Cannibal Crickets!

[Cebby75]

For some reason, I've been having bad luck with my feeder crickets.
Cannibalism has got the best of them it seems.
The last 2 batches I've received have turned on each other.
I have plenty of food for them that they constantly have, a mixture of veggies and oats, however it seems every morning I wake there's more and more casualties. And it's not like they're dead via natural causes...cause they're mutilated!

Any ideas on why I have such angry aggressive crickets?

[Paul Rust]

Do you have a stack of piled up egg carton material for them to hide in? A pic of your setup would help.

[UncleChester]

You might try an alternate source of moisture, like damp cotton balls, maybe the vegies aren't enough. Lack of moisture seems to lead to cannibalism. This morning I left 8 in a smaller container with a bunch of fish flakes for gutloading. This evening there are 7 crickets and an extra pair of legs, fish flakes all gone. I'd expect it's lack of water or maybe the confined space that caused this (lack of room can also cause trouble).

I'm not sure if lack of protein can be a problem, I feed mine mostly ground up cat food and I (almost) never have casualties. Today was a rare exception.

[Cebby75]

Yes I have egg cartons in there and damp cotton balls, but I think I need to just step up the size of their container. I was unaware that not enough space could lead them to do that. Good to know, it seems if it's not one thing it's the other!

Is there a rule of thumb for the size of the container per amount of cricket?
If so that would be a huge help
I keep about 3 dozen crickets at a time, so what would be a suitable sized container for them? I'm using a standard critter keeper now, but it looks like I need to go up my game!

Thanks again for the info guys!

[Paul Rust]

Look at my albums and you can see my cricket tubs. They need enough room so that each cricket has a place to stand, not on top of each other. I feed cat food also with a cricket waterer. I hardly ever have dead crickets.

[Jace]

Does it matter if it is cat food or dog food?

[Kurt]

I was wondering about that too.

[Deku]

Does it matter if it is cat food or dog food?

Yes it does. If you have cat crickets you feed it cat food. If you have dog crickets you feed it dog food. you can tell if the cricket barks or meow. Lolol

[Cebby75]

Look at my albums and you can see my cricket tubs. They need enough room so that each cricket has a place to stand, not on top of each other. I feed cat food also with a cricket waterer. I hardly ever have dead crickets.

What size tubs are you keeping them in?
I'm having trouble figuring that out xD.

[Paul Rust]

What size tubs are you keeping them in?
I'm having trouble figuring that out xD.

Rubbermaid Roughneck 53L, Target $9.00

Waterer is from Ghan's Cricket Farm, Watering Kit - 16 oz. Mini, $5.99

I use the waterer because I hate to buy watering gel when a waterer is so inexpensive. I only use the gel for my pinheads.