Stupid mistake

Ren

Ren

New Member
I bought some cricket gel concentrate..... now i thought maybe just add water and your done, well as this turns out it says add full contents i oz concentrate into a 5gallon bucket and add 2 gallons of water, how much is this going to make? My wife has been super cool about Roaches,Crickets,Fruit Flies, Lizards in the house, worms beetles and so on, now i seriously doubt she is gonna want a couple of gallons of this stuff in the fridge...any ideas on what to do with this stuff so i didn't waste any coin?...
 
How many ounces or grams of the concentrate do you have? Just divide that by 32. Then just add a cup of water. (There are 32 cups in 2 gallons). Then you can just make it up as you need it.
 
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For future reference, try going without gels or water bowls. I have always used fresh greens and carrots for all of the water needs of crickets, dubias, and hissers without issue. It's cleaner, more economical and far more convenient. Note that there must always be fresh greens daily for this to work correctly. It also gives you a chance to rotate which types of greens you are using for the best gutload scenario. Even with rotating greens, it is always good to still supplement with dandelion greens as a constant. Give it a try but note that misting is still recommended for dubias.
 
Ren,

You may want to throw most of it out.
Consider the small expense a lesson learned. Keep a decent size
container of it (it will last a long time!)
I have recently been investigating and am now using water crystals.
There are many great things about them...including being able to leave town for a week with roaches stocked up with dry food and water gel....no worries about mold!
In the future Cherron's math is the way to go (I always add more water than it says too....you want to make sure those crystals are completely hydrated).
There has been some discussion as to possible toxicity of this product on the roach forum....my conclusion after looking into it is that it is safe to use.

-Brad

p.s. If you keep plants in the house or have a garden, turn the extra crystals into the soil to keep your plants hydrated! -B.
 
is it the gel stuff, or gelatin based stuff???

Gelatinbased stuff goes bad, the other stuff doesnt'.. Just take the excess and dry it out!

Low water content means bacteria cannot live.
 
Howdy,

How about a low temp bake :)? You might try 140F in your kitchen oven and see how long it takes to bake it dry again... Might not be worth it though :(.,
 
or just let them sit in a sealed container. I never had a problem with it. it's wet, but there's no nutrients for bacteria to grow, so it doesn't seem to spoil. If it's not fully hydrated, it's probably a hostile environment for bacteria as well.
 
Really, I just made a gallon of the stuff, and it's sat in an old orange juice jug for several months. I dont' worry abotu it getting laden with bacteria, since it's devoid of nutrients. I use the same stuff as a backup for veggies. I do not like introducing water to crickets - too messy. I keep them as dry as possible, and I have few die-offs.

I'm not concerned about bacterial growth in this stuff, and I'm a health inspector!

Here's something to worry about - cooked foods. This is why I don't cook my silkworm chow - Cook food, and you eliminate the common bacteria, salmonella, e-coli, etc. BUT the spores from the other bacteria remain. These bacteria, like clostridium species, are out competed by the other bacteria, so they don't pose a health problem in raw products. But kill off the others, and they have a free run of the place. They form spores, so it's almost impossible to kill them with simple heat.

That's why you NEVER let cooked food get cool and sit out.

Most spoiling bacteria are no big deal, healthwise. But these things will kill you. They make a poison that will make you sick within hours. So even if the food is RE-COOKED, the poison is still there, and you get sick. (botulism is one of them)

I have often wondered if this is why so many peopl ehave dieoffs with silkworms. I usually do not, and I never cook their food - just mix with warm water, throw it in a bag, and put it in the fridge.
 
Eric Adrignola said:
or just let them sit in a sealed container. I never had a problem with it. it's wet, but there's no nutrients for bacteria to grow, so it doesn't seem to spoil. If it's not fully hydrated, it's probably a hostile environment for bacteria as well.
Click to expand...

same here. I put mine in 32oz cleaned yogurt containers, don;t put a lid on (not for any reason, I just don't) and put in the mini fridge then use as needed. Mainly for my non-feeder roaches, but they get veggies and fruit, too. Letting it dry out is also an option as has been mentioned, no need to cook it just let it dry in a clean container then rehydrate as needed.
 
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