Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi,i have kept crickets for my reptiles for many years but now i seem to have a problem.all my crickets keep dying over night.fist i thought it was the fact that i have no pest strips in the room(one that kills up to so many square feet) so i started keeping them in another room.they still keep dying,so i thought mybe its the store so i bought them from a differeent store,same thing they are all dead in 24 hours.whats happening?i have them in a critter keeper with 2 tolit paper tubes and a pice if egg creat.i have corn meal in a shallow bowl for food and a moist paper towl wodded up in a shallow bowl for water.what am i doing wrong? I would love any help anyone can give,thanks

Im not sure what the problem is but it could be a number of things but in stead of guessing i'll tell what i am having success with. I keep mine on a cypress mulch/dirt mix with humidity at 90 to 100 percent. My ambient temperature is 85 degrees but they have access to lower and higher temps. I feed ground dog food and the only water they get is from me misting their tank a few days a week and let me tell you, i have thousands and thousands of of crickets in every size. I dont use any egg crates or paper towel spools either since its such a large enclosure it doesnt matter. I house them in an old monitor cage that holds heat and humidity well.

Im not sure if you're looking to breed them or just keep them alive long enough to feed but either way they'll need heat, moisture, dark/moist hides and some sort of substrate. Also you'll get a better survival rate if you buy them young(2 to 3 weeks of age)
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0.0.1 Varanus Salvator (Gator)
0.1.3 Varanus Exanthematicus (Adisa "long term captive" other 3 "yet to be named hatchlings"
2.0 Ferrets (Chaos & Kasha)
1.0 Cat (George)