Feeder crickets dying lost 900 in a week

[bobbycarp]

Hi, my daughter got a bearded dragon for her bday. Since he/she eats 50 or so a day we ordered 1000. By the time they were all dead and eaten I realized something. A lot of these plastic storage containers have a recessed channel around the outside. Guess where all the dead ones were? I think the little crickets get in the channel and can't get out due to how slippery it is. The feeder tub is the same way and the crickets head for it and can't get out. I may fill the channel with sand and order 250 to see if I fair better. Otherwise I'm switching to dubai roaches and going to test the crickets in a can dusted white with calcium. He'll eat just about any thing if it's small and white like the dusted crickets. Just wanted to share my cricket experience as a newb. This forum has been tons of help getting us going , thanks to all of you. Seems to be a happy little camper

 

[BBTrucker]

if i had to guess you prolly did what i did think you can just get a large bulk of crickets put food in there and water and let them go and in a week they where all dead, well my good friend your doing it wrong i didnt want to believe it but oh well cut your losses there not coming back next time keep a closer eye on them or perhapse breed another type of insect, i use dubias and am highly debating about breeding hissers i think hissers breed quicker and there more meaty for my dragon he doesnt have a problem putting them down but tend to b a lil rough on the gut, so he is limited to about 6 a month and abunch of dubias

since they dont take long to breed i dont necessarily have to keep alot of them and normally dont spend but about 40 a month or less to keep my supplies up meal worms live a good long while so instead of ordering so many crickets next time try doing sum homework and really read up on it online

 

[bobbycarp]

If I kept a close eye on them I could watch 4 die per hour. Clearly not worth the trouble. The cricket problem is common. Just bought 50 verified live ones 3 miles from my house and sure enough dead crickets 2 hours later. Considering today's experience with crickets, when the few live ones are eaten, a live cricket is off the menu.

 

[BBTrucker]

crickets can live longer then 2hours, by them selves in a plastic container. with air holes. without food or water. whatever it is your putting them in. might have pesticides. sprayed around the enclosure. just a guess. i keep mine in a plastic bin but i dont keep more then 200 at any given time.
i keep more roaches and mealworms. plus it adds to veriety

 

[bobbycarp]

They are in containers from the store and I added fresh Flucker food. I'm not going to argue about crickets but I do think housing them in containers like I described is relevant (not the best container for small crickets). Local pet store says they lose 50% (small crickets) per week. Even though I lost 90% (900) in a week ordered in bulk that cost me $0.028 per cricket delivered to my home, it was still cheaper than buying 100 from the pet store. The ~100 that survived cost $2.80. 100 from the pet store is $10.00. But the bulk deaths lead not so pleasant odors. Feeding this little guy pet store crickets is going to be $150+ a month. Not going to happen unless the only option in the short term.

I don't want to raise a feeder colony of anything.

So now I want to try dubai roaches. Just not sure I trust getting 1/4" roaches as advertised. A little bigger would be OK.

 

[BBTrucker]

ok then go to dubideli.com they have the best prices. on there roaches

 

[Claudiusx]

Are you removing the dead crickets from the bin at least daily? Dead crickets give off fumes that will kill the other crickets.
Keeping a clean tank is paramount in keeping crickets alive.

-Brandon

 

[BBTrucker]

i will agree with that the dead crickets will kill off other live crickets. i clean mine out. once a week since i keep all my feeders in the shed. i only bring in about 50 roaches and 30 crickets at a time. and they live with each other for about a week. in a 10gal tank that gets cleaned weekly. so no in home smells. when i run out its back to the shed

 

[bobbycarp]

Yes, I removed the dead daily. That's how I got a feel for the death rate.

 

[bobbycarp]

ok then go to dubideli.com they have the best prices. on there roaches

Thanks, I'll take a look.

 

[Claudiusx]

Well, sorry I don't know what to tell you. Part of the reason I switched to breeding dubias and superworms for my adults.

-Brandon

 

[bobbycarp]

Well, sorry I don't know what to tell you. Part of the reason I switched to breeding dubias and superworms for my adults.

-Brandon

I'm barely two weeks in and want out of the cricket racket.

 

[Claudiusx]

I'm barely two weeks in and want out of the cricket racket.

Well, you are smarter than I was. I pained through it for a bit longer than that. :mrgreen:

-Brandon

 

[CountofCasualty]

Crickets also need lots of protein. Something I didn't know until recently. I give them canned chickpeas and the water crystals, and I've had 2-3 die per hundred I buy. I'm only buying them from a pet store now while I work out buying Repti's from the states, but before I started giving them the chickpeas I would lose 30-40 per 150, while it isn't as much as you, it's still a big loss. So try that as well.

 

[bobbycarp]

46 dead this morning out of my purchase of 50 yesterday afternoon. The store just got them yesterday before I bought them. I called them and they don't think they even have 500 left. The rest are dead. At least he ate some "can o crickets" and I hope he enjoyed his 4 $1.25 a piece small live crickets. I could have fed myself all day for $5.00. Oh well Going to talk to the roach breeders today.

Is this little guy able to eat any other worms yet? The care sheet on this site implies yes " Young Beardies" but I'm not so sure.


dragon on the phone by pyrocarp, on Flickr