Anything on this list poisonous to crickets?

[Franquixote]

I found 2 adult dead crickets today that looked very well fed and hydrated, just looked like they dropped dead.

I made a new gutload the day before and wondering if anything on this list might have been poisonous to them:

1. Repashy tortoise food (just 1 tsp or so per 2 cups) mixed w/ Repashy Hydro-load
2. Roach rations (Josh's Frogs)

3. crushed up raw:
*sesame seeds
*walnuts
*pecans
*banana
*sunflower seeds
* RAW UNFILTERED HONEY (this is what I am suspicious of) - just a finger pinch on top of each banana slice

4. small leaf of swiss chard
5. couple of chunks of carrot

 

[Franquixote]

More dead crickets.

New batch of food made without the raw honey or pecans to see if this makes a difference.

I'm concerned because I am worried the Sterilite bin may have chemical leeching or something.

Anyone have a similar experience or thoughts on this?

 

[MSMorgan]

That's quite a recipe. You may want to go with just one veggy as a control group, and go from there. If you're just feeding crix, try varying the feeders and the gut load with just one item per feeder.

 

[jamest0o0]

Is it all organic, none of that should be killing crickets. Not sure if I remember have you gotten banded crickets? Can you show a picture of their set up?

 

[TCMontium]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but I want to ask just to make sure: For how long have your crickets been adults? Can't they be just dying of old age?
If they are not that old, I would change their cage and decoration and go with only carrot/apple/basil for the diet for a few days or for a week.

 

[JoeDigiorgio]

What kind of cricket are you using and how are they set up?

Adult crickets die. None of what you listed should kill them. I use all of those things. Brown crickets last about a week at best under perfect circumstances once they molt to adulthood. Bandeds last 2 weeks at best I think.

 

[jamest0o0]

So I've had a dream batch of banded crickets that I've had for a month and a half now... they've just been left in their bin and I throw food in. Also have some in my cages that have been there for months. I'm assuming they're reproducing because I didn't know crickets to live that long.

 

[JoeDigiorgio]

I'm not going to lie, I had a banded male get lost into my roach bin and I swear he was calling for like a month in there. Freak accident he got in on a piece of egg crate lol

Browns definitely would never last that long as adults though.

 

[jamest0o0]

Freak* not dream... well may be a dream. Idk

 

[Franquixote]

They are medium sized, not dying of old age.... I have never heard that adult crickets only live for 2 weeks- I think they are banded crickets which should live for at least 3 months.
I think they are infected with the paralysis virus.
Anyway, the raw honey or pecan wasn't the problem since they are dying off and last batch of gut load didn't have that.

Guess I will source from an online vendor going forward.

Anyone have an opinion on the crickets from Josh's Frogs web site ?

 

[jamest0o0]

Josh's frogs are great, same with ghanns. Can't go wrong with either imo.

 

[nick barta]

Brown crickets die, and they often die as a group. I think you might be approaching this a little too intensely, and might be over-thinking a solution to a nonexistent problem. I applaud your time and effort making a gut load that had some great ingredients, but don't beat yourself up over some crickets dying.

The hobby we are in can consume us with the processes we go through to care for our chameleons, but we must remember that all the processes need to be simplified so that we stay in the hobby, and don't burn out. I would suggest you buy a proven dry gut load, such as Cricket Crack or Bug Buffet, and also feed the crickets fruits and vegetables for moisture. Hope this helps.

CHEERS!

Nick

 

[jamest0o0]

This is excellent^

 

[JoeDigiorgio]

Bandeds also don't get the virus that browns get. That's why many farms switched species.