Stinky water crystals

[unkempt1]

I have been storing water crystals in a cranberry juice container that I cleaned out, but after about 2-3 weeks its starting to smell mildewy. I know I cleaned it out well, but am thinking its from me trying to be a smarty pants and adding a little Tang drink mix to entice my roaches to use it. I have been refrigerating it, but there was a day where I accidentally left it out for half the day.

Ive dumped it out, and won't be using that batch for my roaches to be on the safe side. But is it from the Tang, or should I be refrigerating smaller batches because this can happen even with water crystals with nothing added?

[JeffreH]

Its probably from the tang mix ; )

Your water crystals should keep for a long time if only mixed with water and kept in a clean container. I've kept the stuff for months in large glass and plastic containers, and regularly keep a small supply in a 6qt plastic 'shoebox' storage container for ease of serving to all of the colonies. Make sure the container is completely clean and you only mix with water - the roaches will suck it up whether its flavored or not = )

[LLLReptile]

We keep plain crystals out in the store for use with crickets, and even just out in the store and not refrigerated ours last for weeks at a time. We go through them a little quick to say how they'll do beyond that, but I figure a few weeks is still pretty decent.

-Jen

[unkempt1]

Awesome - thanks to both of you for confirming my suspicions! I added the Tang because my roaches are rarely interested in the water crystals and they almost always dry out, so I wanted to try something different. Looks like a case of me knowing just enough to get myself into trouble.