Mold >:(

[serenitystarlite]

I found some mold in my cricket bin. I keep them on dry oatmeal and there were some paper towel tubes sitting on the floor of the bin and I guess with all the crickets I had, the oatmeal and dead crickets under them got moldy. I completely emptied it and cleaned it out and put the crickets back in. How many days should I wait to feed them to my animals? Last time this happened it was to superworms (old roommate moved them to the very humid basement) and I waited at least week to feed them to anything. I'm going to stop and get some fresh crickets tomorrow but there are about 2000 crix left in my bin, so I can't throw them away. I'm laid off and on unemployment, so I am really trying to watch my money and can't afford a lot of crix from the petstore although I need tiny ones anyway for my pygmy.

 

[RPCV]

You should be fine feeding off the crickets, no need to wait. There would be very little risk considering you disposed of the moldy debris and wiped out the bin.

Was the oatmeal moldy? If so then it needs to be kept dry. Mold needs moisture to grow.

 

[PantherEnvy]

You can also gutload them real good and wait 24 hours to be sure.

 

[serenitystarlite]

Yeah it was the oatmeal that was moldy. Too many crickets and not enough airflow was the problem. I had too many paper towel tubes and egg cartons in there for 3000 crix. I usually get 2000 large and 1000 tiny but this time I ordered 3000 large and had about 500 tiny from the reptile show. So it was just toooooo many in there. I threw away all but 1 egg carton and put 2 new paper towel tubes in there with them standing at an angle instead of laying down. I didn't realize they had fallen down like that. I am going to make another cricket bin with more ventilation so I can move them to that and then add more ventilation to the one they're in now. The mold has probably been there for several days though. I fed my chams yesterday and didn't realize there was mold until today but I'm sure it was there yesterday. I was going to wait a couple days just to be safe, will they be ok to feed off after a couple days? I put fresh kale and carrots in today and gave them fresh cricket water too.

 

[StickyTongues]

You have only 1 egg flat and 2 paper towel rolls in a bin with 3000 crix? You need a lot more surface area for them to spread out on or they are going to die off real fast and you will have a mold/smelly problem.

DAnny

 

[RPCV]

Unless mold is growing on the crickets they would be safe to feed and if it were growing on the crickets they would not be alive. Waiting won't make a difference.

No need to worry about redidual contamination from mold that was growing in the cage if you've gotten rid of the moldy material and wiped it down. The key is controling moisture in the future. Appears you've identified the cause (too many crickets and not enough air exchange).

 

[serenitystarlite]

You have only 1 egg flat and 2 paper towel rolls in a bin with 3000 crix? You need a lot more surface area for them to spread out on or they are going to die off real fast and you will have a mold/smelly problem.

DAnny

No, I had 3 egg cartons and 5 paper towel tubes in with 3500 crickets. I threw out all the old ones because they were sitting in moldy oatmeal and there is now 1 egg carton left and 2 new paper towel tubes. I'm not sure what the point of your comment is since I had the mold when I had 3 egg cartons and 5 paper towel tubes. I'm pretty sure the mold was due to lack of ventilation and having more crickets than I normally get. I have more egg cartons to put in there, I'm just more worried about when I can feed these crickets to my hungry animals without making them sick

 

[serenitystarlite]

Unless mold is growing on the crickets they would be safe to feed and if it were growing on the crickets they would not be alive. Waiting won't make a difference.

No need to worry about redidual contamination from mold that was growing in the cage if you've gotten rid of the moldy material and wiped it down. The key is controling moisture in the future. Appears you've identified the cause (too many crickets and not enough air exchange).

Ok well then I will buy tiny crix for my pygmy since I need them anyway and maybe just grab a dozen or 2 large crix for the chams for tomorrow just to be on the safe side.

 

[StickyTongues]

No, I had 3 egg cartons and 5 paper towel tubes in with 3500 crickets. I threw out all the old ones because they were sitting in moldy oatmeal and there is now 1 egg carton left and 2 new paper towel tubes. I'm not sure what the point of your comment is since I had the mold when I had 3 egg cartons and 5 paper towel tubes. I'm pretty sure the mold was due to lack of ventilation and having more crickets than I normally get. I have more egg cartons to put in there, I'm just more worried about when I can feed these crickets to my hungry animals without making them sick

I still think this is way too little surface area for that many crickets. I think if you let the crickets spread out more you'll have less moisture building up, less die off, and you will have less problems. Also when crix are piled on top of eachother, they tend to start cannibalizing themselves. I breed my own crix and raise about 20k a month. I usually use 1 egg flat per 200-250 adults. I have never seen mold in any of my tubs.
Your remaining crix should be safe to feed off. Just make sure you gutload them with fresh food.

Danny

 

[serenitystarlite]

I still think this is way too little surface area for that many crickets. I think if you let the crickets can spread out more you'll have less moisture building up, less die off, and you will have less problems. Also when crix are piled on top of eachother, they tend to start cannibalize themselves. I breed my own crix and raise about 20k a month. I usually use 1 egg flat per 200-250 adults. I have never seen mold in any of my tubs.
Your remaining crix should be safe to feed off. Just make sure you gutload them with fresh food.

Danny

I don't usually order that many large or let the paper towel tubes lay in the bottom like that. I normally don't have mold issues with 2000 large and 1000 small crickets. I think the bin needs more air holes or I need a bigger bin with that many large crix. How big are your tubs and how many do you keep in 1?

 

[StickyTongues]

In my larger 50gal tubs i have about 23 egg flats and house 6000-7000 crickets and the smaller 30gal tubs i have about 12 eggs flats and house about 3000-4000 crickets. Here a a couple pics.

Danny

 

[MojoStylee]

What kind of temperature range can crickets survive in? Would they be okay in a garage that gets to say, 30 F with an under-tank heater attached to the side of the rubbermaid?

 

[StickyTongues]

I would guess no. Even with an under tank heater the ambient temp of 30 would freeze the crickets. i had a bin in my garage with the under tank heater and it was only down to the low 50's for a few days and it killed off most of them. Granted they were only a couple weeks old at the time but i would imagine the larger ones would be about the same.

Danny

 

[MojoStylee]

Gotcha, thanks. I don't mind the crickets, my girlfriend on the other hand...

 

[Solid Snake]

I found some mold in my cricket bin. I keep them on dry oatmeal and there were some paper towel tubes sitting on the floor of the bin and I guess with all the crickets I had, the oatmeal and dead crickets under them got moldy. I completely emptied it and cleaned it out and put the crickets back in. How many days should I wait to feed them to my animals? Last time this happened it was to superworms (old roommate moved them to the very humid basement) and I waited at least week to feed them to anything. I'm going to stop and get some fresh crickets tomorrow but there are about 2000 crix left in my bin, so I can't throw them away. I'm laid off and on unemployment, so I am really trying to watch my money and can't afford a lot of crix from the petstore although I need tiny ones anyway for my pygmy.

They are safe to feed.

I have kept 2000+ crickets with only 3 egg flats, in a larger style bin.
Alot of them roamed the "ground" of the bin. But they did fine.
As stated, giving more ventilation will help with future mold, as well with die-off in general.