Crickets Dying

[Dyesub Dave]

I just got 200 crickets yesterday. I cleaned out the plastic tub that I always keep them in. I put in some apple, banana, fish food, and some water gel stuff. Later I fed some to my chams and all seemed fine.

Today when I opened the container I found about 30-40 of them dead on the bottom of the container. I usually have some die but not that fast. Unless they're not supposed to eat banana I'm not sure what it could be.

Unless it the cricket watering gel. I got a baggie of this stuff when I ordered my silkworm eggs. It was used as a cold pack to keep the eggs cold. I emailed the supplier to see if it was the same gel used to water crickets .. as that is EXACTLY what it looks like. They said that's what it was and I could use it as such. I've been using it for the last few weeks with no problems.

Any suggestions? Could it just be that the crickets were too malnourished before I got them or that their lifespan was already over? I've never had this many die this quickly before.

Thanks ... Dyesub Dave.

 

[AdamJB]

whats the temp of the container they are in. If its too low or too high that can kill them too. I guess I'm lucky cuz after a month I usually only have 10-20 dead ones

 

[mightyzug]

i had the same thing happening to me and the container was too warm - moved it to a cooler room and it helped quite a bit

 

[Dyesub Dave]

Well my place sits between 65-73 degrees. It may be a little warmer in the container as there's not a lot of ventilation. However I've never had this problem before and I've been keeping them this way for the last 5 to 6 months?. It's like something they ate has made them sick and I'm a little worried because I've been feeding them to my chams.

So I'm assuming that banana is OK to feed crickets? Or perhaps they weren't very healthy when I got them and it was too late for some. I usually have about 10-15 die out of 100 within a weeks time.

I don't really care about the crickets as long as my chams don't get sick!!

Dyesub Dave.

 

[kinyonga]

Did anything go moldy in the container with the crickets?

 

[Dyesub Dave]

Whenever I get another batch of crickets I always wash the container out with antibacterial soap and give it a good rinse and dry it with a towel. So there shouldn't be any mold, rotten food or soap left. Like I said it just seems strange because this hasn't happend in the last 5 or so months that I've been doing things this way! That's why I thought perhaps it was the banana as I don't think that I've ever fed that to my crix before.

Well I just checked again and when I opened the container there were about 20 or so fruit fliies in there. Likely from the banana so I'm removing it. I also noticed that some of the water gel stuff has a pink colour to it. Odd considering that it was clear when I put it in so I will change that as well. No more dead crix though ... so maybe it was just several malnourished ones. I think that when I got them the store had just gotten the shipment in. Hopefully no more will perish too quickly now.

Thanks for helping me troubleshoot!!

Dyesub Dave.

 

[Cameochams]

From what I have learned from other breeders is to never leave food in the tub for the crickets to have a free for all. You should feed your crickets that you are going to feed to your chams in a seperate container 1 hour prior to feeding your chams. The problem is that the crickets eat way more then they can handle and just die.

 

[Will Hayward]

No. You want health, gutloaded crikets. Not starving sick, stuffed crickets.



Feed your crickets what they will, with the healthiest food options.

Night before the morning that you feed, take out the crickets you are going to feed the next day. (Ideally it should be several hours in my opninon, but overnight simplifies it.) Put tose seperated crickets into a container (in the dark as they are nocturnal primarily) with the gutload.

This will ensure that not only the crickets are loaded with a full gut of their "Last Dinner" nutrients, but they tehmselves contribute to the nutrition needed by the chameleon.

 

[Chamero]

I actually had the same thing happen to me last week. I too bought 200 crix and by the fourth day all were dead. Im not sure, but i think it had to do with the ones that died on the way home. They were in a plastic bag and the person I had hold them accidentally held them upright, squishing a lot on the bottom of the bag. Now im sure how true this is, but I read somewhere that when crix die they release some toxic gas.
If this is true, Im thinking that when those died in the the bag, this "toxin" was released, infecting all my others. When I got home, I did notice these crix were a bit darker but just figured it ws the stores gutload. My cham seemed to notice also as he didnt jump at em as fast. Anyway, cared for them as normal and they still died. Any truth to the death toxin thing.
Oh yea...asked the store and they said their batch was normal.