Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 11 geckos, 3 basilisks, 3 bearded dragons and 2 chameleons...We need to keep a lot of crickets on hand!

I order 1000 a month but they always seem to die and the dead ones go rotten and moldy very fast which require lots of cleaning and deaths of the other crickets...I lose probably 500 out of the thousand then I have to go buy them at outrageous prices til my next shipment of 1000 comes in....

ANY SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO KEEP CRICKETS ALIVE AND HEALTHY????

Right now they are in a giant rubbermaid tub which is next to a baseboard heater that keeps them warm...they get fed carrots that sit on a plate on the inside.

My experience with them is that if you're having massive die offs like that, they're too warm. When I kept crickets, I would just keep them at room temperature and that cured the die off problem. I also always made sure they had food and water, egg crates, paper towel rolls, etc.

I agree with the temperature thing to some extent, but I have kept my cricket the same way for the last 6 months. We have two Rubbermaid type containers, with screen tops, egg crate things for standing room. Between shipments we have always cleaned them with vinegar and water and rinsing and drying them well. We fed them damp bread for moisture and bearded dragon food. This system worked well, losing less than 5%, for the last 6 months with temps in our house ranging from 90's during summer heat spells to 60 when cold weather started kicking in. The last 3 shipments, we have lost at least 75% of the crickets we have ordered. I have not changed anything on my end. I have no idea what the problem is, but don't see my indoor temps as an issue.
Sky

how hot are they getting from the heater? If they are too hot that could be killing them. Temperature should be around 75F. Also, feed them more than just carrots. Carrots are good as a source of liquid, but they should be getting mixed greens (the same you give your dragon) as well. Before I switched to using silkworms, I fed my crickets mixed greens (collards, dandelions, endive and escaroli), a dry mix I made myself (found the recipie on the site below) and either sliced orange, carrot or potato for moisture. I did my best to pick out any die offs regularly to keep the smell down. Or you can get ahold of some carrion beetles to do that job for you. Another thing to do is never buy adult crickets as these could die of old age at any time.

If you still get alot of die offs, I would find another supplier to mail order your crickets from.

http://www.geocities.com/borderviewdragons/

You may want to check out this link.

Cricket Care
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Rob

Hey.. we keep our in a "flip-top" type rubbermaid tub, with rabbit pellets as a "bedding". We keep a dish of oatmeal mixed with powdered milk in the tub, and a dish with water-soaked cotton balls in there as well. We feed them vegetable scraps as we have them, for example, kale stems, and other green stems from the greens our lizards eat. They are kept in the animal room, at about 80 degrees... Deaths may also depend on where you get your crickets... from one of the places we get them, we have more deaths than from the other. Hope this helps...

Angie

Why not feed some chicken lay mash and 'cricket water' for moisture?
I offer both in little 'boats' I make from aluminum foil. As long as you keep the lay mash dry, there shouldn't be any issues.
Also, unless I'm trying to breed the crickets, I try to keep my crickets at room temperature. This slows their metabolism, and they tend to live a bit longer.
This method has worked well for me, as long as everything is kept clean and dry.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

I started using a layer of rolled oats on the bottom of the large rubbermade container. This way if you slack on their food occassionaly, they have something to eat. I sometimes have a lot of dead crix too, so I started getting 1/2" instead of 3/4" and they survived much better ( and don't chirp as much).