Buying next bulk of crickets.

[PoshPenny]

My last bulk of crickets was 500. About 100 seemed to be dead on arrival, I paid for the heat packs, this time I'm buying 1000, I'm feeding 2 geckos, and my Cham, my question is, by housing more crickets will I kill off more by them eating each other? I keep 3 gut loading stations in the large bin, I change them daily, Im slightly ocd about it, and rotting food. I keep coconut dirt in the bottom it helps with the smell. I keep them really clean. But I still feel like they die so easy. I looked into dubias. I just...don't...know...if I can handle that. I hate roaches, but I love my Cham and I know they are live breeders. I'm keeping supers, wax worms, what else can I breed that won't die so easy that I can buy in bulk?

 

[stacy76]

i too am not found of dubias,but i purchased some and my chams love em.when they are small they look like rolli pollies so i call them bugs not roaches and i can now handle the small ones..

 

[scout83]

What size crickets are you buying the larger they are the closer they are to the end of there life cycle

 

[ridgebax1]

I buy my crickets from Ghann's, I got 250 small and 250 large ones with virtually no die off. I only cleaned the container a couple times they lasted for several weeks with maybe a dozen that just up and died. I think a lot has to do with how they are kept. I used to buy from a local pet shop and had at least a 50% die off in a matter of days! I just got 500 1/4 in crickets and just ordered 500 large ones. So I will continue to get them this way. Even with the shipping the cost is less than half of what I paid locally since there is so much less die off.

 

[absolutbill]

The other thing to consider is how large of a cage you are using to hold all of those crickets. I use a 10 gallon and order 1000 crickets at a time. I have 3 full grown chams, and order either 1/2" or 3/4", which helps them not chirp for awhile, and also have quite of natural life left.

It depends on where you buy your crickets from as well. Some places got wiped out with the recent cricket virus, which can still live in wood, but hopefully you aren't getting tainted crickets. You have moisture in with them too, right? I use water crystals in the lid from a 1 gallon container. Best of luck!

 

[exoherppy]

I believe your setup plays a big part in your crickets' mortality. Maybe you can post a picture of your setup?

 

[PoshPenny]

I live in GA, and I am buying from Premium Crickets, from what I read its the crazy guys farm who wont take any mail from people because he is afraid of that virus. But after reading my shipping label to check for you guys, the place they shipped from is one exit down from me!!!!!! I am so calling them tomorrow to see if I can go up there and just buy some freaking crickets and save myself 15 bucks in shipping and heat packs. Pet smart was charging me 12 cents a bug. Their crickets stunk so bad and died easily.

I bought 3/4 size, my cham is 5 months, I put the remaining ones in a ten gallon tank now after reading the above post, maybe they are not finding the feeding stations fast enough and eating each other instead?? I keep cricket crack, flukers cricket quencher, plus I gut load with banana peels, diced grapes, apples, carrots, red bell peppers, squash, raspberries, slighty moist baby rice cereal, slightly moist bran cereal, mustard greens, kale and cabbage(once a week in small amounts to not hinder calcium absorption) I rotate all these things daily, finely chopped, and I spritz them with water too. I am photographer so I make my own schedule, so I edit from home a lot, so get to maintain them and my reptiles fairly well. Maybe im not keeping them warm enough??? They are in my laundry room, its about 70 degrees. Too cool? The roaches being live breeders is attractive, I just omg, .....yeh....Ill buy some baby ones and check them out, call them rollie pollies, get my mind right, remind myself I love my cham and geckos. I have baby geckos on the way, the baby dubias would be nice to have...thanks for the help guys.

 

[Norcal55]

What type crickets are you buying. I switched to Ghanns a few months ago because they use Banded Crickets. I order 15,000 - 20,000 each month and have ZERO die off. I did not Change a thing regarding how I keep them.

 

[PoshPenny]

http://www.premiumcrickets.com/Products/1000-Crickets__1000.aspx


I emailed the cust care rep to ask, I could not find it on their site. I am not sure if the picture could tell you from their site or not.

 

[PoshPenny]

wow Ghann is cheaper....

 

[bobcochran]

I get Armstrong crickets from Georgia they are the regular brown domestica crickets, they ship great all the way to California very few die off. I get 1/2 in.
and they last 3 weeks plus.

 

[ridgebax1]

I'm tellin' ya, Ghann's are the best! They ship quickly and cheap! The crickets are healthy with no die off.

 

[zoomom]

I live in the same town as Ghanns and have been using them for 4 years. Now that they switched to the banded cricket I have a lot less die off. Used to buy 1000 at a time for geckos, beardies, uromastyx, and other lizards. Great price also, but not sure about the shipping, as I go and pick up.!

 

[PoshPenny]

I'm attending repticon in Jan here in Atlanta, and plan on buying a lot of feeders. It's a lengthy drive from north ga, but I'm stocking up, I bought a mini fridge just for my worms. I'm so sick of shipping fees. I'm going to go with ghanns 2000 for 29 is way cheaper than what premium wanted. I'll take pics of my new set up once they get here. Which I hope is soon!! I got 3 little pigs to feed and my Cham went one day without crickets once other than the wax worms I gave her and veggies and she would climb on her cage every time I would walk by and glare at me. 1 pm means crickets. No crickets, fritas plotting my death.

 

[absolutbill]

I rotate all these things daily, finely chopped, and I spritz them with water too.

I may have just found an issue causing your cricket die-off. I'm assuming that it's your gutload that you are spritzing with water, however crickets hate moisture, and that will actually kill them. Try not spraying your gutload for a week and see if that helps the issue at all. In my 10 gallon tank I have the egg crates vertically taking up about 2/3 of the cage. In the last 1/3 I have a container with water crystals, a pile of cricket crack, and next to that I take 2 carrots broken in 1/2, and use them as a "table" to put bug burger and any other veggies. That way the bug burger doesn't touch the bottom of the cage and get nasty. Just what has worked for me. Good luck!

 

[PoshPenny]

That might be it, I'll try the egg crates verticle and stop misting the veggies. Thanks for the input. I hope this new rearrange and approach helps, excited to try these new banded crickets.

 

[absolutbill]

The banded crickets are great, but they can really jump - just be prepared for it and you won't have escapees like I did

 

[York1]

I get mine from premium aka georgia crickets. They have a place in Winder GA and one in I think in alabama. I always get healthy feeders from the winder location. I have been to the winder location and always got great service.

 

[TreyLcham]

I have seen people breed mantises and feed them to parson chameleons but im sure they would be good for othere types. Just an idea

 

[PoshPenny]

My crickets arrive tomorrow. I'm officially out. @bill I dropped a cup of crickets in the kitchen in route to Frita and dropped down and thought I had caught them, and yelled for my husband to come help me, so we could round them up, lift my hands and nothing is there!! Phantom crickets!! So those suckers are roaming around my house now, which is awesome. You know you spend so much time gut loading them to drop one or let one get away without a fight just isn't happening. My husband thinks iv lost my mind. I'll chase them and scream " get it get it, it's gut loaded!!" My kids officially think I'm off my ticker, and my grandmother came over and opened my plastic bin and saw 400 crickets and started screaming. She thought I had gotten winter clothes out of storage. Good thing it was not full of dubias. She might of had a heart attack.