EEEWWWWW!Bugs in the cricket container!!

[charlamanda]

I clean out the cricket container yesterday and noticed these really, really tiny bugs in it. I then looked in the cricket bowl in the frog tank and noticed there were a few it that too.
I don't know what's "normal" for crickets, but if I buy 50 crickets at least 20 die. I find this odd since the crickets I buy are the small ones and should live a bit longer than the larger ones, which I assume are older. I usually only have them for about 3 feedings around 5 days.
*Is this normal having so many die?
In the crickets container I have a paper towel I keep moist all the time, several types of food(monster cricket food, fish flakes and rabbit food pellets), as well as several papertowel rolls and good ventilation.
*Should I be concerned with these small bugs?
They are really small about the size of a pin tip, not the head!
*Could this be the reason so many of the crickets are dying?
*Should I be concerned for the froglets?
They are way too small for the frogs to eat and they may not even see them they are so small.
I don't think the bugs are from the food either. The moster cricket food was sealed will a metal pull top lid with a plastic lid over it and I just opened it less than 2 weeks ago. The rabbit food is also less that 2 weeks old and I haven't seen any bugs in there or in the fish flakes.
*Is this something I should call the pet store over or is this a benign situation?
Please help!! I am really freaked out, I hate bugs big time and don't want this to spread though out my home!

[bshmerlie]

Could you please post a picture of these microscopic bugs so we can help you determine what they are? Just kidding...I'm sorry I don't know what they could be. I've never seen anything like that in my crickets. I also have a pretty large die off...I always assumed it was that I didn't keep them warm enough or something. If you buy them in groups of 500 or 1000 through the internet they are really cheap and you'll be glad some die off. You can also share the extra crickets with a friend if you have someone else who might need them. Split the bill. If mine get too big I give them to my local independent reptile shop and she'll give me other supplies in exchange on occasion.

[Jace]

I know when I buy crickets, I get little bugs in them that I was told were the larvae of carpet bettles. From what I understand, these are completely harmless and merely a sign that things are not completely clean in the cricket colony. Without seeing an actual picture of what you have, I can only guess that you are seeing the same thing. I used to have a high mortality rate with crickets as well, but since I simplified the enclosure, I have had much better success. I don't use any papertowel or ground cover with mine, especially anything overly moist. I feed a combination of predone gutload cricket food that I add crushed catfood and fish food too; cricket jelly for water; and baby carrots and some leafy greens for extra gutloading.

[charlamanda]

Thanks, I feel a bit better now. I just got back from the pet store, I had to get more crickets for tonights feeding. I spoke to the store owner about the bugs and he is aware that he occasionally gets them in his order of 1000. He said about half of his stock die as well.
At least between your posts and the store owner I feel a bit better about this, just skeevs me!! I really hate bugs...a lot, hence the reason I love frogs, bats and bug zappers so much. Bats and frogs are much cuter though!!!
I don't have anything on the bottom either, just a folded paper towel in the corner for water and a small lid with food and new tp pt rolls. Hoepfully the little buggies can't get out!
LOL I can barely get any pics of my 1" frogs my camera sucks so bad!!! I'd need a microscope..anyone have a microscope for bug pics.
Sadly, I moved here 3 years ago and because I don't wotk, I really don't know anyone, and definatly nobody who would need crickets, but I wish I did. I may just order the crickets online, even if most die I'd still be saving money.

[Jace]

I don't mind most insects, but after dealing with so many crickets, they are not high on my list of favourites, that's for sure! They poop too much and smell. Bad combo! I love bats as well; they are amazing animals. I rescued a young one that was stuck between to wood slats at work and released it in a local park. Watching it fly and start hunting right away was a great sight!

[JimO]

They could be some kind of parasitic mite and might be the cause of you losing so many crickets. My understanding is that most parasitic mites thrive best in a moist environment. I tend to lose more crickets when the enclosure gets damp. I also see mold growing on the paper eggcrate. That's when it's time to put them in a fresh enclosure. I've also started keeping my crickets in a well ventilated tank with a screen top. The survival rate is higher. For water, I keep a saturated piece of paper towel in a small plastic cup.

[Paul Rust]

I keep my cricket production very clean, dry, and sterile as possible. I don't lose very many crickets at all, particularly the young ones. I lose adults as they get old and die but that is expected. Check out this article and maybe you can find a change to your program that might help.
http://www.frogforum.net/care-articl...g-culture.html

[Jace]

I find the older crickets easier to keep clean than the pinheads. Because of their small size, any efforts to clean them usually mean squished, sucked or flattened crickets. Rather frustrating. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

[Ribbitmethis]

What I do for crickets is separate their eating and hiding area so that the egg cartons don't get wet. I leave leftover scraps of whatever vegetables I ate that day, and replace the cricket gel often. I don't know if what I do would work for larger collections, but I generally only lose about 1/5 of my crickets as I only buy enough for 1-1/2 weeks at a time and completely sterilize their cage between batches. I try to pick the largest crickets when pulling out what to feed Merc (he's fed in his own cage, as I've come to notice he'll hunt down all crickets as soon as his cage door is shut) which keeps loss from age and food competition down.

[charlamanda]

WOW! Thanks for all the info this is great! I clean my cricket cont. every week and do spot cleanup every other day. I change the wet pt every couple of days and the pt and tp rolls too Once all the crickets are used up. I only buy 2 dozen, but the shop owner gives me about 40-50, still about 15-25 always die. I am using the small guys, 1/4"-1/2" a few are larger, and my froglets are eating about 30+ at a feeding now. I was thinking of getting larger ones, but with at least 1/2 just managing these I'm going to wait.
Whoa! do they stink, compared to the frogs that are eating them, I think the frogs are wearing deodorant! I cleaned out the 33 gal yesterday too, I took them all out and into the dining room, so I could check on them and make sure that they are all eating, boy are they!!!( I've been using the cricket bowls for a week or two now) The tank was..really clean all things considered and I recaptured 2 rouge crickets that met their end in the dining room!!LOL I know I really sound maniacal. My guys are really lazy and tend not to roam around the bottom and hunt....LOL.They are going to the bottom where I put the bowls and just waiting and wondering, thinking " I know this is where I was yesterday when I ate those crickets, Where did they go? I must be loosing it!!!"
When I put the bowls in they get down in the dirt and "bang" into side of the glass, over and over and over again..are they really this stupid or have my guys, from banging their heads so frequently, become brain damaged!!! I worry they are going to hurt themselves,( I watched them do this with the glass on the hood, when they tried to get into the light fixture) so I go in and put them into the bowl. You won't believe this but, they jump back out, in the dirt, and start all over again! If I help them several times they jump to the other bowl!! It can really be frustration with these little guys.
*Does anybody else's frogs do this too, or are mine really having some issues?
I don't like "pest" insects, but there are many I do actually like. A few weeks ago I took home a Praying mantus and a katydid from Walmart. I even allow many spiders to live above a few lights in the house, but only if they are catching bugs, otherwise I evict them. I have these raquets that are bug zappers and I have a strict "no kill" policy for moths, ladybugs, katydids, spiders, dragon flies, big beetles(other than Japanese) and a few others, but mosquitoes, gnats, flys,(basically any small flying bugs) and these really big(3-4") bugs that look like dragonflies,(I call the flappy bugs) completely wig me out, I've never seen them before I moved here, come to think of it, there are a lot of bugs I've never seen until I moved here, it's all the water and swamps around the end of my cul-de-sac, YUCK!!!!
Thanks for the article Paul, lots of great info!!

[IgbyKibbits]

Yes, great article Paul!

We always use "Kricket Quencher" for our water supply. It's just been easier to keep the overall container clean/dry.

We lose crickets, but yes, a lot less than before the Kricket Quencher.