kepping crickets alive
- Thread starter bradders
- Start date
PantherVeileD
New Member
give it some egg crates so they have places to crawl and hide etc. Feed them greens, guy loads, grated carrots. Keep them away from cold places. I give them a basketing lamp and they all come out to bask under it. I have about 2 thousand crickets and ordered 2000 more.
PantherVeileD
New Member
oh yeah pick out the dead ones if you see any!
ohiocham
New Member
I started putting my crickets in a 10 gallon aquariumn and put oats in the bottom with cricket feed, and lots of egg crates. I also got some of these things from the reptile show that you soak in water and put them in there and they drink from that. Ever since I started doing this....I can get 50 crics to last almost a month with maybe 10 percent die off. Its worked great so far.
THECHAMMAN
Established Member
i got those water pillows and they arent worth squat. get the flukers calcium enriched water gel and i havent had one die in a month.
Guardian
New Member
Yep, I bought 1,000 3 weeks ago and some lived but most died. Green veggies, cricket food, sponge for a water source.
Secure cool area, to keep them from growing 2 quick, egg crates...blah blah blah...time to buy more. When can juveniles eat other things like phoenix worms ect ect.
~G
Secure cool area, to keep them from growing 2 quick, egg crates...blah blah blah...time to buy more. When can juveniles eat other things like phoenix worms ect ect.
~G
PantherVeileD
New Member
yeah the sponge water stuff is no good. Heard it built up bacteria also. Get the gel or crystal is good for water source. Also orange peel is good also!!
Something is going badly wrong if they only last 4 days. Remember they need to be kept at high temperature, they need moisture as well as food and as previously said they require somewhere to hide like egg cartons they come in. I'm currently using gut load pro-formula as a food and drink combined, it seems to work really well.
So Pirate55
Member
if you are feeding green vegetables, then you probably dont need another water source. i usually add grated carrots and orange slices in there, both serve as sources as water w/o the risk of drowning.
THECHAMMAN
Established Member
get some from mulberry farms i get mine there and i bought 1000 there 1.5 months ago and i still have around 200 left. with about 50-60 deaths. i use zilla cricket food and flukers calcium fortified water gel and i have great success.
PantherVeileD
New Member
I get them from lllreptile!
jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
I use Lucky Lure Cricket Farm: 1-866-559-5873
I got this cricket care info off the forums last week and thought it was excellent so I'll post it again below. Jann
CRICKET CARE AND KEEPING
Housing Tips:
1. House crickets in a 10-15 gallon glass aquarium with a full screen top.
2. No substrate on the tank bottom. Simply keep it clean and dry.
3. On one end of the tank, stack clean egg carton pieces. Placement should allow for gaps in between so that the crickets have room to hide.
4. Be sure to position a spot light directly above the egg cartons so that the temperatures beneath are 95-100F. Crickets are cold blooded and need to "warm up" so they desire to eat and metabolize their food properly. If not kept warm, die offs will occur quickly. Lights should be on, 24/7.
5. On the opposite end of the tank, place a clean paper plate with cricket food. Since crickets will eat "around the clock" be sure to have food available at all times. In addition to the cricket food, they will require something to drink. We like to use cut up orange slices which provide not only liquid, but added vitamin C as well. Oranges are one of their favorite foods and they will often eat the slices all the way down to the rind.
6. CLEAN the tank bottom at least every other day (daily if you have many crickets you are housing). Crickets eat and produce waste nonstop. Regular cleaning deters the opportunity for bacteria and disease.
Cleaning Tips:
1. Remove the paper plate and egg carton pieces (tapping the pieces against the tank glass to loosen any debris). Now you should just have crickets and waste on the aquarium bottom.
2. Use a wide "paint scrapper tool" to scrape everything to one end of the tank. As you are doing this, if there are any live crickets, they will run back over to the cleaned end. Use the flat edge of the scrapper (as you would a spatula) to lift out the waste and/or dead crickets that have accumulated.
3. Once the tank bottom is clean, add back clean egg carton pieces and cricket food.
4. Once every 2-4 weeks when you've fed out all your crickets, wash the tank thoroughly with antibacterial soap and water. Rinse well.
__________________
I got this cricket care info off the forums last week and thought it was excellent so I'll post it again below. Jann
CRICKET CARE AND KEEPING
Housing Tips:
1. House crickets in a 10-15 gallon glass aquarium with a full screen top.
2. No substrate on the tank bottom. Simply keep it clean and dry.
3. On one end of the tank, stack clean egg carton pieces. Placement should allow for gaps in between so that the crickets have room to hide.
4. Be sure to position a spot light directly above the egg cartons so that the temperatures beneath are 95-100F. Crickets are cold blooded and need to "warm up" so they desire to eat and metabolize their food properly. If not kept warm, die offs will occur quickly. Lights should be on, 24/7.
5. On the opposite end of the tank, place a clean paper plate with cricket food. Since crickets will eat "around the clock" be sure to have food available at all times. In addition to the cricket food, they will require something to drink. We like to use cut up orange slices which provide not only liquid, but added vitamin C as well. Oranges are one of their favorite foods and they will often eat the slices all the way down to the rind.
6. CLEAN the tank bottom at least every other day (daily if you have many crickets you are housing). Crickets eat and produce waste nonstop. Regular cleaning deters the opportunity for bacteria and disease.
Cleaning Tips:
1. Remove the paper plate and egg carton pieces (tapping the pieces against the tank glass to loosen any debris). Now you should just have crickets and waste on the aquarium bottom.
2. Use a wide "paint scrapper tool" to scrape everything to one end of the tank. As you are doing this, if there are any live crickets, they will run back over to the cleaned end. Use the flat edge of the scrapper (as you would a spatula) to lift out the waste and/or dead crickets that have accumulated.
3. Once the tank bottom is clean, add back clean egg carton pieces and cricket food.
4. Once every 2-4 weeks when you've fed out all your crickets, wash the tank thoroughly with antibacterial soap and water. Rinse well.
__________________
So Pirate55
Member
i too use lucky lure, and i've been nothing but pleased with their crickets and their service. I highly recommend lucky lure.
one last thought!
i have found that if you use an enclosure with plenty of ventilation, such as a sweater box with screens put in on each side (just about a window that takes up half of the side) and same for the lid, then the number of dead crickets (from a group of 1,00) will only be around 10 total! its said that the dead crickets pass their illness on after they die. let me know if this works.
i have found that if you use an enclosure with plenty of ventilation, such as a sweater box with screens put in on each side (just about a window that takes up half of the side) and same for the lid, then the number of dead crickets (from a group of 1,00) will only be around 10 total! its said that the dead crickets pass their illness on after they die. let me know if this works.
Marc10edora
Avid Member
If you really want to keep all of them alive, you have to literally clean the cricket container everyday.
fear742
New Member
best idea anyone ever gave me to keep crickets alive, switch over to dubias and all the work that you need to do with crickets over the course of 2or 3 days, you have to do in about 10-14 with dubias. and for crickets, try ghanns cricket farm. i would get orders of 1000, feed between7-12 a day and have probably 20 out of the 1000 not die in the mouth of my chameleon. got crickets from the store 2 weeks ago and out of the 100, about 30 survived more than 2 days.
