Suggestions for keeping crickets alive???

[Cami2013]

Since I was spending $3+ every 2 days on crickets for our at the time approx 6 mo. old cham (she's almost 8 mos. now), I looked into buying crickets in bulk and researched how to properly care for and gutload them. I have had them about 5 weeks and if I had to guess probably 1/2 or so have already died.

I purchased 1000 large crickets (1") online from reptilefood.com. The same day, I purchased 3 large Rubbermaid containers and cut rectangular openings in the tops & 2 smaller sides of the containers. To allow for proper ventilation and light, I placed wire screen to the inside of the openings with a small bead of hot glue around the edges as well as placing rivets periodically to secure the screen well. I placed egg carton flats initially horizontally stacked alternating directions to allow for plenty of space between the egg cartons, which I learned was incorrect. I corrected this practice about 1 1/2 - 2 weeks into it, I changed to egg flats placed vertically in the tubs. I provide greens (either mustard or collard greens or kale), cut up apples, oranges, and sweet potatoes, dry calcium fortified cricket gutload food (I believe Fluker's brand), and a small amount of Calcium fortified cricket quencher (also Fluker's). I think the crickets get plenty of hydration from the fruits and vegetables, so gel water probably isn't necessary. The temperature maintains a fairly consistent 70-75 degrees & I keep lights turned on in the room for 12 hours during the day. We replenish food as needed, about 3x/week average. We swap bins and clean weekly. Once I turned the egg carton flats vertically, they don't get very soiled w/cricket poop (it all pretty much falls to the bottom), so I changed them after 3ish weeks (I started with all new ones when I placed them vertically).

Cami eats 6-10/dy, so has consumed around 300 of the 1000 I ordered (if my math is correct). Every time I swap bins & clean, there are tons of dead crickets. To give you an idea, I just changed them to a new bin last night and if I had to guess, there looked to be about 200 left. That means 1/2 of my 1000 ordered have died in 5 weeks time. Is this normal? Do I need to be doing something differently? And CRICKETS STINK!!! I don't necessarily want to breed them, just maintain and gutload for Cami to eat. I will reorder in bulk when necessary. Money wise I am still saving ($12.60 + cost of fresh fruits/veggies over an 8 week time span vs. $3 every 2 dys = $90), but if my 1000 crickets could last 12 weeks (still allowing for the inevitable deaths) that would be even better.

Any suggestions and/or advise would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Olimpia]

Crickets only live so long, so if you're getting adults and most are dying off it's probably just from age, not from husbandry. That's why I always order a size or two down and let them grow in my care as I feed them off. The 3/4 size, for example, will last me longer and are just a bit smaller so no one minds too much.

There's no way adult crickets will last you 3 months. You may have to go down a size and/or order 500 at a time instead?

 

[Psychedelic Chams]

1 in are almost adults thats is y they are dieing so quickly get 500 1/2"

 

[symphonica]

The 1" ones have lived out their lifespans. I'd go with 1/2" and 3/4". They say that 3/4" is a more manageable size anyways, even for the adults, and this way they'll live longer. You could get some 1/2" and some 3/4". They grow pretty quickly, so you could feed the 3/4" ones first and the 1/2" should grow to catch up in size by the time you go through the 3/4" ones.

 

[Psychedelic Chams]

The 1" ones have lived out their lifespans. I'd go with 1/2" and 3/4". They say that 3/4" is a more manageable size anyways, even for the adults, and this way they'll live longer. You could get some 1/2" and some 3/4". They grow pretty quickly, so you could feed the 3/4" ones first and the 1/2" should grow to catch up in size by the time you go through the 3/4" ones.

Great idea!!!!

 

[Cami2013]

Thank you all for your very helpful advice! I should have much better success with the next batch.

Anything you can do about the smell? The only time they don't have a pungent odor is about the 1st 10 minutes after swapping them to clean bins.

 

[symphonica]

Have you tried dubia roaches? They have no smell and are considered better feeders than crickets for chams.

 

[FrankTheTank]

Have you tried dubia roaches? They have no smell and are considered better feeders than crickets for chams.

I wouldn't say they are better for chameleons, but they are good feeders. I have a colony of Dubai. My veiled preferred crickets and my panther doesn't seem to be interested in them at all, but I do hate the smell of crickets which is why I don't ever keep very many of them. And when I do, I get the small ones that have a longer lifespan

 

[laurie]

Easy primer.

First get a bin of a size that you can put 4 eggs flats, about 16 or 18 by 16 or 18, cut cardboard to go between each egg flat. Save space for food to go at the other end from crickets. Make sure crickets get water, (I use water crystals) dry and wet gut load. Keep them very warm.

Steve McNary taught me how and mine are healthy and live really well. Key is to start with healthy crickets. If you need any help, just shoot me a pm.

 

[jmwhitel]

This is exactly why I switched to roaches

My cham didn't seem interested at first. So I started to put them upside down in front of him. When upside down, they freak out and their feet go crazy trying to flip themselves back over. All that commotion makes them irresistible for my cham now.

I still feed the occasional cricket, worm, etc

 

[Albula]

My crickets don't mass die off or stink anymore, regardless if I order 1,000 or 500. I do order them 1/2" size though. If I clean the tank/tub every other day, I get few if any die off. That is the key.

 

[nj011908]

My crickets don't mass die off or stink anymore, regardless if I order 1,000 or 500. I do order them 1/2" size though. If I clean the tank/tub every other day, I get few if any die off. That is the key.

cricket when they die give off a small amount of gas that are poisonous to other crickets... Chain effect so what you are doing be keeping it clean is a good thing. keep it up

 

[bobcochran]

Crickets don't stink very much if they're healthy and growing. It's when they're you have a bunch of dead ones in the container they stink really badly. Improve your husbandry and you'll have a lot less smell.

 

[Cami2013]

My crickets don't mass die off or stink anymore, regardless if I order 1,000 or 500. I do order them 1/2" size though. If I clean the tank/tub every other day, I get few if any die off. That is the key.

Do you completely swap to a clean bin every 2 days? It really only takes a matter of minutes to do, so that's not terribly inconvenient. The slightly time consuming part for me is trying to gather up the stragglers that don't transfer easily on the egg carton flats. We are still REALLY new at this, so if I get everyone to pitch in, we've got it down to about 30 minutes total process to swap to clean bin, provide all fresh veggies/fruit, etc. and thoroughly cleaning the bin they came from, and it seems to be faster each time we do it. I am scrubbing the bins with hot, soapy water. Do I need to being using a different process when cleaning the bins?

 

[Cami2013]

Crickets don't stink very much if they're healthy and growing. It's when they're you have a bunch of dead ones in the container they stink really badly. Improve your husbandry and you'll have a lot less smell.

Thank you so much for your reply. I wish I could tell you that I knew what exactly you mean when you say "improve your husbandry", but because of my naivety in raising crickets, I do not. Is there something(s) specific I need to change with my process (It does seem like Albula has great success with cleaning bins every 2 days, so I will try that)? I welcome any other suggestions.

 

[nj011908]

you can just get a small hand vaccumm and move the egg cartons and the alive ones will run and hide and then you can vaccuum up the dead ones and poop, you will keep them alive much longer.

 

[nj011908]

Thank you so much for your reply. I wish I could tell you that I knew what exactly you mean when you say "improve your husbandry", but because of my naivety in raising crickets, I do not. Is there something(s) specific I need to change with my process (It does seem like Albula has great success with cleaning bins every 2 days, so I will try that)? I welcome any other suggestions.

HUsbandry is a term used to describe the housing and environment you provide for the animal

 

[Albula]

Do you completely swap to a clean bin every 2 days? It really only takes a matter of minutes to do, so that's not terribly inconvenient. The slightly time consuming part for me is trying to gather up the stragglers that don't transfer easily on the egg carton flats. We are still REALLY new at this, so if I get everyone to pitch in, we've got it down to about 30 minutes total process to swap to clean bin, provide all fresh veggies/fruit, etc. and thoroughly cleaning the bin they came from, and it seems to be faster each time we do it. I am scrubbing the bins with hot, soapy water. Do I need to being using a different process when cleaning the bins?

I've got a 10 gallon tank with screeen lid. I bought a wide spackling knife and I scrape the poop off the bottom of the tank with it and then dump in a bag every other day. I have never washed my 10 gallon tank or swapped tanks to clean for crickets. The only time I move other insects in the 10 gallon tank is when I'm out of crickets and I move the dubia in there to clean the dubia tub that is very infrequently. Dubia do not require the maintenence that crickets do.