How to keep crickets alive!

[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.

[yoshimi]

I read when starting out with crickets not to use citrus. So I just never have. But I've only kept about 50 at a time. Now I haven't purchased any or fed them off in a good long while, and I have 6 troopers left that just don't want to die. I keep feeding them cuz I don't want them to starve, but I'm still surprised they're alive. They were little when I got them, maybe that's why. I give them carrot chips, oats and some ground up dubia roach chow I made, and they always have water crystals. Twice a day for changing fruits and veggies seems labor intensive. I imagine they're your staple and you have many. Those are the one thing I wouldn't try to breed. I can't even catch them well for feeding. But I agree, those beverage holders are great. If you buy more than one coffee at Dunkin Donuts, they always ask if you want one... saying yes is a good idea. My roaches like them.

[Danny D]

Breeding them is very simple. All you need is tupperware with a hole cut in the top, peat moss and a heat lamp. Collecting the "pinheads" to feed the darts is also simple. Pinheads are slow and not as alert as older crickets. Put in a fruit of veggie, let them collect on in it then pick it up and tap them into a feeding cup.