they grow to their next stage of development. Premature death is the result.
We sell a high-grade calcium product that you can use to coat your crickets prior to feeding to your reptile. We recommend that you dust your crickets with calcium every other feeding.
What else do I need to consider?- Crickets should be kept at 70 degrees or better (find somewhere inside your house)
- Crickets and fly strips do not do well together – the fly strip wins.
- Crickets are very sensitive to chemicals. They are hearty, but weak to chemicals like paint, new carpet out-gassing, and of course – bug spray.
- Clean your cricket cage out every week.
- Have fun!