I finally got crickets 3 days ago, 500 medium from CricketKing. They came fine but now 47 have died. The indoor temperature is about 23° as of now. They have heaps of food and places to hide. Is there something I'm missing? The ventilation looks fine, 20 holes at each corner near the top, 14 near the bottom and 8 on the lid.
Crickets Keep Dying
- Thread starter Slavkleos
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Crix aren’t very hardy 
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Could be a number of things?
Suggest more egg cartons stacked up. (more hides)
Suggest more egg cartons stacked up. (more hides)
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Good question , I never buy more crickets then I can immediately feed off. Because I can’t keep them alive . I use roaches now instead. Unless a t refused them .
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Yeah, it's not really anything new. My sister once bought a bag of large feeder crickets to take care of, but two days later, 1/3 or 1/4 of them had died. They don't live long at all.
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Crickets Will Predate On One Another.
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Cannibalize
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When I buy crickets I have deaths daily. I am pretty sure I am keeping them properly--they just die. I even tried adding a bunch of dermestid beetle larvae to see if having them clean up would help, but it seemed to make it worse (I think I may have used too many).
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Yeah but drop one in with something that doesn't want to eat right now, and they can co-habitate for weeks on end.
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One has to consider that there are many companies large and small around the world that are successful in breeding and raising crickets for a number of industries. Crickets don't "just die", rather the amount of effort in their care is underestimated by pet keepers. If there are people out there who can breed and raise crickets without issues, but you can't, then you have to ask yourself "what am I doing wrong" instead of thinking it's the crickets.
Here is a link to the playlists of a cricket breeder on YouTube who has been most valuable for helping me. Just scale it down for the amount of crickets kept as feeders.
Here is a link to the playlists of a cricket breeder on YouTube who has been most valuable for helping me. Just scale it down for the amount of crickets kept as feeders.
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Spoken like a true tarantula keeperCrix aren’t very hardy
(Joking)Crickets should be easy as anything. They have short life spans (2-3 months ish for that species) but are REALLY easy to raise!
OP pics looks like not enough fresh air flow, don't need the vermiculite (at all)
If it were me I would start over. Avoid all that substrate. Add more basic cardboard cartons for spaces to hide and live. these crickets can be extreme a$$ holes sometimes. they will kill each other if they dont have at least some space of their own. Don't use the paper products with toxic glues and inks. Keep both dry and wet foods separate in shallow trays (I usually use shallow saucers, easy to clean). Make sure they cna climb up to and out of the feed containers. They can drown, provide water accordingly. And way more ventilation. Both top and cross.
How would I even get all the crickets out? Every accomplished breeder I've seen says vermiculite is a perfect substrate. How would I cut holes in the sides? I feed them misted vegetables and I change them every day. After getting a little experience I can agree the ventilation is not very good because a single dead cricket is enough to stink the whole thing up.
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Maybe try keeping Red Runner Roaches instead.
Less Hassles in the long run.
Less Hassles in the long run.
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One of the reasons not to use vermiculite, hard to get things out. Hard to clean. Hard to change up containers. The dust from vermiculite isn't that great for your health either. Some brands may contain asbestos.
Most commercial breeders are likely using no substrate, simply for ease of cleaning and avoiding disease. I don't either, aside from egg laying trays filled with a medium for females to go lay eggs. Lots and lots of egg crate. The bigger ones that are square and fit 50 eggs or whatever work best, leaned. Covering a solid half the tub. Other half open with food/water/egg laying containers. When inwas breeding reptiles and amphibians a long time ago, this was my basic setup. Tens of thousands a week. Worked like a charm with relatively few dead ones and a relatively acceptable smell haha.
The egg crates will remain humid enough inside, just based on pee/feces and lack of good airflow within the crates. Otherwise I keep them very dry. Cross ventilation and top.
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Crickets Just plain smell regardless.
Amazon or Josh's Frogs
Crix unfortunately have the hardiness of the straw house from 3 little pigs without proper care. I buy either enough to cover my feedings, or if i need to have some for awhile, i just eat the cost and buy enough to cover the deaths. It's a crap shoot tbh
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Any large restaraunt, grocery, supermarket etc all have egg crates. For their eggs can ask there to start if you have any grocery stores or eateries near you. Although not as space efficient, cardboard boxes and wrinkled up work fine too. And usually free (recycled).
Crickets have a smell. Rotting crickets have a SMELL. They don't burry their dead. They either eat each other or leave them alone. But their corpse' bodies will leak liquids down and get soaked into the vermiculite. Which is a good reason not to use vermiculite. If if you want to sift through it to remove bodies.
can ask there to start if you have any grocery stores or eateries near you. Although not as space efficient, cardboard boxes and wrinkled up work fine too. And usually free (recycled).Crickets have a smell. Rotting crickets have a SMELL. They don't burry their dead. They either eat each other or leave them alone. But their corpse' bodies will leak liquids down and get soaked into the vermiculite. Which is a good reason not to use vermiculite. If if you want to sift through it to remove bodies.