JaysonDuque83
New Member
I would like to know what everyone's different technique's to keep their crickets alive longer are. Thanks
Best Way to Keep Crickets Alive Longer?
- Thread starter JaysonDuque83
- Start date
jamncristian
Established Member
ventilated cages
Texas Panther Man
New Member
The bigger the tub the better. As stated ventilate the top and preferably one or more sides of said tub w/screened holes. I also direct a fan to blow cool air at my tubs since they are in the garage. I place all their food on paper plates to make cleanup easy and quick. If you cleanup all the dead ones and keep the food fresh you shouldnt lose that many. Since I stated using a fan to keep mine cooler I have lost less than half as many. So that may be your problem. Ie too hot or not enough ventilation.
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Good ventilation and COOL TEMPERATURES
Mr Wilson
New Member
We were ordering 500 at a time for a little while since we have 2 chameleons who were eating like crazy!! The problem was that they were all dying! We had the large cricket keeper (from PetSmart I believe) and I guess that wasn't big enough. Now we order 250 at a time and that seems to be working perfectly. Unless we can find a bigger keeper though, 250 is going to have to be our max!
lisagr07
Avid Member
do you keep your feeders in the garage year round? if so, is the heat not an issue ? i have my roaches out there right now but am wondering if they will survive the HOT part of the summer.... they're in a rubbermaid tote with the top cut out for ventilation, but no fan..
tkilgour
Member
I used to have issues with all my crickets dying and this is when I would only buy 500 -1,000 it was always a huge dissappointment. Now I order 10,000 at a time. I keep 3 large sterilite bins for all of them. The top of the bins are left open, and I use a hole saw and then I cut 1 hole into each side of the bin and hot glue aluminum screen over the holes. This gives all the crickets pleny of air circulation and helps them live longer. Then daily I clean out the cricket poo. Now I lose very few crickets, and feed most of them off. I also, keep them in a cool area where the temps get to 65F at night and 72F during the day. Remember to keep it clean and dry and keep plenty of air flow and you will do fine. You can also add some rolliepollies/ pill bugs to the containers to help keep it clean or certain beetle larva. Best of luck to you!
BocaJan
New Member
I would get a rubber container from WalMart twice the size of the cricket keeper. I have found cricket keepers are worthless for more then about 50 as long as you are feeding them off within a couple days. They work better for 1/2" crickets then 3/4". I cut a BIG hole in the top and put screen on it with hot glue. You can also use double sized heavy duty tape, no burns.
I am going to cut out 2 of my sides also because my Florida room gets warm and all they want to do is make eggs and die! This way they will have more ventilation. Oh, btw, I get 2000 a week.
I am going to cut out 2 of my sides also because my Florida room gets warm and all they want to do is make eggs and die! This way they will have more ventilation. Oh, btw, I get 2000 a week.
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Mr Wilson
New Member
I guess the question is where to store it though. We keep the keeper in our stand, where we can have the doors closed and they are out of sight. We live in a basement apartment with not a TON of room (not that it's small, very comfortable and perfect for the two of us). While there is a storage closet, the furnace is in there (though it stays kind of cool) but I'm not sure how everyone would feel about crickets being kept in there, since there are other household things in it, you know? How do you get the crickets out of those bins though? The nice thing about the keeper is it comes with the tubes that you stick in and wait for the crickets to climb up into them. We never have to touch them!
Elizadolots
New Member
Cardboard tubes...the beauty of it is, you get them all the time...toilet paper tubes, aluminum foil/paper towels/plastic wrap tubes....
I sort of wonder if some of your die off is because you don't leave the tubes in the cricket keeper. It sounds like you put them in just when you need crickets. But crickets need places to hide or things get sad. Try leaving the tubes in the keeper and see if that doesn't up the survival rate.
I use one of those small containers, but it doesn't have the tubes (it was originally bought for something else). I tear up an egg carton (into individual cups) and put those "open side down" on the bottom of the keeper. The crickets hide in the cups. I pick up a cup and shake them into my feeding bag.
I've also used toilet paper tubes. I tear them in half so they fit in my little keeper, but if you have a big bin, that wouldn't be necessary.
Mr Wilson
New Member
You're correct, we only put the tubes in when we want to catch them. That's a good idea though, maybe the next order we'll try that as well as all the egg crates we use. I'd be afraid of picking up an egg crate and shaking them in because I'd be afraid to lose a bunch outside of the cage.
Another killer of crickets is a water source other than water cubes. Abowl or sponge will smell nasty and kill 'em all if left stinky!
Nick
Nick
TattooedGecko
New Member
i use a large tote and keep in a cool place and barley ever lose more that 20 and i order 1,000 at a time
Infinite ink
New Member
yep as mentioned, i use the big plastic bin with lots of vents....
they are fed dry cricket food and calcium fortified gel for water source..
i keep paper towel rolls and egg cartons with them..
my girlfriend who didn't like to feed my chameleons because of the crickets figured out that my grill tongues worked wonders to get the crickets in the feeding cup..
now she doesn't mind so much when I'm out of town..
they are fed dry cricket food and calcium fortified gel for water source..
i keep paper towel rolls and egg cartons with them..
my girlfriend who didn't like to feed my chameleons because of the crickets figured out that my grill tongues worked wonders to get the crickets in the feeding cup..
now she doesn't mind so much when I'm out of town..
Monkeykungphu
New Member
Interesting quite a few people saying keep them at cool temperatures.
I've had my last batch of 1000s from LLL sitting in my back porch area for the last month with pratically zero casualties. They've been in 100% shade the whole time. However, it's been HOT in Dallas for the last few weeks. It's been 100 degrees during the day for most of June. (this week it finally dropped down to 90 or so).
They're in a 10 gallon aquarium, screen top, no substrate, fluker's cricket food, cricket gel, veggies & egg crates. Maybe one thing that helps is since they are outside, they get really good ventilation across the top of the tank from outdoor breezes. I don't think heat, at least up to 100 degrees during the day, is an issue though.
I also clean my cricket tank about every other day.
I've had my last batch of 1000s from LLL sitting in my back porch area for the last month with pratically zero casualties. They've been in 100% shade the whole time. However, it's been HOT in Dallas for the last few weeks. It's been 100 degrees during the day for most of June. (this week it finally dropped down to 90 or so).
They're in a 10 gallon aquarium, screen top, no substrate, fluker's cricket food, cricket gel, veggies & egg crates. Maybe one thing that helps is since they are outside, they get really good ventilation across the top of the tank from outdoor breezes. I don't think heat, at least up to 100 degrees during the day, is an issue though.
I also clean my cricket tank about every other day.
