Crickets are dying

[BocaJan]

I bought a 1000 box of crickets last sunday and they have almost all died off. I probably have 100 left. This happened with my last batch also but not quite as fast. In the past they lasted 2 weeks with very few dying off. I noticed that the 3/4" size which I get are pretty large with the females having long laying tubes.

Do you think buying 1/2" would make them last longer? I am thinking of starting a Dubia colony (ick) just because I can't deal with all these stinky dead crickets.

I clean the container with the crickets about every 3 days by using a second container. I switch back and forth. I do not use chemicals and keep them out of the sun in a cool corner.

Please help! This is expensive to buy crickets every 5 days.

 

[ChameleonsTree]

Yea tiny crickets die moe easily so do the largest crickets your cham can handle. I hope youre keeping something in there for food and water.

 

[lanceman]

im no expert but i have read small areas are hard on cricks is ur storage container to small maybe not enough hiding areas.
also i noticed one time i change my gutload to have some prunes in it and that batch had some serious deaths in it. maybe somthin ur feedin them ?
just some ideas.

 

[BocaJan]

I have them in an 18 gallon rubbermaid tub, one of those big rectangle ones. I had two egg crates stacked and give them orange cubes, dry cricket gutload, the water pieces and kale/carrots/sweet potatoes/oranges - whatever I have.

 

[camothechameleon]

Are you getting enough air in there? Is it a screen top on the rubermaid box, or open? Maybe you just need some circulation. Just an idea. Other than that, maybe you just got a bad batch of crickets.

 

[BocaJan]

The top is open - no cover.

 

[sharkey]

did you get the crix from here in fl? i just received a shipment of adults and there were many dead in the box- something i'm not use to seeing.

they did warn me that the garage was too hot - causing early death. i keep them next to the cham's cages now

 

[BocaJan]

Yes, I got them from Ben Seigals in Pompano. I have been buying my crickets from them for 1 1/2 years. I don't remember the name of the wholesaler they get them from, but it is a Florida distributor. I am thinking that the 3/4" is actually 1" and the criks are dying because they are at the end of their life cycle. Do you think adult vields will eat 1/2" if I get them?

 

[sharkey]

i get mine from a diff. co., but still in fl.

my jackson's will eat the 3/4 in (actually i had a vial of ff a couple of wks ago and they ate those too) but this latest shipment is 1in. so i expected a few dead but not 100+. my veild use to eat anything - of any size but she prefered the biggest crix and big silk moths.

 

[kinyonga]

I just had a box of 3/4's size...there were supposed to be 1000 in the box but there were only about 300 alive. This has been a problem off and on for the last month or so.

 

[AndrewH]

I Just started dubias, you can feed them whatever and keep them outside. The only downside is that they dont move around as much and are a bit foreign to your chameleon. but at least they breed on their own with the right temp. cricks seem real sensitive to dying if conditions arnt right. they are more trouble than they are worth in my opinion. my chams and beardies have started eating them. but they arnt crazy about them. hopefully they will be won over and i wont have to deal with crickets any longer...