Cricket Life

[Red Bishop]

I was looking into buying either 500 or 1000 crickets to reduce cost, but how long do they live (when in good conditions)? I only have 1 cham and he eats 15 a day, so 500 would be like a months worth. Will 1/2" crickets live for a month or will half of them die anyway?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Crickets generally live for about 8 weeks.
I have purchased 1/2" ones that I was able to keep for upwards of a couple of months.

-Brad

 

[Julirs]

Half will most likely die anyways. I am buying 500 1/4-1/2 crickets every 2-3 weeks for 3 chams. But that is still cheaper than buying from a local Petstore, where half of those die too.

 

[Tygerr]

Half will most likely die anyways. I am buying 500 1/4-1/2 crickets every 2-3 weeks for 3 chams. But that is still cheaper than buying from a local Petstore, where half of those die too.

Um, are you providing enough ventilation for your crickets? I usually keep tubs of about 500-1000 at a time, and at most I'll have about 20 deaths in a 4-6 week period. It would be much to costly to feed crickets if I constantly had half of them dying on me.

 

[Ren]

I built new enclosure for my crickets with cutouts on the tub on both ends and in the lid and have had my crickets last 3 times as long as they did before keeping them in a cricket keeper... this thing is about worthless unless using it to clean out other enclosures or whatnot...

 

[Cherron]

I also have a pretty low cricket die off rate. Ventilation really is the key. I buy 1000 at a time and keep them in a 45 gallon sterilite container like this one.

http://www.sterilite.com/ProductDetail.html?ProductId=401&Section=Storage

I cut both sides out and hot glued alumminum screen to them. I tear egg crates into quarters and throw into the bottom.. about 1/3 of the way up. I also cut almost the entire middle out of the top and hot glued screen to it as well, but often, I don't put the lid on it at all. Undisturbed crickets don't jump and they never escape. The sides are just too high. I also use nothing on the bottom of the container as a substrate and change the egg crates out at least twice a week. The food I change every other day.

Moisture and mold will kill your crickets faster than anything and the best way to combat these are by lots and lots of ventilation and by changing the food before it has a chance to spoil. Also remember to remove any egg crates that may have gotten damp by touching your crickets' water source.

 

[Julirs]

Thanks for good info! I keep them in a sterlite container with a screen lid, but will try to cut out the sides also for good ventilation. I have also been keeping them outside, and the FLORIDA HEAT is not helping.

 

[Red Bishop]

Thanks for all the replies. I will give it a go. I have a 20 gallon tank with a screen lid, but I think I will move to one of the plastic deals with screened cutouts to increase ventilation.