# How to stop crickets dying in cricket keeper?



## 1ntense

Last 2 orders of 250-500 brown crickets Ive ordered, the majority have died, around 3/4 of the last 500 I got.

I keep them in a cricket keeper, and put things like butternet squash, greens and carrot in to gut load them.

Im thinking it was maybe the increased humidity that the veg creates? They all just ended up in a gooey mess at the bottom of the keeper.. 

Maybe a bigger keeper, a rub with holes drilled in instead? Quite sure lots of people use the large cricket keepers without too many fatalities though..

Any ideas?


----------



## Javeo

Yea too much humidity. I feed mine on fish flakes and only a couple of slices of fruit or veg for moisture.


----------



## Lukeg28

try cleaning out more often also... and try lettuce instead of really watery type vegs and also cat food like saod above... i buy in 500 at a time in a cricket keepr and mine always survive.. put in a lil egg tray for them .. a lil bit of feed and they should do fine ... o and keep them around room tempreture.


----------



## Dan99

I feed mine " weetibix " ! it seems to work :whistling2:


----------



## 1ntense

lol yeah, heard about the weetabix thing. Put some in for them and 3 bits of carrot..

Would it be wise to take the carrot out or should they be ok with that?

Was going to invest in a rub and drill holes for air today, thinking would give more room to put a small tub with veg in, the humidity problem would probably still be the same though.

Will try putting less veg in, have heard of the cat food thing too, how can that be good for a beardie though??


----------



## garlicpickle

I keep my crickets in a plastic RUB with the lid off and a piece of nylon mesh over the top, secured with elastic. I put about an inch of crushed up weetabix in the bottom and a few egg boxes and loo roll tubes. I give them bug gel in a milk bottle lid.
Every couple of days I scatter some fish flakes in there and put in something like a cabbage leaf or pieces of carrot. the next time I go to feed I remove any uneaten veg and change the bug gel.
they live for weeks. the secret is to keep them dry and well ventilated.


----------



## Nihlus

think it may be a space issue as the cricket keepers aren't really big enough for more than 200ish you'd be better off with a Cheap RUB, Places like Focus and B&Q sell them pretty cheap and they can be Loads bigger than the Cricket Keepers


----------



## minty1982

can you get away with not putting a water source in with them if you feed them fruit like oranges and apple


----------



## Nihlus

minty1982 said:


> can you get away with not putting a water source in with them if you feed them fruit like oranges and apple


I dont use water mine get theres from the leafy greens I put in. I use the mixed salads that you can get from supermarkets which I also use for my dragon. I have not had any die yet, well cept for those that my dragon has eaten :lol2:


----------



## Grond

garlicpickle said:


> I keep my crickets in a plastic RUB with the lid off and a piece of nylon mesh over the top, secured with elastic. I put about an inch of crushed up weetabix in the bottom and a few egg boxes and loo roll tubes. I give them bug gel in a milk bottle lid.
> Every couple of days I scatter some fish flakes in there and put in something like a cabbage leaf or pieces of carrot. the next time I go to feed I remove any uneaten veg and change the bug gel.
> they live for weeks. the secret is to keep them dry and well ventilated.


I used to have problems with them dying or going mouldy. In high humidity this will happen in hours. For the last few years, I've been keeping them similar to above, but have slowly modified my technique to improve results.

I have a big plastic tub, and melted 1200 3mm ventilation holes in the lid and the top of the sides with a soldering iron.

I don't have any substrate at all (therefore no mould). I have a large eggbox covering most of the floor, with two small egboxes on top. The top ones can then be shaken into a bag without escapees!

I feed fish food pellets which I keep in a cut down coleslaw tub to stop them going all over the cage. I feed no veg now as it encourages mould. Instead, I give them another cut down coleslaw tub with 8 cotton wool balls in it and soak these in water. This way they can drink but no free water in the cage! I top this up every 3 days and replace after 9/10 days.

They last for ever when kept this way with virtually no deaths.

I buy 1000 at a time and probably lose less than 50 over the couple of months they last.


----------



## erewegoagain

I used to have a huge plastic bucket with a top made out of nylon mesh, jam jar lid with cotton wool soaked in water and one a larger bowl with salad mix, they lived for ages. (black field crickets)


----------

