Feeder Help

[apaetz]

I am having trouble keeping my crickets alive. I have them in a big plastic Bin and i have some egg cartons in there. i dont cover up the top so i think they have plenty of air. I give em WER gutload and Some gel H2o stuff.

I buy about 100-200 crickets at a time and about half of them usually end up dead by the time they are gone. What is the best way i can come as close as possible to keeping every last cricket alive?

Please HELP!
Thanks.

 

[ChameleonsTree]

What size are the crickets...i always had trouble with the real small ones

 

[ClmbrJ]

my crickets never do well unless they have the h20 gel; and some sort of hard food. Carrot, potato etc

 

[MWheelock]

Some suggestions-

If you are cleaning out your tank/container with soap or bleach, you really need to rinse out well and then let air for a day or two before the little crickets go back in. Especially with the bleach, the fumes will get the ones that reside on the ground more.

Crickets are dirty little buggers. It is necessary to clean out the container every other day (by scraping up the frass and changing the food and water out.) I like the H2O gel okay, though I think it allows for lazy behaviour among keepers. Yes, the company says it can stay in longer, but little insect feet have bacteria that walk all over the gel, and it'sa great medium for growing more bacteria (not good for the crickets, not good for the chameleon).

I actually prefer using a small slice of orange and some greens (romaine/ bibb/ turnip greens- whatever's cheapest) for hydrating the crickets. This will allow for increased nutrition of the crickets since they will be forced to get supplementation if they drink. This along with cricket feed- buying commercially is much easier than making your own. This practice of fresh fruits and veggies should be on some plastic dish that you can wash seperately.

Crickets need it warm. Some people suggest that especially small crickets are suseptible to cool climates. In the high 80's to 90's is what's recommended and a hot spot closer to 100. If you don't have a basking bulk form your crickets, you would be well served to have one. They are pretty cheap and last a long time. (Light should stay on 24 hours a day.)Stack the egg crates tall. you will be suprised how close they get to the light to be warm.

Hope this helps.

Matthew

 

[Sean]

Crickets suffocate and dehydrate quickly, so it's important to give them plenty of space. The bigger the bin, the more egg cartons, the better. A constant source of moisture and feed are requisites, as crickets will readily cannibalize. Once a substantial number of them drop off, the decomposing bodies give off noxious fumes, killing a further number of your population, thereby creating a domino effect. Throw in diseases that thrive in such an environment and it's tantamount to throwing away money. So as soon as you see a small pile of bodies clean them out to prevent this. Crickets will also drop off quickly if temperatures exceed 85 degrees F. Room temperature is ideal, unless you plan on propagating them, in which case approx 80 is preferred.
As far as commercial brand gutloads go, I couldn't tell you. I decided early on that total control over my chameleons' diet, was the only way for me to go. I guess it really depends on individual interest of how far one wants to expand the parameters of chameleon husbandry.

 

[lilj0e]

mine were dying because of heat. where are you keeping them?? and what is the temp??i kept mine in the garage and when summer came they kept dying so i moved them inside and they started doing fine and i dont lose to many crickets now

 

[MWheelock]

I misspoke

I misspoke-

General temperatures should be around 70- 80 degrees, though I do have a basking area that ranges from 90-100 degrees. I do find that a large portion of my crickets hang out by the light to warm themselves for a large portion of the day. I have a fairly large container for them so they, like my chameleon have a gradient to heat and coolthemselve appropriately.

 

[apaetz]

this is all really great help guys!.. thanks alot

 

[hilohi]

Cricket Deaths

Where are you buying your crickets from and how long are they left in their transportation container? In the past, I would buy maybe 100-150 crickets from the local reptile store and notice that half of them would die within days. I believe it was because the crickets were stressed out from being left in transportation boxes too long.

Now if and when I buy crickets (I prefer to raise my own), I buy directly from Rainbow Meal Worms and immediately take them home and let them out. I have very few deaths with this method.