Crickets Dieing - Need Advice

[Harmzuay]

So I went out and bought a cricket keeper that is rated to house up to 120 medium crickets. I buy my crickets 5 dozen at a time so I only have a need to go to the store about once a week at this point. I bought the Fluker's Orange Cube - Complete Cricket Diet food for them to eat so they stay alive and hydrated. Figured I was doing everything right according to what I read up on as far as maintaining crickets for at least a week until I eventually feed them to my bearded dragon.

My problem is over half of them die every time. I expect a few to die throughout a week long span but not half of what I buy. I've tried purchasing them from different pet stores thinking I had just initially bought 'bad crickets' and have had the best luck with the locally owned pet store in my town.

I keep them in the cricket keeper out in my garage so they don't stink up the house, I make sure the food stays hydrated and I clean it out with just hot water every week when I buy a fresh batch of crickets and change the food out. There is no sub-straight in my cricket keeper as there are tubes they can climb into I didn't see the need.

I'm hitting my head against a brick wall trying to figure out why they keep dieing in such mass quantities over such a short period of time. I'm really concerned about this because I don't want to be feeding my beardie bad crickets.

Any advice from those of you who are more experienced with keeping crickets would be a huge help! Am I doing it wrong? How should my cricket keeper be setup? Should I possibly place them outside in a shaded area? I'm at a loss here.

 

[Sauzo]

I just keep mine in a 66 quart Sterilite tub and with toilet paper and paper towel rolls. I feed em scrap veggies and fruit ends, peels, apple cores and give em water crystals and I've kept the 1000 I ordered from Ghann's Cricket farm for over a month now with very few deaths, actually I haven't found any dead on the last cleaning. I do keep em in my reptiles room though which is about 70-75 degrees. Maybe try and switch em to fresh food? Other than that, I can't really see what you are doing wrong.

 

[Harmzuay]

Thanks for the reply. I'll try feeding fresh food with water crystals and see how that turns out. I try and remove the dead ones as soon as possible just because I don't like seeing dead crickets but did some reading today and found out that the dead crickets if left in the container are toxic to the live crickets.

 

[Sauzo]

Yeah I read that too awhile ago. I'm sure a couple dead wouldn't wipe out half your population but I guess it could cause a domino effect. The orange cubes are the only thing I can think of assuming your garage isn't like 120 degrees or 40 degrees. If all else fails, like I said, I just have mine in a 66 quart sterilite tube which is like 8$ at Target and I never had a problem. Can either use it without the lid or cut a decent size square in the center of the lid for ventilation and either duct tape or packing tape some screen in place. Also water crystals are pretty cheap if you buy em from a nursery or home depot. Just make sure to get the ones WITHOUT plant food

 

[icelore]

How hot is your garage? Crickets don't tolerate heat at all. Another over 75 and you will start losing them.

Secondly, how is the ventilation/air circulation in your garage? Since you aren't using any substrate, there is nothing to absorb and dry out their waste, so the humidity is probably high, which will also kill them off really fast.

One or both of these problems are probably your issue. I've found crickets to be actually pretty easy to keep as well as hardy as long as you give them the environment they need.

 

[Harmzuay]

Thanks for all the advice. I cleaned the cricket keeper out and got some more crickets. Also moved them inside and they seem to be doing much better now. I think the ventilation and temp in the garage was the core of the problem. They were getting to cold at night time (Never gets very hot on the Ca central coast) and where I had them there wasn't very much air circulation. They all have a nice orange tint to their bellies since they have been chowing down on the food. So far only one death today, which isn't terrible as I usually suffer at least one or two just on the trip home from the store but they always hook me up with an extra dozen or so crickets so a couple lost during transport isn't a big deal. I just have to make sure they don't stay inside my cricket keeper.

I've had them inside on my desk all day with windows open throughout the day and so far even at night they are doing well. Relative humidity inside my house is usually around 40% and inside my reptile tank it's usually 30-40% depending on the time of day, it gets on the 40% end only when I don't have the Powersun bulb running which is only after sunset. Lizard is happy, crickets are happy, and life is good so far.

Again, thanks for all the help, this forum is a blessing to have around!

 

[lindasgonebuggie]

Hi everyone has some very good ideas on here as to your problem your having with your cricket die off. Hopefully I have your answer How often do you clean them? dead cricket bodies need to be removed from your container daily as they give off a gas that doesn't hurt you or I but kills crickets, so... the rule of thumb is for each dead cricket left in there rubber maid by the next day 10 will die. Now you may think this sounds strange but for the 30+ years experience we have in this business and keeping crickets. we have found that if your keeping them correctly, with food, water and the right temp and you are still loosing crickets then this is a possibility, so try it it can't hurt . Hope this helps.

 

[icelore]

I'm happy you're having better luck with them this time around! I hope it continues.

May your lizard's dinner live long and prosper...until they get eaten that is. :lol:

 

[Harmzuay]

Haha thanks. Couldn't have done it without the help. Great community on this forum!

So far crickets are holding up pretty good, though some of that credit needs to be given to the new owner of our local pet shop. She is by far a better care taker of animals than the last owner. I've even volunteered to help her out this weekend get the store in tip top shape like she wants to.

Even tried a new salad combo of turnip greens, summer squash, and beardie bites. He loves the stuff and is munching salad even with crickets in the terrarium. Fat, happy, and growing fast.