Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I typically buy 250 3 week old crix every 6 weeks or so. I purchase from a great supplier and have devised a setup that keeps them clean. I feed only organic fruits and veggies and either make my own gutload or use from cricketfood.com. I have very minimal die-off.

Well, about a week ago I began experiencing very high die-off on a daily basis. I also noticed an odd chemical smell and could not understand why. I moved them into a new setup, with new and clean everything, dishes, pc, egg cartons, etc. ...still having die-off. I probably went from 75 to 25 crickets in a week! At one point I thought - they look like they have been poisoned. Insects die a slow death when they are poisoned b/c it impacts their central nervous system.

Desperately trying to figure out what was wrong I had eliminated everything - except the egg cartons. I always get them from a friend who keeps them for me. I was out and bought a few at the feed store. Ah-ha! I removed them this morning, put in tp rolls and put the cartons into a plastic bag. I just opened the bag and got the pesticide smell. I spoke to the feed folks and asked if there is anyway they could have come in contact with pesticide and at first they did not see how, but they don’t sell a lot of this type and, being non-perishable, store them for a long time. But every summer they spray and there was enough residue to kill the crix.

I have been feeding Luna and the t’s these crickets but interestingly Luna was not as excited about them as usual and she has been eating a lot of strawberries. She is now strictly on silkies until I get a new batch of crix. Well, wanted to share this story for any of you who keep small amounts as feeders. I am sure most do not buy cartons at their local feed store, but be aware at how easily, and unwittingly, this can happen. I just hope that Luna and the T’s did not get too much and that it will work through their system OK.

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.5 Mad. Hissers
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

Well, leave it to you Lele. ;^)I suppose we were overdue for yet another bizarre problem post from you! I guess that's one of many reasons I like re-using my own containers, even the one I take with me to buy feeders...I know where they've been. I get a gallon jug of Virosan from Pro Exotics once a year or so, keep a diluted mix in a sprayer, and use it on all my bins, feed bowls, tanks, cages, feeder boxes, bird perches, etc. One less unknown.

LOL! Yeah, it is pretty strang, huh?! It took a long time to finally figure it out (my feed folks feel terrible!). As you can imagine I am a clean-freak, too and replace egg cartons once they get too much poop on them! Never thought something as simple as a cardboard egg carton could kill my crix! Tossed them all...any thoughts on the amount Luna may have ingested? She seems OK other than going to her sleep spot very early in the day.
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.5 Mad. Hissers
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

I'd bet it may depend on what the feed store actually sprayed. If it was a pesticide that reduced bugs by messing with growth hormones it might not affect a reptile at all. If it was a direct toxin again it might be so diluted or metabolized by the crix that Luna didn't get enough of it to matter over time. If it killed insects by physically causing damage to respiratory centers or sensory organs (like soapsuds that in themselves are not toxic) maybe no effect. But if it was an organo chloride toxin the effects to Luna might be cumulative or genetic rather than directly toxic to her after one "dose". If it was potent enough to be hazardous to Luna I bet you would have seen effects before now. But, as you aren't feeding her the DEAD crix maybe she only ended up eating the crix that got low or no dose.

Well, i'm glad Luna isn't sick or anything. Sadly this has happend to me before, but took a catastrophic price. I went on a trip to visit my gf in florida and while I was gone i had my mom take care of my veiled cham, mali uro, and fischers cham. She only fed them as all my other reps were good and fed and had plenty of spares if they needed them. Well, come to find out all of them died while I was gone, because of a bad batch of crickets with an incredible amount of pesticides on them. I found this out from taking all of them to a local vet and took the cricket cage also. He could tell just by the smell that something was wrong and found the problem. Sadly I wasn't here and wasn't able to try and help my reps, but I don't blame anyone. My mother feels horrible and she cried the whole time I was gone. =- Just thought i'd share that, good luck with Luna.
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1.0 Savannah Monitor - Artimus
2.0 Emerald Swift - Jesus, unnamed
1.0 Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter 1-20-05 RIP
1.0 Green Iguana - King Arthur
1.0 Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
1.0 Basilisk - Adam
0.1 Water Dragon - Lady

LeLe,

Just make sure you give her tons of extra water to help fluch the kidneys. She's a trooper though so I would worry about any long term affects.

Here is a link I use for egg carton. When I kept quail I need tons of carton for all the eggs.

http://eggcarton.com/

Carl

Hi Carl,

thanks for your reply. Yes, I figured water would be good and trying get her to drink more and back to showering. I am hoping the juicy silkies and strawberries will help, too. Fortunately, she didn't consume a huge amount of them as I caught it pretty quickly - sometimes it pays to be obsessive! She goes to the vet on Monday for her follow up bloodwork and I will ask him what he thinks, too. My thinking is that since it was only residual poison and enough to kill the crix, tho' some did not die, the amounts in Luna would be low.

Thanks for the egg carton link! I had found some at Superior Enterprise, but your link has better prices. Though 90 will probably last me a lifetime! lol!

lele

>>LeLe,
>>
>> Just make sure you give her tons of extra water to help fluch the kidneys. She's a trooper though so I would worry about any long term affects.
>>
>> Here is a link I use for egg carton. When I kept quail I need tons of carton for all the eggs.
>>
>>http://eggcarton.com/
>>
>>
>>Carl
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.5 Mad. Hissers
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha