Is there any truth to this?

[MollyT]

I just got home from work and was giving my crickets some greens, when I noticed a bunch of them(7 or 8) dead! There is plenty of food in there. I have 2 crickets communities, and the other is fine. I know they usually die off a little bit, but I've never had this many die so suddenly. The only thing I have changed is that I put a toilet paper roll in the one where the crickets ended up dying. My question is.....Can crickets get sick and die from eating the glue on toilet paper rolls? I'm not sure why, but I seem to think I have seen that before somewhere. No idea if this is true or not, so PLEASE, I don't want anyone to think I'm saying this is what happened. I'm just wondering if anyone has heard this and if there is any truth to it. Not sure what else it could be. Thanks!

 

[laurie]

You must not keep volume crickets. That would be a normal die off for me. I use all egg crates for my crickets. But I use tp holders for my bean beetles and they reproduce like rabbits - well more than rabbits.

 

[MollyT]

No, I haven't ordered a bulk supply yet. I got 5 dozen a couple days ago. I am going to start ordering online, though. Right now I keep mine in the clear critter keeper things(I have 2). I might usually get one to three dead ones, but that many, all pretty much right beside each other.....I just feel like something happened. I don't know. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I really feel like I read something about the toilet paper glue thing, though. I just didn't remember it or think anything about it until my husband asked if that could be what happened.

 

[BeldarRunsMyLife]

Crickets die like it's going out of style, don't sweat it. Always make sure to keep more moisture sources than you think they need to minimize losses, and clean and sanitize your keeper and everything in it between bulk orders. Switch out your egg crate every so often as well. When things get too built up crickets start dying en masse from fungal and bacterial infections and it smells even worse than normal.

 

[ABDragons]

Make sure you have a water source like water crystals.