Cricket Frustrations!!! Need some advice!!

[TheSmpsnsG85]

So, as some of you know, Ron and I run a reptile rescue out of our house. So, we purchase 3,000 crickets at a time, they last about a month. We keep them in a large tub with a mesh lid for air flow, it has TP rolls and eggcrate in it. And we use PremiumCrickets.com. They sell us cricket food and the gel water.
The past 6 months or so, we are having a lot of difficulty keeping the crickets alive! They are all dying!
We have tried keeping them in the tropical room for more humidity... they die
We have tried keeping them in the Desert room for more heat..... they die
We even tried keeping them in a room with no reptiles at room temperature.... they die
GGGGGGGGGGRRRRR :evil: I am getting so frustrated!!
Any advice? What are we doing wrong here? ugh.

 

[ScooterBlenny]

Are they all in one tub? If so, are you positive that it is large enough for that many crickets? The folks from Armstrong Crickets were telling us recently how important it is that the crickets have some space, and not just be piled on top of each other. They suggested sanding a few inches on the lower inside walls of the plastic bins to give the crickets a little room to climb (and creating extra floor space.) You might try getting another bin and spreading them out a bit, just to see if it works.

 

[Stephies_Leo _Dragon]

Have you tried contacting Premium Crickets and see what they say ? They can probably give you some tips or investigate their colonies for any possible diseases. How old are they crickets? The life span can be short for an adult cricket I usually order the medium sized so they have a little longer life span.

 

[lukenukem83]

Now, my information is based solely on information taken from this forum and the roach guys website, but I think it would be cheaper, easier, and better for you to raise the dubai roaches. As many crickets as you go through, you could probably have a colony to keep you rolling in several months. So while getting your roach colony up and running, you could just keep with the crickets, and then just use your colony of roaches to maintain your lizards...just a suggestion. I am a lowly crickets user, too, but if I could I would totally go-roach.

 

[Monica&Chandler]

I used to feed crickets to my dragons. Have you ever considered breeding them? Its soooo easy. All you need to do is provide a small plastic container (relatively short, but long) with some sand in it, and the crickets will do the work.
It will take a few months to get a good cycle going, but you will soon have crickets of various sizes which would be great for reptiles of different sizes.
All you have to do with the sand, once the adults have deposited their eggs in it is keep it moist and slightly warm. In a few weeks, you will have micro crickets, and they will grow from there.

 

[carrbowl]

We had trouble with ours too. We switched from a rubbermaid tub to an regular fish aquarium with a screen on top. We used egg crates placed sideways not layered on top of each other. Just those two differences made great differences in the amount of crickets that died. The closer together they are, the more heat they produce, the more water they produce, the quicker they die.

 

[Goonie]

It's true about the quantity of crickets in one container. When I used to order 250-500, they'd last with very little death. However, when I ordered 1000, I'd notice approximately 10-15 deaths on a daily basis. When the total population decreased, so did the deaths.

Do you have the room to store two or even three separate containers of crickets?

 

[TheSmpsnsG85]

We have the biggest container we could find, we already have about half way up the container sanded on all sides so they can climb up. The eggcrate is sitting up, not stacked on top of eachother. And we already do raise roaches. lol.
We breed our own orange spotted roaches to feed as well, but we have a few disabled reptiles here (like Gimpo, the leopard gecko, for those who remember him) who cannot catch a roach, but can catch a cricket. So we feed crickets, roaches, superworms and butterworms for variety. I don't want to do away with crickets because I don't want them to eat just roaches.
Thanks Gina, I may just have to do two containers. I do have room for them. I wonder if it is just too many for one container. Now that I think of it When they started dying is when we upped our order from 1500 1/2 inch crix to 3,000 full grown. I don't know why we didn't up the container or add another one, I suppose it just slipped my mind.
Thanks for the advice guys!!!!! I will try using 2 separate containers.

 

[ScooterBlenny]

Awww you guys sound like devoted reptile owners:-D Maybe one day I'll have room to take in some rescues and "special needs" reptiles. It's getting a little cozy with my beardie, reef tanks, frogs and husband in 800 sq ft

 

[Goonie]

The places where I saw the most deceased are in corners, where they seem to like to pile up. Also, if the ammonia level is too high, that would kill them off too. So the more crickets are in a container, regardless of how much room there are, the more likelihood of ammonia suffocation.

That's what I concluded from many months of trial and error.