New crickets dying.?? Just arrived 1/26/12

[KatiLemons]

I have had my cricket enclosure for about 4 months now and have never experienced my 3 week crickets dying in such mass numbers! I bought them from the same distributor that I always use. I bought 1000 and about half are dead. I am feeding them fresh fruit and veggies. Any suggestions/thoughts?

 

[PantherEnvy]

Wash your fruits and veggies good.

 

[Solid Snake]

Make sure they are hydrated so they dont eat each other(I use orange.).
Make sure the tub is well ventilated, so when one dies it doesnt kill the others.(Dead crickets give off gas that kills crickets.)
I also remove any dead ones if I have them die off.

 

[ataraxia]

temps? if they were not shipped overnight and were delivered in a truck they may have been exposed temps not suitable for them. do as said above make sure you wash the veggies and fruit well.

 

[PantherEnvy]

Keep in mind, he already was housing other crickets for 4 months without any problems, then he gets 1000 and 1/2 die off suspiciously. Not sure if it is all of a sudden husbandry techniques/housing issues. Probably something from that delivery batch, residue from cleaning solvents from cleaning, or pesticides on fruits and veggies.

 

[Synapse]

I used to have a lot of crickets die off too... now they never die! I switched to using clementines/oranges. They go through them fast if you have a lot of crickets so make sure you have enough.