Stinky crickets...

[Riven]

Our crickets STINK! Any suggestions? We keep them my daughters room with Pascal, and opening her door about knocks you out. We've tried cleaning the container, they're not over crowded...

I've read people suggest to breed roaches instead for food, thoughts on this?

We live in Nebraska and even our insulated garage is about 40 degrees so in comes down to they need to be in the house somewhere...

HELP!

 

[sdheli420]

Our crickets STINK! Any suggestions? We keep them my daughters room with Pascal, and opening her door about knocks you out. We've tried cleaning the container, they're not over crowded...

I've read people suggest to breed roaches instead for food, thoughts on this?

We live in Nebraska and even our insulated garage is about 40 degrees so in comes down to they need to be in the house somewhere...

HELP!

i clean my crickets out once a week, and change eggcrates out, i also toss in a bushell of fresh rosemary, i dont have any bad smells coming from mine anymore..

video is in 2 parts, but heres what i do.. :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REkopkdWI1I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEnNyvfr5oY

 

[Jon114]

With crickets, you HAVE to clean their enclosure if you want there to be no gut wrenching smell. They're pretty high maintence feeders, at least quality, clean, and healthy crickets are. They themselves don't tend to stink, it's usually their dead. That, or excess moisture allowing bacterial growth. So keep them hydrated (water crystals) and very clean with not a single dead cricket in sight. Allow for plenty of ventilation too.

 

[Riven]

We usually clean between batches and clean egg cartons as needed. I don't know how else to clean without letting loose tons of crickets in the process. They're smarter than they appear!

 

[sdheli420]

We usually clean between batches and clean egg cartons as needed. I don't know how else to clean without letting loose tons of crickets in the process. They're smarter than they appear!

if anything watch the number 2 vid, shows my trick of not getting them everywhere..

 

[pssh]

Sdheli, that method is great for smaller numbers of crickets, but when you have thousands, I find that I can't just dump them out from the old bin like that (or all the poop and some of the dead will go with the live.) What I do, is transfer the majority of them using the egg crates like in your video, put the egg crates back in the old tub, wait a few minutes, then transfer the crickets on the egg crates again. This will get most of the cricket into the new tub, but there are always a few left in the old tub. I empty all the dead one, live ones, and poop from the old tub into a small shallow container (tall enough to keep the poop and dead crickets in, but short enough to let the live ones hop/climb out.) Then I leave it in a larger tub and the live crickets crawl out. Then all the poop and dead crickets are left in the shallow container and the live ones are in the tub. Just throw away the poop.

It takes a few minutes longer because I put the egg crates back in and wait, but I find it easier for me this way. I also do this outside just in case a cricket or two hops out on accident (especially with the banded crickets since they are really good jumpers.)

 

[sdheli420]

Sdheli, that method is great for smaller numbers of crickets, but when you have thousands, I find that I can't just dump them out from the old bin like that (or all the poop and some of the dead will go with the live.) What I do, is transfer the majority of them using the egg crates like in your video, put the egg crates back in the old tub, wait a few minutes, then transfer the crickets on the egg crates again. This will get most of the cricket into the new tub, but there are always a few left in the old tub. I empty all the dead one, live ones, and poop into a small shallow container (tall enough to keep the poop and dead crickets in, but short enough to let the live ones hop/climb out.) Then I leave it in a larger tub and the live crickets crawl out. Then all the poop and dead crickets are left in the shallow container and the live ones are in the tub. Just throw away the poop.

It takes a few minutes longer because I put the egg crates back in and wait, but I find it easier for me this way.

YES, totally..only good for ied say 1000 and under (ive had maybe a lil more and less, but it does definatly start to get crazy when you have thousand(s)!! ..i also suggest just doing it outside (they always replace themselfs in a good breeding set up, lol)

 

[pssh]

Yeah. Even with 1000, if they are at least 3/4", I get annoyed trying to dump them out like that. Maybe I just don't have the proper method down yet though.

Also, Riven, the adult crickets are more likely to die because they are already nearing the end of their life cycle when you buy them. If you get smaller crickets and just feed a little more, they tend to die slower and therefore stink less. I personally find that the smaller the cricket, the fewer I have die off. Be sure to still clean out the tub pretty often though. The dead crickets create a gas or something that kills the live ones, so they end up dying faster and stinking faster.

 

[Riven]

Thanks, yea, we order 1000 at a time. I did another clean tonight we'll see how long it lasts.

Does anyone know if the dubia/cricket conversion is the same? Do you need to feed the same amount of Dubia as you do crickets?

 

[pssh]

No, dubia are much bigger, even if they are the same length. Here is my blog that gives a very general guideline and a care sheet.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/pssh/577-blaptica-dubia-roach-keeping-breeding-feeding.html

 

[vasol]

im keeping dubias and let me tell you...they are much cleaner and no odor at all. they are very hard to kill too...i probably feed them like once every 2 weeks and theyre still thriving. i keep crickets too of course...just in smaller numbers.