Why do my crickets keep dying?

[Theresa20]

I have them in a large tub with the black tubes for easy feeding, they have cricket gut-loader food (Flukers I think.. .little flakes) and calcium supplemented gel stuff for their water. Also there is some cardboard in there... I buy either 50 or 100 at a time and within a day or two there are a ton of them dead on the bottom of the tub! What am I doing wrong? Also, should I be throwing away the dead crickets or are they ok to feed to my beardie?

 

[Trickseedog]

Look closely; are you sure that they are all dead crickets? I thought for a long time that I was losing about half my crickets, then I realized that they were molting. The shed exoskeletons look like entire dried-up crickets.
I also started cleaning corpses out daily. If they don't show any shriveling at all, I go ahead and give them to my beardie. When I get a large quantity of crickets, I go ahead and refridgerate a lot of them. Breyas doesn't like food that climbs on him, so I always chill his food, anyway. If you are losing a huge amount, try another supplier.

 

[Embee]

I used to get a lot of die off at the beginning... now, not so much. I do find the pinhead crickets to be more tender, the larger size of small and the mediums tend to be more robust, shall we say?

One thing I did as the pp mentioned, is to clean out the dead ones as soon as you see them. Dead crickets can give off a gas that can take down the whole lot. The more dead crickets in the bin, the faster this process will happen. I'm not sure what's right, but somewhere on the forum it mentioned that it's not wise to feed beardie the dead ones (they died of something afterall). Also, I use flukers as well, but I also put in some real veggies and fruit--not a ton, just enough to have some more variety, and well, in our case, I feed the crickets what I WISH my beardie was eating! :roll: Usually, some mustard greens, a chunk of butternut squash, etc.

I get very little die off now. I'm not sure if it's the cricket size, or the changes I made. But thought I'd offer up the info, in case it's helpful to you. I know how frustrating that can be--I paid for those!!! :roll:

Best of luck!

Em

 

[Theresa20]

Thanks guys, I'll see what I can do. You're right, it IS frustrating, especially since I live forty minutes away from the nearest pet store!!! Can't afford to drive to town every two days.

If I put the crickets in the fridge, will they die, or just lay dormant like mealworms?

 

[patrickb]

They will die if kept in the fridge for any length of time. Only place them in the fridge to slow em down if you need to for catching/feeding purposes.

As for your deaths, it could be that the ones you are getting are old and at the end of their life anyways. You didn't mention if they were a certain size, so I am assuming they are adult crickets. Things to reduce the deaths would include keeping them cooler. Mid 60s is a great temp to prolong their lifespan. Remove the dead bodies ASAP! Each one causes a chain reaction of deaths and in no time they will be dead. Check on them daily and remove any dead ones. No, I would not feed them to your beardie since they are dead and decaying which means all kinds of bacteria. It probably wouldn't be harmful to your beardie, but no need to take any chances. The calcium supplemented gel could possibly be shortening their life, but considering how little bit of time you are keeping them, I doubt it. Still wouldn't hurt to quit using that and use some fresh fruits or veggies that are changed out daily to prevent mold. Carrots work real well as a moisture source because they won't mold.

 

[RaisingCajun]

My crickets were dying quickly also until I started using the Flukers Orange cubes as there food. Dont know what it is about the orange cubes but it seams to keep them alive alot longer.

What is the best temp to keep the crickets at? Right now, my house stays around 70F. I have the crickets in a 10 gal tank with a screen top.

 

[Elora]

You should get your crix online! less than half the price of the petstore and no driving!

Pet store: 10 cents a cricket
lllreptile.com: 2 cents a cricket (when you buy 1000) or 4 cents a cricket (if you buy 500)

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/feeder-crickets-worms-rodents-roaches-and-more/crickets/ Some of them will be dead when they get to your house but they put way extra in the box becuase they know that not all of them will make it.

 

[underoath7896]

The ones from pet stores tend to die faster to

 

[Theresa20]

That sounds like a good idea, except what the heck am I going to do with 1000 crickets?! My tub isn't big enough to hold all of those.

 

[Louandmojosmommy]

i buy all my crickets from http://www.flukerfarms.com/LiveCrickets.aspx
for a 1,000 count of crickets it costs $13.95 which equals to .014 per cricket. i end up paying about $12.00 in shipping for over night. they are a wonderful company to deal with.

 

[Elora]

put them in a 10 gallon tank

 

[Theresa20]

Does anyone know if that website will ship to Canada?

 

[Louandmojosmommy]

this is what i found out http://www.flukerfarms.com/shippingadvisory.aspx
there is a 1-800 number to call and check out to see if they will ship to canada. im not sure but ive spoken to customer service and they are excellent to deal with. the company is actually selling live BD's now. Hopefully this helps.