Crickets Dying Super Fast

[Coley54]

Hi there. Hoping someone might have a suggestion. On two occasions I have ordered boxes of 1,000 crickets from two different vendors. I was storing them in a rubbermaid bin with air holes and their egg crates with Flukers Cricket Quencher and Flukers Cricket Diet or whatever its called. I'll put enough for 2 feedings or so into the small cricket keeper and leave the big bin alone (checking for dead crickets, food and water daily) until I need to pull crickets out for feedings. So I get them and they seem fine when I leave for work and then I come home and most of them are dead. I've been getting maybe 100 - 200 crickets out of every box I order. So this time, I thought, maybe its not enough air. So I moved them to the small tank I kept Drac in until he was big enough to graduate to his 'big boy' enclosure and it has a metal screened lid. I left for work this morning with no dead crickets and bam...most of my group is dead. I just bought them at Petsmart last night because I lost the last few from the box I had purchased last week. They are in a totally different container. What in the world am I doing wrong??? Thoughts? Suggestions? I'm getting super frustrated.

 

[Brooke74]

From the sounds of it, you're doing everything right. Ventilation could be a problem though, and a screen top for your cricket been may be beneficial. Crickets die quicker in high temperatures (90+), but don't survive well in temperatures under 75 degrees. It could be something as simple as the crickets age, if they are old when you purchase them from the breeder they could just die of old age. If you do not think it's any of these things, id bet its a cricket virus or disease.

 

[Coley54]

I would end up with a cricket virus. Drac is still somewhat small so he's eating small to medium size so I am pretty sure my crickets are fairly young. I'll have to start over again tomorrow. I'll clean the heck out of the enclosure and then go buy some new jumpers. Thanks for the input.

 

[Brooke74]

Good luck, and let me know how it goes!

 

[disturb3d0n3]

Do you have egg crates in the enclosure so they're not trampling eachother? I noticed my petco ones never survive, the ones I bought from Timberline Fisheries died pretty fast too. Have had great luck with Armstrong Crickets. I just received 500 of the wrong size (giving them away for anyone near me) luckily they're shipping the right size overnight but barely any casualties in the two day shipping! I always use a gatorade cap with a damp paper towel for water and change it every other night. Using the Flukers gutload and it's been doing well... I'll eventually make my own dry gutload.

 

[Coley54]

Armstrong was where I got my last shipment from. I do have egg crates in there for them as well as some toilet tissue roll holder things. I think I'll give Armstrong another shot. Because I don't think it was their fault...I think maybe I didn't clean the enclosure well enough after the last mass death. We shall see what happens!!!

 

[icelore]

I've ordered from Armstrong with no issues before. How warm is it where you're keeping them? Crickets don't tolerate heat well at all.

 

[Coley54]

I am in Florida so it does get VERY warm here, however, I have to keep the house cooler as I have an English Mastiff who can't tolerate the heat. The house does not go above 79 during the day and we only drop the temp to 76 at night, 75 at the lowest. And they are absolutely kept indoors much to my husbands dissatisfaction.

 

[disturb3d0n3]

75 is the ideal temp for crickets. I usually completely clean out their cage each time I get a new shipment.. being that I work at walmart in claims I get easy access to egg crates... so everything is pretty fresh each time around and doesn't leave much room to catch a virus from any previous. Some casualties are inevitable but as long as they have food and water with the right temp they should thrive well.. My last Armstrong order lasted 4 weeks... the one I got from Timberline (it's actually local but a global store) so I saved by not paying shipping but the crickets lasted maybe 10 days and also it didn't seem like they gave me 1000 when they claim it was..

 

[icelore]

Approx. 80 isn't crazy high temps for them, but crickets are very much cool weather insects. Seems like it might just be a combination of a lot of minor things that combines are taking their toll on them.

What size bin are they in? 1000k small/med crickets (no more then 1/2in max) can be kept in a 10g tank as long as it's pretty full of egg crates to expand floor space. That's the bare minimum size wise, adn they will be cramped and experience some die-off in that size. Also, smaller enclosures limit air circulation, which is important with crickets. Maybe the consistently increased temps combined with poor air flow are doing a number on them.

Also, are you removing the dead ones daily? When crickets die they start to decompose quickly and the gas they give off will kill the live ones faster then you'd think. After keeping large quantities (2000+ for a month at a time) I've come to find the adage "For every 1 dead cricket left overnight in the bin, expect 10 more dead the next day." to be relatively true. The larger the bin they are kept in and the better the air flow, the less impact dead crickets will have.

Lastly, are you keeping them on any kind of substrate? Lots of crickets in a small area can create a build up humidity (again, tied in the with air flow needs) and that will kill them off as well. If that is an issue, keeping them on something that can absorb the moisture from their waste may help. I use aspen woodchips (pine and cedar are toxic).

Those are the most common cricket killers - heat, space, air flow, and humidity. If all their needs are met, they really are relatively hardy insects, so if they are dieing off in droves, there is definitely something killing them. If you can figure out what it is and alter that, you shouldn't have any problem keeping them.

 

[Coley54]

Thats some great information. Thanks. When I was keeping 1000, I kept them in a very large rubbermaid bin. It was long and deep. They had plenty of egg crates. When that whole box basically died, I moved them to the 20 gallon tank that Drac was in before he outgrew it for his 4x2x2. I did not have a substrate but was thinking that I should put one in but wasn't sure what kind and almost went with sand but wasn't totally sure which route to go. I will check out aspen shavings. I do check for and remove dead ones daily. The day I started this post, I left for work with not a one dead...not even one on its back twitching and came home to almost all of them dead. I took out the few that survived and placed them in another smaller rubbermaid bin while I got the glass tank ready. I'll add a substrate tonight after I do a hardcore clean on the tank and add new crickets. We shall see what happens.

 

[icelore]

There is a virus that crickets can get that could be killing them. I know it was going around a while back, but most of the suppliers switched to another breed of crickets (from brown to banded I think?) and that kept things ok. With the virus, the crickets take a while to die though - it's a paralysis that kills slowly and ends with them on their backs, alive, but just wasting away. Not that's what I think you have, but just something that popped into my head. I'd contact the cricket dealer you git them from and let them know just in case though.

That really is crazy that they die off that fast. o.o Good luck in figuring out what the issue is!

 

[Coley54]

OMG! I saw this happening! Before the mass die off. I know they get flipped on their back sometimes but usually they are quick to flip themselves over!! When I would actually see them on their back and twitching, I'd remove them...thought something was wrong. Then they all just died stupid quick...Ugh...I'm confused. I'm just going to start over. I'm going to clean everything, throw out all my egg crate and start over. I was keeping them just fine until the last couple weeks. I'll let y'all know how it goes!

 

[Coley54]

Well, the cricket cage has been cleaned, dried, added a substrate (coconut husk) and threw away all my old egg crate and didn't have anymore but created some cardboard bridge/tunnel things out of some old boxes and also gave them an old fishtank decoration with lots of crawley/hidey places. They are now in their enclosure (only got a couple dozen to make sure I don't lose another huge amount) chirping away. Their 'large' crickets looked more medium size to me so I got the large and man are they noisy! Fingers crossed!