Cricket mass death

[dondi13]

Since my cham hit 13weeks i moved upto medium sided crickets but acter 2 weeks over half of the bath hVe just died? The pin head crickets lasted a good month and beyond. I put grapes in so had food and water but all died...

 

[ridgebax1]

Did you put them in a larger container? Crickets need a fairly big container so it may have been too many in too small a space. If all you feed them are grapes that is not a very good diet. They need a good dry gutload in addition to fruits, veggies and water. I am using a commercial gut load I got from Ghann's when I bought my crickets. Also make sure that your source has healthy insects. Even though it may seem pricey it isn't; I order from Ghanns they have very healthy bugs and in reality it is cheaper in the long run. The price per cricket is much less than from a pet store. I have never had a mass die off with their bugs.

 

[charly1954]

more varity of food

you can make a gutload from alot of things you have around your house. I grind up in my blender Oatmeal, dog food, cat food, egg shells(for calcium), and fish flakes. I also feed pcs of lettuce leaves, tomatoes, apples, potatoes, etc.

 

[junglefries]

Could have been that boulder of death, we keep hearing about. (thread jump for amusement)

 

[nightanole]

if you had 1000 pinhead-1/4 crickets, and then switch to 1/2-3/4 crickets and used the same containers, you now have 8-32 times more cricket flesh to deal with. Without having vents on 3 out of 6 sides of the container, they will literally fart themselves to death from the ammonia build up.

Also do not feed them calcium supplements other than the select few that will be fed off in the next 48 hours. It will kill them since they cant digest it and it clogs the digestive track.

Also crickets only live 6-8 weeks, so if you get half grown...

 

[Gumball Machine]

Sometimes crickets can get a cricket virus and it spreads super fast. It's very important to clean your cricket bin and dispose of any dead crickets daily, however, with the cricket virus... it really doesn't matter. Best bet is to buy from someplace else and see if the same thing happens. If it does, it's probably you and not the crickets. However, make sure your cricket keeper is appropriate for the amount of crickets that you have, the food is appropriate for the amount of crickets you have and their needs and ventilation, temperature is in check. Also, make sure there are no hazardous chemicals in the same room as your crickets, they are very sensitive. Typically, if you get 1000 crickets in bulk, like I do... you would keep them in a big storage tub with a big cutout on the lid with screen in place so that there is ventilation. You can get these big tubs at wal-mart or target (and other places) in the storage section. Feed them ateast repashy bug burger/cricket crack with fresh veggies proven good for gut-loading in prep. to feed chams and a source of hydration. Clean out any dead crickets daily or when needed and once a week I suggest getting a spare tub so you can switch them into the fresh one while you clean the dirty one. If you use bleach or something, make sure you rinse it really well and let it COMPLETELY air dry before attempting to put your crickets back in there... which it should if you've already put them in the fresh tub because you shouldn't have to completely switch it again for a week or so. Hope this helps.