How to keep crickets alive!

[AlexFish94]

Hi i have a cricket keeper keep the sponge moist, keep carrot in the food tray. keep it out of sunlight. They are just always dieing! Any help would be Appreciated

Thanks Alex

[yoshimi]

Hi i have a cricket keeper keep the sponge moist, keep carrot in the food tray. keep it out of sunlight. They are just always dieing! Any help would be Appreciated

Thanks Alex

That's crickets for you. Are they ALL dying, for just a few? Keep them warm-ish, and maybe try something other than a sponge for water. Water crystals, cricket cubes, or cotton balls and veggies that you change out every few days, to avoid mold. Carrot chips are a good choice.

[Gnag the nameless]

You can buy special foods for the crickets, to keep them hydrated and from starving. However, I'd only recommend those foods that keep them from starving. I just use oats to feed them, with the occasional carrot and lettuce.

Flukers cricket quencher can work magic, well, any cricket quencher can. I used only wet lettuce and oats before, but my crickets died pretty fast. Once I got the cricket quencher, they lasted 2x as long.

[yoshimi]

I use oats too, and they fight over them (cute!), but keep your veggies away from your oats!! I had a mold problem last night. So now they can't be feeders for a while. Granted, they haven't been feeders for a while anyway, which is how some oats got moldy (tossing in food without really paying attention). If they died, would be ok, but they're hopping around instead. Pulled out 3 dead, 1st time I've removed any since I added 50-60 maybe a month ago, not sure. More crickets means more deaths. Overcrowding means a lot of deaths. Mold and cold are the biggest threats that I know of. Oh, and unwashed leafy greens. Wash your kale.

[Gnag the nameless]

Correction on my earlier comment: I only recommend those foods that keep them from dehydrating.

or me, dehydration has always been a bigger issue than starvation in crickets.

[yoshimi]

More crickets means more deaths. Overcrowding means a lot of deaths. Mold and cold are the biggest threats that I know of.

I mentioned that too.
But great points, JMDaniels.

[Danny D]

I like using the 4 cup coffee cup holders you can get at 7-11 as a place for the crickets to hide. I keep a 40 watt night time bulb over the cup holders as my basement gets a little cool in the winter. I feed the crickets dry dog food and cat food processed with a blender and add multivitamin powder. I use fruits and veggies to keep the crickets hydrated and change them twice a day. Normally, i use red pepper, green pepper, strawberries and apples.
Not sure if anyone else has had this problem but my young crickets do not seem to do well when i offer orange slices. Adult crickets seem to not have any problems, however.

[JMDaniels]

Hi i have a cricket keeper keep the sponge moist, keep carrot in the food tray. keep it out of sunlight. They are just always dieing! Any help would be Appreciated

Thanks Alex

How big is the cricket keeper and how many crickets are you keeping in it? Others have mentioned food and water, but I don't think that is the problem in your case. There are other important factors to consider. Improper space and/or ventilation is one of the most common causes of death in crickets! Ideally, you want at least a 10-gallon space (37 liter) for up to 250 crickets. Or 5 gallon (19 liter) for 100 crickets. Many people stuff lots of crickets in smaller enclosures, but that is not ideal and it makes them die faster. Another way to provide more space for crickets, is to add more egg cartons. Pile up lots of egg cartons to separate the crickets so they are not right on top of one another. Crickets don't like living very closely with so many others, and they avoid that in the wild. They are territorial insects and will attack and even eat each other if their neighbor are constantly in their way. The egg cartons act as a barrier so that each cricket can maintain its own territory within one of the egg compartments. Also, it is very important that the top of the cricket keeper is open, perhaps with mesh only, allowing for air to flow through. Besides proper space and ventilation, you also need to make sure the temperature is right and that you keep the enclosure clean. Remove dead cricket bodies or moltings immediately and regularly remove any fresh food that is more than 24-48 hours old.