Is there an easy method to cleaning this thing out or separating the food? I read how you guys clean yours daily and what not but when I open mine up there are crickets all over the place. Poop, pee and whatever else on the bottom and in the food containers. Would love to go with just Dubia's but my little guy loves his crickets. I don't see how I could actually clean the container without actually transferring the crickets to another container? I'm confused. I have my crickets in one of the large containers and vented if this helps.
Cleaning Cricket Container
- Thread starter Puterguru
- Start date
Thegreatfonz
Member
I put a piece of paper towel down and cut it in half and put the egg cartons on one side and put the food on the other. Then I replace the food every two days and just take out the paper towel. But if the cage gets to the point where I have to completely clean it then I use another container
whysoez420
New Member
I just buy enough crickets for 2 weeks then at the end I clean it as the new crickets arrive.
and when I say clean I mean wash.
and when I say clean I mean wash.
werecat
Established Member
I also only get enough crickets for a couple weeks. I keep them in a cricket keeper and just pull out the little food containers regularly and wash those. If I notice dead bodies I pluck those out with a long tweezers. Sometimes I get lucky and notice all the crix are in their tubes. I will then pull the tubes out and place in a ziplock bag so that I can dump out all the waste and wipe it down. Then I put them back in. I wash the whole thing out when it goes empty.
vgaines
Member
I have my crickets in a large rubbermaid. When it comes time to clean (every two days) I move all egg crate and toilet paper rolls to an empty rubbermaid. I take the food and water gel out and then I tilt the rubbermaid with the crickets over the empty one and use my hand to encourage the crickets to jump into the empty container. I then dump out all waste and dead, clean with hot water, dry, and then move crickets and everything else back into their home. I know every two days may be a pain but I have the system down and it has cut my dead loss big time. Plus it helps keep the smell down.
I was thinking the other day about trying to make a shifting cricket container (kinda like a shifting litter box)with small screen on the bottom and then I would place the container inside another one. That way the poop would fall through and all I would have to do is remove dead and wipe down one half at a time with a wet paper towel. Not sure if that would work but who knows. lol I am always thinking of ways to make thing easier...
I was thinking the other day about trying to make a shifting cricket container (kinda like a shifting litter box)with small screen on the bottom and then I would place the container inside another one. That way the poop would fall through and all I would have to do is remove dead and wipe down one half at a time with a wet paper towel. Not sure if that would work but who knows. lol I am always thinking of ways to make thing easier...
Tyaeda
Established Member
I personally like to completely clean out the cricket cage once a week. I keep their food in water bottle lids that are easy to replace every day.
To avoid cricket escapes, when I clean, I put everything in the bathtub before I start transferring the crickets to another container. I throw out and replace all of the old egg carton and paper tubes. I wash the container with a mild dish soap, rinse well, and set everything back up.
I find that if you use a metal mixing bowl to hold the crickets while cleaning, the crickets can't climb the sides, and it's really easy to dump them back into their cage.
To avoid cricket escapes, when I clean, I put everything in the bathtub before I start transferring the crickets to another container. I throw out and replace all of the old egg carton and paper tubes. I wash the container with a mild dish soap, rinse well, and set everything back up.
I find that if you use a metal mixing bowl to hold the crickets while cleaning, the crickets can't climb the sides, and it's really easy to dump them back into their cage.
AngieL
Avid Member
I scoop all the crickets out with a plastic cup and put them in a bug tub. Then I wash out the cricket keeper thing in the sink with washing up liquid. Try keeping wet food to one side and dry to the other, that helps. I do mine once a week because I only keep about 50-100 crickets at a time
Thanks for all the replies...
I think part of the problem may be the quantity I am ordering. 500 at a time from BackwaterReptiles.com. That's the minimum you can order but it's shipped overnight and the price was good. Trimming down to 250 might help? It's just that after two or three days I go to put my hand in there to clean/change food water and those guys are all over the place. I can't even clean because there are so many crickets at the bottom. If I try to move the egg crate stuff to one side so that I can clean well now that is stacked high enough so that the little guys start jumping out of the container so... I really need to find a better system. Kilime (my cham) loves his crickets or otherwise I would get rid of them all together.
I think part of the problem may be the quantity I am ordering. 500 at a time from BackwaterReptiles.com. That's the minimum you can order but it's shipped overnight and the price was good. Trimming down to 250 might help? It's just that after two or three days I go to put my hand in there to clean/change food water and those guys are all over the place. I can't even clean because there are so many crickets at the bottom. If I try to move the egg crate stuff to one side so that I can clean well now that is stacked high enough so that the little guys start jumping out of the container so... I really need to find a better system. Kilime (my cham) loves his crickets or otherwise I would get rid of them all together.
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