Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone,
I have a big problem. I usually buy about 40 feefer crickets, for my leos, at a time, and put them in a small animal container. I give them chick feed, as recommended by someone earlier on this forum, and they get plenty of oxygen through the side vents on the container. All of them end up dead by the first week. Can I do anything else to keep them alive longer? I'm really wasting money here. :O( Thanks

You should feed them veggies, more nutrious for them and provide the crickets with some water. I find that wen crickets are in small containers they tend to eat each other, so try to find a larger container for your crickets. Also instead of buying such a large amount, buy smaller amounts so that you don't end up havein half the crickets die b4 you feed them to your leos.

Hope i helped ya out.
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Just Another Herp Crazy Person
Allan
0.2 Leopard Geckos
0.1 Bearded Dragon
1.0 Fire Skink
Male Asian Forest Scorpion

NO MORE

Make sure they have a dry bed orf starchy food like oatmeal or chicken feed or both, but some source of moisture. Thin sliced carrots are good, with a piece of leaf lettuce. A little slice of yam is good too- try microwaving a minute to soften for them, they'll love it and it is full of vitamins. Make sure to put some podwered calcium on the feed. Make sure they have hiding spaces, like toilet paper rolls and egg crates. Take out any food that strts to rot, and remove any dead crickets immediaitely- they create gases that will kill the other crix. Do not let any mold develop in the enclosure, keep it dry and clean.

The other posters had good points, but forgot to mention heat. I have found that crix need temps between 85 and 100 to do well. If I keep them in the house(78-82), I need to provide a low wattage light bulb, hung just below the lip of my container. It seems to keep things warm and dry. I buy 1000-2000 crix at a time and I’m sure you have a smaller container than me. The 4 things I have found that crickets really need to have are: ventilation, heat, mold free moisture, and dry food/vitamins.
You may want to place your small crix container on a computer monitor, or a TV that’s on most of the time. Near your water heater is also a good source of heat. The heat source should be available at all times. You have to give them fresh potato/carrot/apple every day for moisture. If you lightly mist the side of the cage, they will drink the droplets, but try to keep the substrate dry as possible, this could be done two times a day. It may take some trial and error, I think crix are harder to care for than leopard geckos, but it gives you a sense of satisfaction when things go right. So don’t give up, and remember that crix like warmer temps that people do. Good luck!