Stupid Crickets

[malt_geckos]

Well, Matt and I ordered some crickets last week that came in...We ordered smaller ones so they would live longer. Well, am I doing something wrong? Because they are dying really quickly. I have them in a ten gallon tank with carrots, gutload, and those egg crate things...should they have a heat source? It's not that cold here. The lowest it gets in the house is about 70 F.

 

[Scott&Nikki]

That temp should be fine... crickets just seem to die fairly quickly. Its one reason people hate using them.

 

[moosassah]

Crickets are EVIL! I do think I read somewhere that keeping them warmer is better. I'll try to find that info & get back to you.

 

[ssscales]

That temp should be fine... crickets just seem to die fairly quickly. Its one reason people hate using them.

Agreed! I ordered about 250-500 crickets once just to offer something different, within 1-2 weeks most that were not fed off at the time were dead, and they stunk.

 

[blizzard]

too many crickets in one place without enough food is a problem. they turn cannabulistic-they start eating each other. you may have enough food, but some of the crickets may not be able to get to it because of the others.

 

[ssscales]

too many crickets in one place without enough food is a problem. they turn cannabulistic-they start eating each other. you may have enough food, but some of the crickets may not be able to get to it because of the others.

I kept the 250-500 in a 32qt or 64qt Rubbermaid tub at the time. I did just add some slices of lettuce, potatoes, apples and carrots. I'm sure there are ways to keep crickets and have them thrive, some people must be doing it successfully. But, I'll stick to mealworms....

 

[ByRandom]

Make sure you keep water in the enclosure. They dry up faster than a snail in a salt bed. Also, try to strategically place containers of food. I keep mine in a 30-tall with tons of egg crates and cardboard tubes. Sure they die off, but we only go through 2,000 or so a month. So I order my 2,000, shove them in there, and ignore them.

 

[Scott&Nikki]

Make sure you keep water in the enclosure. They dry up faster than a snail in a salt bed. Also, try to strategically place containers of food. I keep mine in a 30-tall with tons of egg crates and cardboard tubes. Sure they die off, but we only go through 2,000 or so a month. So I order my 2,000, shove them in there, and ignore them.

Josh, you must have a noisy house haha

 

[yellermelon]

Yeah Josh I ignore mine too lol. But that smell, geez.

 

[eric]

we have two big storage containers and place oatmeal and gutload in with about 4 egg crate flats and a dozen tp rolls in with them .. we usually order 3000 crickets.also we give them romaine and carrots every day.ventilation is a must!! we cut the top of the bin and place window screen on top of the lid and melt it to the top ..are loss is minimal. more space!!!more food!!!more crickets!!!

 

[Mel&Keith]

We've had really good luck keeping crickets alive in the giant sterilite storage bins. We put ground walnut shells on the bottom and add dishes of gutload and fruits and vegetables for moisture. We don't put any kind of lid on the tub, we only order 2/3 crickets so usually we don't have too many escapees.

Ectotherm Cricket Yummies are by far the greatest cricket food we've come across. They're pricey but you'll have virtually no die off.

 

[malt_geckos]

We have a screen top on the tub. We ordered 500 but I swear they sent us over 2000! I only have a milii, a few leos, and a chameleon that get them so It's not like matt and I needed that many! lol. I am just baffled at how to keep the tank clean....they escape so easy! Uggg...I will go put some more fruit in with them and see if that helps as well...they're so freakin nasty.

 

[DAWNoftheLEO]

I ususally keep some in stock for those anal geckos that wont touch mealies lol, and the gonis..
But, I usually buy 1-2k and keep them in a large sterlite storage bin (like above). But, I use gutload and romaine with baby carrots.. As they are cannibals, make sure you use some eggcrates.. I get very few die offs

Never heard of ectotherm, but i'll be checkin it out!

 

[DAWNoftheLEO]

Oh yeah, dead crickets smell so nasty! lol

 

[acpart]

Mine are in a 10 gallon tank with a screen top. I buy the gel crystals and make my own cricket water. There's progeckos gutload on the bottom of the tank, toilet paper rolls, 4 small dishes of cricket water and egg crate. I transfer crickets to a smaller faunarium as I need them so I'm not reaching into the tank every day. Every now and then I sift out the dead stuff at the bottom which is more molted shells than dead crickets. I get 1000 3/4" crickets about once a month and have a great survival rate and little smell. The biggest challenge is getting them out of the box and into the tank.

Aliza

 

[ReptileMan27]

Crix are just a pain, mealies are much easier. I only by like 4-5 dozen at a time to feed the scorps,tokay,AFT,and MHD. I would have to order another several thousands for the leos, which I have done and a pain..