What is wrong with my Crickets?!?!?

I, unfortunately, get crickets from Petco or Petsmart because i cant afford to drive to the nearest amazing pet store which is a little more than 40 miles away. I can't breed crickets or other animals because i am home very little during the day. I ask for my crickets small because my chameleon is very young. Once i put them in the Cricket Keeper they go straight for food and my water jelly thingies. A day later... get this.

I woke up pretty early and looked at the keeper. A cricket was walking- then it flipped on its back- started struggling- then died. C'mon I have no words for this. I looked again it's now 11 because it's summer so I am usually in the house most of the day... i found maybe 20 crickets on their backs dead. Is this some sort of disease i am dealing with or just the crickets stupidity. I have truly never heard of anything like this and they seem to just keep dieing. My keeper is in a well-ventilated/sunny area of the house and is provided food and water crystals every other day. What is happening?!
 
I had something like this happen where all the legs started to fall offo_O. I got them from petco but never got them from there again. now I get them from a bait shop. I have no idea what it was though
 
I use to have the same problem.

I always tell people who want a chameleon that its not just taking care of the chameleon itself, you get a second "pet" by taking care of the crickets as well.

Anyway my problem was the source in which I got my crickets from. I use to get them from a local reptile store on my way home. I did the same as you by feeding them and keeping them hydrated, as well as obsessively researching their proper care. Nothing worked, and I always ended up with about a 50% mortality rate. Now I get mines from rainbowmealworms.com and they seem so much more hardy and almost impossible to kill. The great thing is that rainbowmealworms is not far away from me and I receive them next day with regular usps shipping. Not to mention that I get almost double the amount of crickets for the same price. I believe you will benefit from this as well because petco cricket prices are ridiculous, and just by looking at the containers they are housed in I wouldnt expect them to live long either.

If you can, I would recommend finding a breeder close to you and give that a try.

Not sure if it will work, but it helped me in my situation.
 
I have never had problems from my local Petco but another big source store in San Diego I cannot keep them alive no matter what. It just sounds like your Petco is like my store and stores them horribly and they die off right away. I order online through eBay now and I've had zero deaths from that source. I say order online and save some cash
 
I, unfortunately, get crickets from Petco or Petsmart because i cant afford to drive to the nearest amazing pet store which is a little more than 40 miles away. I can't breed crickets or other animals because i am home very little during the day. I ask for my crickets small because my chameleon is very young. Once i put them in the Cricket Keeper they go straight for food and my water jelly thingies. A day later... get this.

I woke up pretty early and looked at the keeper. A cricket was walking- then it flipped on its back- started struggling- then died. C'mon I have no words for this. I looked again it's now 11 because it's summer so I am usually in the house most of the day... i found maybe 20 crickets on their backs dead. Is this some sort of disease i am dealing with or just the crickets stupidity. I have truly never heard of anything like this and they seem to just keep dieing. My keeper is in a well-ventilated/sunny area of the house and is provided food and water crystals every other day. What is happening?!

Crickets are subject to diseases just like any other creature. They can also be damaged by heat, cold, dirty conditions, and overcrowding (they are cannibalistic). Do you use paper towel or tp rolls for them to hide in? Some manufacturers use glue that is toxic. Use plain cardboard egg cartons sections instead as these have to be food safe. There was a virus that wiped out hundreds of cricket breeder colonies a few years ago so it could be its still cycling in some. You could try breeding Dubia roaches instead. They don't need that much care (in some ways less than crickets do) and you can build a colony that is self-sustaining. Make sure you tell the shop you got them from that they died so soon and get a refund or replacements.
 
I've had the exact same problem with some batches of crickets. Never figured out why. It probably didn't help that I didn't keep them heated to 80 or 90 deg. I have since switched to dubia, with a heat mat, and find them much hardier and easier to care for.
 
I've had the exact same problem with some batches of crickets. Never figured out why. It probably didn't help that I didn't keep them heated to 80 or 90 deg. I have since switched to dubia, with a heat mat, and find them much hardier and easier to care for.
And it's more nutritious too... And they make no sound! And they dont escape

I just murdered the cricket that was hunting my livingroom for a week now...VICTORY!!!!
I can't wait until my cham starts accepting dubias.
 
I had the same problem back in the day. I'd go to a big pet store and buy one of those to go boxes of crickets, then they are dead within a few days. I think overcrowding is the main problem. Sure they are poorly raised crickets, but if you use a "cricket keeper" with the plastic tubes in it, the problem is 10000% overcrowding. one of those to go boxes has 36 medium crickets in it, and if you use the cricket keeper, you probably don't use any egg cartons or paper rolls. They really just end up trampling and eating each other. Now I order them online, and haven't lost a cricket in forever, except if they get eaten.
 
Here is the alphakenc way.....it depends on where did u get ur crickets,u will need to find out how they housing their crickets,if they keep their cricket in a 80F then u need to mimicking the same way.
Cricket keeping required extra cleaning every couple day,since they eat n poops alot,in order to keep ur cham healthy,u will have to take good care of ur feeders first,I spend more time cleaning n feeding with my feeders everyday,gutloading n changing egg crates ,dumping their sheds n poops,all because I need the very best health crickets for all of my chams.
Heat ,clean,food n water will always keep the cricket healthy and alive,keeping chameleons is all about the bugs caring in non stop routine!!
 
This is why I hate crickets. I switched to dubia years ago and have never looked back. My newest guy got crickets for the first 2 days till my extra small dubia cane in but none since. Dubia are SO much easier!
 
Im sure some snoody person will have a problem with it but Ive had good luck getting almost all of my 1/4 crickets 500 at a time from fluker farms I believe they are in Louisiana somewhere. There were few dead out of 1,500 or so ive gotten from them but Ive been happy plus they ship fast. Just this week I went to local pet shop and bought 100 and over half were dead same day. All the dead seem to beint lieing on there back but when you grab them to throw them out they come alive Im guessing they just got to hot and will evenually really die. Also Ive read the cricket keeper cage lacks good ventilation.
 
You know the jelly pots you can buy for crested geckos. Well put one of them in with your crickets mine have lasted twice as long it feed and hydrates them
 
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