For the past 5 Or so orders from ghanns, nearly 800 of the 1000 crix are dying off. Around 50 or more a day die. I keep them in a large plastic tub with 24 hour access to water gel and feathered zard staple. I kept crix like this for a very long time without any problem, but mos of the crix just die mow. Te crickets turn over onto their backs, and their legs twitch from time to time if they're disturbed. I remove these weird paralyzed crix every day. Help !!
Have you washed the tub out lately? Or did you recently wash it and maybe not rinse it out well enough? I'm wondering if something toxic might have gotten in to your container...
The other thing I will say is that plastics break down over time, and any exposure to higher-energy light (UV) only accelerates that process.
I think a call to Ghanns is in order, find out if they are having any troubles with their crickets. If the supply is good then you might look into replacing the tub and everything inside, probably even the food supply. Something is making them sick and completely redoing their home is probably the fastest/easiest way to to fix it.
I wash out the tub every new-order of crickets with a garden house and set it outside in the sun to dry...I could ask ghanns if they are having issues with their crickets. Has anyone else using ghanns experienced anything like this?
yeah, the same virus that hit europe eight years ago has now his the US, decimating stocks across the country. Also anyone who feeds crickets NEEDS to read this article
beware, some breeders are sending these crickets out, both to stores and direct buyers. this is probablly going to get worse, so just watch out, or switch to roaches.
I have been having this problem lately too. Last week I ordered 2000 hoping I could get more time out of an order, but no. 70-80% die off. I need to place another order already and we only have one beardie who is not even an adult. Throwing money down the drain.
I own a pet supply store and we order our crickets from Ghann. About 3 weeks ago most of our 2000 crickets died too, we called Ghann and found out that it is because of the heat. Crickets can't sweat so when it gets hot out they end up with water under their shells and it kills them. Since we found out about this we now ask them when we call to order how hot it is there and we have them hold our shipment until temps are below 90 degrees and we have not had this problem since. Hope this help!
Ghann's has been confirmed to have the virus, shut down their facilities earlier this year to remove all their insects, and have recently started over again with the Jamaican field crickets. I'm guessing if you order crickets from them now, you'll be getting the new, parasite free crickets.