Crickets dying

[privet01]

Water? This can come from various sources..... fresh fruit, sliced potatoes, wet sponge or wet paper towels in some container (a pain to keep clean, IMO) or the dreaded and hotly debated water crystals.

Are you sure that bug spray or other insecticide didn't get on your egg crate or other material you use with the crickets?

Dusting them shouldn't be an issue, but I wouldn't dust them until just before the become a meal for something else.

I recently had to purchase some from a pet store too and they all died within five days. So I'm not sure whats up with that, except the pet stores cricket bin is not kept clean. So disease is possible.

I raise my own crickets in the garage and the temps out there in the summer sometimes hit 100F plus. No issues other than trying to keep enough material in there to give them sufficient water and enough ventilation to prevent all that from becoming a rotting, stinking mess. Essentially I just throw out whatever has not been eaten every couple days and keep a fan on nearby to keep the air circulating.

Dry cat food or dry dog food is good food for crickets too. Look for anything with high protein content in it's analysis. You might find it amusing to watch them get in "tug-a-wars" over the pieces.

[Lily00]

Water? This can come from various sources..... fresh fruit, sliced potatoes, wet sponge or wet paper towels in some container (a pain to keep clean, IMO) or the dreaded and hotly debated water crystals.

Are you sure that bug spray or other insecticide didn't get on your egg crate or other material you use with the crickets?

Dusting them shouldn't be an issue, but I wouldn't dust them until just before the become a meal for something else.

I recently had to purchase some from a pet store too and they all died within five days. So I'm not sure whats up with that, except the pet stores cricket bin is not kept clean. So disease is possible.

I raise my own crickets in the garage and the temps out there in the summer sometimes hit 100F plus. No issues other than trying to keep enough material in there to give them sufficient water and enough ventilation to prevent all that from becoming a rotting, stinking mess. Essentially I just throw out whatever has not been eaten every couple days and keep a fan on nearby to keep the air circulating.

Dry cat food or dry dog food is good food for crickets too. Look for anything with high protein content in it's analysis. You might find it amusing to watch them get in "tug-a-wars" over the pieces.

Thanks for for the reply, sorry it took so long for me to see it.

I'm assuming that the baby food I have been feeding would supply the water since it's just puréed fruits and veggies with water actually added to it. I have a ton of baby food that the actual baby refuses to eat so I figured it would be great for the crickets.

The egg crate should be safe because it's actually the stuff that came with the crickets I ordered online.

I dont need the crickets to thrive and breed but I do need them to just live for at least a few weeks so they can be fed to the frogs.

[privet01]

The baby food might provide enough water for them. If you are buying small crickets in quantities of 500 then it may not be enough. Food too may be an issue. They need a constant supply of both food and water. If you check in on them and everything is eaten, then you are not giving them enough, IMO.

Getting back to the 500 crickets....... that's a little overkill if you aren't raising your own. I don't know what the size is for a large cricket keeper, but 500 probably needs to be kept in something at least 15"Lx12"Wx12"H or bigger and they need ventilation. Temperature, though it has not been an issue for me, might be if they don't have a sufficient source of water and ventilation. Particularly during shipping or trying to get them back from the pet store and you make a stop or two for other things, leaving them in a hot car.

You only need at most six crickets per week for each FBT (again, IMO and with caveats). So if you are not raising your own, then the smallest, cheapest package you can get will be my recommendation. Also, I can't see buying crickets online as economical for a few FBT's. Crickets grow faster in hot weather, so two weeks might not always be a realistic expectation to still have a feeder size cricket for your frogs.