Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know that this does not directly have to do with cresties, however it does have some importance to me.
I get my crestie crix, however they do not seem to stay alive for more then 3 days.

I keep them in a seperate tank, and feed a few to my crestie each day. I keep a egg carton in the tank, along with crix food by flukers. They are in my laundry room.
Is it too dark or cold for them?

any suggestions on how I can keep them alive for at least a week?

thanx in advanced

well, without knowing how you are keeping them temperature wise... it is hard to say.
i keep mine 70-80 degrees, dry, and feed carrots, oatmeal, and deli meat every 2-3 days, and clean the container atleast every 4-5 days. VENTILATION is key in keeping them alive, and to keeping the smell down. the more surface area ( egg crates, paper towel/toilet paper rolls) you can provide the more area they have to climb around and the longer they live.
i have everyone in my place keep all toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls so i can use them, and have the entire bottom of the bin covered in them. the tubes work great for putting the crickets in their dusting container, and for transferring bins while cleaning the other as well.

depending on how healthy the crickets are when you buy them and they are not already full sized adults, crickets are easy to keep alive. Instead of using the fluker's flakes, use instead fresh greens (collards, zuccini, cuccumber, romaine, carrots, bell peppers, etc) fish flakes or crushed low fat catfood, skim milk powder, oatmeal, lean cooked chicken (ground up or in small pieces) can also be used. For moisture/water, just u se a slice of potato, orange, carrots or other high water content items. Change food (the flakes can be less often) daily to avoid rotting. The molds that grow on food can be toxic to your crickets.

The other poster pretty much covered the housing requirements. If your source of crickets keeps dying despite the above changes, might be a good ideal to either (if you buy from a pet store) find out what day they receive their cricket shipment and buy your crickets then. Or if you do mail order, try somewhere else.

If you get fedup with crickets and for variety, try small silkworms. They are much easier to care for and are much more nutrious than crickets.
-----
PHLdyPayne

I agree about the nutrition value of silkworms but IMHO they are HUGE PITA to keep around. After a few weeks of constant cleaning and laying in fresh food and changing container sizes I HAD ENOUGH!!! I just took the whole lot out into my backyard and my chickens had a feast!!.

I felt like I had another high maintenance pet on my hands. LOL!!! (it went to far when I started naming them )

I Keep my crickets in a dry tank with lots of egg crate and paper towel tubes. I use the cricket drink gel for water and feed them crushed parrot pellets (all vegetarian pellets that I feed my birds)

They thrive and I keep them for weeks this way.

Steve

I certainly agree about the silkworms. Also, most of my geckos had never seen one before and only about half ever ate any. I have mulberry trees all over my yard so tried to feed the silkworms fresh leaves to cut down on the hassle of silkworm food, but then they were less palatable to my geckos and they wouldn't touch them until I switched back to the commercial silkworm food.
I also had trouble keeping my crix alive until an artist at the parlor where I get my tattoos suggested putting some damp paper towel in the cricket keeper. That helped quite a bit and when I saw how quickly it dried out, I figured that must've been the problem-just too dry. I still usually only buy enough crix to last 1 or 2 feedings and then CGD/GGD the rest of the time. What I'd like to know is why the crickets that escape live under the refrigerator chirping for 6 months when the ones with the nice orange cubes and cricket yummies croak within a week!

-----
Terri
9:14:12 crested geckos: Bear, Goldfish, Kermit, Brimstone, WildSpatter-Spots-to-Spare, White Lips, Pouncer, Studley, Randy, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni, Beauty, Shine, Harley, Lady, LemonDrop, AllVees, Stunner, Squeak (RIP), Bling, Squeaker, Stripe, Redhead, Speckles, Harrys, Penny, BonusBebe, RedHot, Puzzle and Snickers.