Cricket virus or heat causing deaths?

[Monkeykungphu]

Just curious if the last batch of crickets I received had the cricket virus or were dying because of outdoor temperatures? I got 1000 - 1/2" delivered to my house in North Dallas at the beginning of May. When I initially opened the shipping box, I noticed that a few of the crickets were lying on their backs while their legs were kicking in the air. When I would try to put them right side up, they would jump right back on their backs again & keep kicking. Then, these would die in a day or two afterwards.

It takes me about a month to feed off 1000 crickets to my bearded dragon. (FYI, no, I don't have a chameleon, but will be getting a panther later this summer, studying them now) Over the course of the month while I had these crickets, I would clean the cricket bin of all dead crickets & the upside-down crickets as they would appear. Then more of these upside-down crickets would continually show up until the batch was gone. I was wondering if this might be symptoms of the o-so dreaded cricket virus? Or, maybe it was something else, like the temperatures outside?

I've been keeping the cricket bin in our back porch area which is completely shaded by the roof of the house. It never gets any sun at the location where the crickets are. The daytime temps in my area for May ranged from 85-98 degrees. I keep them in a 10 gallon aquarium with a screen lid, cricket water crystals, cricket chow & a few veggies.

Seems like the temperature wouldn't be a problem in the shade if they stayed under 99 degrees. In fact, I got another batch of 1000 - 1/2"s from another cricket vendor on Monday. I've kept them for a week in the same exact environment as the May batch with no upside-down crickets.

Can anyone tell me if the laying on the back before the cricket dies is typical of the virus that's been going around? Or, are my outside temps possibly too high & I need to keep my crickets inside during the summer months? Any other ideas or thoughts?

 

[jamncristian]

I think no animal should be kept in an glass tank outdoors
when it is hot because it can overheat very quickly

I am not familiar with the virus so I cant really help you with that

 

[Monkeykungphu]

I think no animal should be kept in an glass tank outdoors
when it is hot because it can overheat very quickly

Haven't lost any crickets really out of my recent batch over the last week in the same aquarium & it's been upper 90s here, so I don't believe the aquarium/heat was the issue with the May batch. In fact, it stayed mostly in the upper 80s here in May. Although, I agree that I should probably get them into a plastic tub with the top & at least one side ventilated before it starts getting really hot.

Regarding the possibility of a virus, do your crickets ever flop on their backs & kick their legs wildly in the air before they die? Not slowly kicking slow either, as they may normally do when they were about to die. They were kicking fast & hard as though they were being electrocuted. To look in your cricket tank occasionally & see a bunch of crickets on their backs kicking at the same time was pretty odd. Anyone have any experience with the cricket virus? Does this sound like it could be it?

 

[eriksorg]

That has happend to me many times... open up a new batch of crickets and there half dead....almost allways it's your shipping company...The boxes of bugs just sit in those tin-can trucks all day long (or more) and just get too hot!!!!!! Next time that happens contact your supplier and tell them your bugs were d.o.a. they may replace them!!!!

 

[Elizadolots]

You should definitely contact your supplier. The fact that they kept dying though seems more "virus like"...the way it seems to work is they can't get past a certain size (sort of the small end of large). As you almost always get a variety of ages in any shipment, they keep hitting the wall--so to speak--and dying.

I haven't seen a lot of kicking, but to be honest, I don't spend more time with the bugs than I have to. I have had the "crickets on backs"...oh, nope, not dead yet! Experience in batches I was sure had the virus.

 

[Monkeykungphu]

You should definitely contact your supplier. The fact that they kept dying though seems more "virus like"...the way it seems to work is they can't get past a certain size (sort of the small end of large). As you almost always get a variety of ages in any shipment, they keep hitting the wall--so to speak--and dying.

I haven't seen a lot of kicking, but to be honest, I don't spend more time with the bugs than I have to. I have had the "crickets on backs"...oh, nope, not dead yet! Experience in batches I was sure had the virus.

As you said, everyday when I would check on the crickets, I would have crickets showing up on their backs w/ their legs kicking throughout the month I kept them, not just at the beginning.

I've had my June batch (from a different supplier...) for about two weeks now & none of them are exhibiting the back bound, leg kicking symptoms that I saw in the last batch. And, they're kept in the same exact conditions, except it's 10 degrees hotter now on average than it was then. So, I'm convinced the heat or glass aquarium was not the issue. I'm guessing the May batch had the virus.

Hopefully the cricket breeders have wiped out whatever infected crickets they had. Thanks for the replies!