maggots in cricket container

booshified

New Member
Now I am new to this but this last batch of crickets I got a lot of maggots in in after a few days. I cleaned it out and transferred the crickets but again after a few days I got more maggots. The batch before I didnt have any.

i was just wondering if there was anyway to help minimize this?


thanks for any input
 
crickets are a dirty game....the best you can do is to

a. make sure your source of crickets is reputable...there will always be a few bugs...but if you are getting tons of maggets, thats an indication that there is larvae pre existent in your cricket shipment or w/e

b keep them in a bug free or screened in area, if you don't have one...make one...this will really help

c as long as there are bugs and crickets dying it is always a good idea to be continually transferring into a cleaner rubbermaid tub.... i always keep an extra around and this helps over all cricket health

also i suggest using the gelled version of cricket drink so there is no activer water source for maggots


good luck
 
that's happened to me too, and everything went downhill from there, they started dying like crazy and it was a pain to keep clean, everyday there was a new handful of dead ones so I was constantly cleaning them and throwing out the dying/paralyzed ones trying to quarantine the healthy ones but it was such a hassle and so time consuming I couldn't keep up. I lost about 1500 crickets in a 3 week period, but some of the die offs could of been due to their size/age though too.

needless to say, since then I haven't been buying 1000 crickets at a time anymore, by fear of wasting my money again
 
I buy mine about 10k at a time... I think one of the keys is to keep them clean and not packed into small tubs... I have large bins that I keep them in with lots of egg craits, separated by count and size. Like Dank I have 1 extra tub which I use to transfer the living into once a week while I toss the dead and poo… But overall they are just a royal pain in the ass. But hey… We gotta live with it… Unless of course you breed tons of bugs yourself.

Oh... And as for the mags, the same... Keep everything clean and pick them out when you see them... I got it worse... I hate it when the big ass spiders come shoot'n out of the box... I do the flip out and swat yourself dance... Damn I hate spiders! Awesome cirx guy that I use... But bad damn spiders :)
 
ok....ill give this store another try and also try elsewhere. whatever happens i need to find a new staple(but my girl only a 4 and a half months or so).
 
hate it when the big ass spiders come shoot'n out of the box... I do the flip out and swat yourself dance... Damn I hate spiders! Awesome cirx guy that I use... But bad damn spiders :)

Dude, take the spiders and feed them to the young
they LOVE THEM rarely have I seen a cham chase down their prey
like when they spot a juicy garden spider on the move.

Heck you might even get some sort of perverse thrill out of it heheheh***
 
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hahahahahaha... yea I can see that... Looking at the cage scream'n KILL,KILLLLLLLLLLLL THAT SOB ROO!!!! DIEEEEEEEEEEE
 
LoL. yeah I'll admit to rooting for the home team every now and then as well...


Boon
Do you know what type of fly maggots you have
could they be fruit fly maggots?
if they are, it may be just the leftover fruit thats in the cage
thats attracting them.

anyway, clean the container somewhat with each new shipment of bugs
toss the eggcrates and exchange them for the new ones
toss the old food and put in fresh.
that'll help eliminate any buildup of disease.

if you've got a bug problem it'll also help to hold off
on getting any new feeder bugs to allow for enough time
for the maggots to die off or go else where.
no need to keep supplying them with new fresh food.

Since you're also local to me I'll mention
cricketsdirect.com
Bob's prices are lower than others
he's close by and delivery is usually the next day.
although the website is cheesy and payments kinda awkward
I've been very happy with the crickets. ($10.50/1k)
You might get a few beetle larvae in the shipment
but the crickets have been very good so far.

Although I don't use this myself
I've seen some people keep granulated corn husks in the bottom of the tubs
it seem to soak up the moisture and keeps the crap down at the bottom
where it is away from your chirping friends. ymmv.
 
I have the same problem right now and the post above I am convinced is the answer. Its the damn fruit flies!! I got a dozen or so fruit flies that I can see but can't seem to kill. As soon as they showed up my crix started to kick the bucket and I found little maggots in their dead bodies. How can I fix this problem? I keep them in a big tub on the floor in this pic. The screen top is off in the pic but it does have one.

DSCN2358.jpg
 
Boon
whos boon? :rolleyes:

Do you know what type of fly maggots you have
could they be fruit fly maggots?
if they are, it may be just the leftover fruit thats in the cage
thats attracting them.

yeah I used fruit. think I'm def sticking to cricket food from now on.

anyway, clean the container somewhat with each new shipment of bugs
toss the eggcrates and exchange them for the new ones
toss the old food and put in fresh.
that'll help eliminate any buildup of disease.

do this too. i only have one 4.5 month old female veiled so I order at most 100 and clean when I get a new batch. this last batch has been cleaned twice while I still had it due to the maggots

if you've got a bug problem it'll also help to hold off
on getting any new feeder bugs to allow for enough time
for the maggots to die off or go else where.
no need to keep supplying them with new fresh food.

just in the cricket container. thankfully.

Since you're also local to me I'll mention
cricketsdirect.com
Bob's prices are lower than others
he's close by and delivery is usually the next day.
although the website is cheesy and payments kinda awkward
I've been very happy with the crickets. ($10.50/1k)
You might get a few beetle larvae in the shipment
but the crickets have been very good so far.

def have to check this out


I am also looking into roaches. time for a new thread........
 
Boon
whos boon?
You know boon? BOON the guy from "animal house"
Oh forget it... I messed up:rolleyes:

jah, it's possible that there's some sort of fly that enjoys laying it's eggs on to the crickets
either that or they're eating the eggs and they're hatching and maturing internally.

anyway, dump the entire load. dry and air out your home
just to get rid of any lingering adults
and start again and try to keep things dryer inside the enclosure.
hope that helps
 
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