Why Are All My Crickets Dying?

I've had Hagrid for about 7 months now, and this has been a problem since I've had her. I keep crickets in a large storage bin with a plastic grate for air. I keep a bulb above them for heat and light and it keeps it at a good 80-90°F. I feed them fish flakes and Haggy's leftover veggies, and I leave a damp paper towel for water. They have egg cartons also. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Also, I've attempted to breed them 3 times but there have been no successful attempts. I keep the dirt moist and under the same kind of light my adults are kept under. I prefer buying from the bait shop bc they're bigger, cheaper, and they last longer than the ones from the pet store. Any help on this topic would be very appreciated.

Hi there, if you're buying the large ones, they may be at the end of their lifespan. Once they reach adult size they don't live much longer than 2-3 weeks. You might also try cutting the heat back to no more than 80 F.

my crickets are kept in small cricket tubs - saved from when I used to buy my crickets from local pet shops - no more than 80 x 1/3-2/3 size crickets per tub.

Food
= carrot , replaced when it starts feeling slimy
= repcal adult beardie pellets , straight from the bottle , maybe 8 -10 pellets per tub
= greens ( buk or puk choi greens , kale ) given mostly when the tub will used to feed lizards inside 2 or 3 days

Moisture source
= carrot and greens

Temperature , about 24 - 26oC , NOT IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT.

Any sick crickets are tossed out , the wild skinks and birds clean them up.

Still loose a few crickets here and there , mostly those that mature faster and wind up dying of old age.

I buy my crickets in bulk lots of 700 - 800 crickets every two weeks .

Not tried breeding my own crickets.

I've found that overcrowding the crickets is bad for their longevity , they will in extreme situations eat each other.
Leaving potato or apple slices too long , the stuff ferments and becomes toxic
Leaving carrot chunks too long and allowing them to go mouldy = toxic
too hot
too cold
poor cricket tub hygiene , moulds , bacteria , viruses will cause mass dyeoffs .

I find keeping my crickets in smaller batches means if I receive some who are infected somehow I might loose most the crickets in 2 or 3 from 10 - 12 tubs , if a cricket pandemic hits and not all my stock.

RULE OF THUMB
- feed you feeder insects rubbish and you'll wind up with rubbish quality feeder insects.

IF BUYING PETSHOP CRICKETS

1) select only tubs with heavy crickets in them , ask to see the tubs and select only the best

2) straight home and immediately tip each tub out into a 30L tub and replace the carrot chunk with a fresh chunk , remove all dead and sick crickets for disposal

3) find out when the shop gets it's fresh bulk insect deliveries , and go in to buy that afternoon or the next day , insist on ONLY NEW STOCK ( many pet shops have a system , they use different colour markets for each weeks delivery , and place the new stock at the back or on the bottom of the stack of tubs of crickets , sneeky , easy to out smart their system once you learn their system. )

4) bugs on sales = old nearly dead bugs , could buy 8 tubs of crickets and maybe only find 3 or 4 tubs worth of bugs that can be used .

Buying by mailorder / online , pay for express post , the few extra dollars spent is worth it.