Crickets deaths

[okcallmegoddess]

Do a lot of your crickets die? I feel like I ton of my crickets die!

I'm feeding them with a recipe I found on here(baby rice cereal, evaporated milk... a ton of other dry stuff), lettuce and potato for water, and carrots and oranges. They're, uhm 1/4 sized crickets.

Any suggestions?

 

[ChromaChameleons]

At 1/4 size , your high mortality is probably due to dehydration of low temps.

 

[chameleon97]

my crickets rarely die.
when one dies, many die.
it seems when they are warm and have lots of hideouts they dont die.
every line ends with die.
kinda wierd

 

[SSimsswiSS]

I'd say that given your geographic location, they need to be kept warm. 80 degrees to thrive. Low temps. can kill. Were the cricket dark in color? Crickets will turn darker in color when exposed to lower night time temps.

 

[okcallmegoddess]

Hmm, we keep our house at about 68(during the day) which I know is low but I keep their cage right in front of the heat. I'll provided more moisture-heavy foods.

And to the second reply: thank you for the poem. :]

 

[okcallmegoddess]

Uhm. Only some of them are dark. I always just thought they were like cats or people(come in different colors).

 

[alhickabee]

I keep mine at about 86-88*F and use water crystals for hydration. I have very few die off, in my bin of 800+ I have 1-2 die every 3-4 days. I use a heating blanket underneath all of the bins for warmth, works great once you figure out the temp settings.

 

[chameleon97]

And to the second reply: thank you for the poem. :]

your welcome!

 

[Kat77]

Hey Goddess,

You also need to provide them with a source of water other than just moisture rich foods. Sometimes those are enough, but if you are experiencing high die off rates give a moist paper towel a try. Be sure to change it so they aren't drinking their own cricket poo. You can also provide a constant supply of fresh orange or halved grapes, as long as you switch them out all the time.

 

[lyndra]

Are the dead ones belly up? I read somewhere that that would be a sign of them having been exposed to toxins from cleaning supplies for example. What do you use to clean their container with? Maybe you need to rinse it out even more or simply use very hot water only.

 

[okcallmegoddess]

Thanks for all the input. I think the heating pad is a fab idea(as long as it's not toooo hot) and the wet papertowel too.

Hopefully I'll see less deaths in the future.