How to keep crickets alive?

S

Silverfire

New member
So, I have some REALLY bad luck with crickets. I make sure they have food and cricket quencher stuff, but despite that, I cannot seem to keep them alive for much longer than two weeks.

Some info on what I do. I have a large cricket carrier- exoterra brand to be specific. I buy large crickets from petco- about 100 or so at a time. I make sure they have dry food and cricket quencher stuff (just to make sure they have a lot of water that won’t evaporate). I have reptashy on the way to feed them so I’ll switch to that once it arrives.

Any suggestions on what I can do to help them not die? I’m slowly becoming less scared of crickets so while I’m willing to do things like put more water or food into the carrier, I’m still too nervous to actually reach in and grab the crickets.
 
A

acpart

Active member
There is a possibility that the large crickets you're getting are old. Crickets only live 9 weeks. Do you have egg crate for them to stand on? They don't do well just standing in their food. You could try this as an experiment: get another cricket keeper (with egg crate) and get some medium sized crickets. If they last longer, you can feed them to the geckos when they get bigger.

Aliza
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Active member
PetCo's crickets may be overcrowded. If I need a small amount from PetCo, I request that they freshly package them. I don't buy crickets sitting out on PetCo's shelves. Usually I order from Armstrong's crickets. However, I still don't have consistent luck with 2/3's growns. Instead I grow up younger ones.

Otherwise here's what I do. This can be tweaked to care for fewer crickets.

 
Last edited:
S

Sg612

New member
Space, ventilation and plenty of egg crates to climb on. Never had a problem keeping them in a 10 or lager gallon tank(depending on how many I was keeping). I placed dry food all the way to the right, veggies in the center and water soaked paper towels left corner. They did not do as well in plastic totes.
 
A

acpart

Active member
I get my crickets in bulk from a local reptile store. I get 2000-3000 every 2 weeks. There was a period of time where I had a high death rate from the crickets. The reptile store was using crickets as well and having the same death rate. They switched to another provider and everything got a lot better, so sometimes, even though the crickets are kept identically, there can be issues with the quality of the product.

Aliza
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top