Crickets keep dying,,,,,,why?

It doesn't matter what I do, my crickets keep dying.
Here are the conditions they're kept in:
70-80 degrees
sponge with water
fruit/veggies for food
egg cartons for climbing
not overcrowded (20 gallon rubbermaid with 100 crickets)

Any suggestions???????????????


HELP PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You might want to look at the ventilation. We use the larger (and deeper) rubbermaids. This allows us to leave it with no lids for maxium ventilation. With the numbers your working with you could just make a screen top for the tub.

This is what we do:

1. high quality crickets (I tried a number of vendors to find the right balance of quality vs. price).
2. Cricket waterer (this is a bottle, upside down that flows into a sponge ring)
3. Monster Diets cricket food.
4. Egg cartons for separation and hide spots.
5. In AC'ed room to keep temps in the high 70's low 80's (we're in So Cal and last week it busted 100 outside)

Thanks a lot!


That's the funny thing, I don't have a lid on the top, so ventilation is great.

I think Walmart crickets suck, and I recentley posted a good post about a box of crickets I bought, but they all died the next day.

What size crickets are you buying?

Wal Mart sells crickets now??? Wow I didn't know that!

Kelli,
I'm buying med-large crickets.
I bought some yesterday, and I woke up this morning and all 50 were dead.
I know the conditions were good, but damn these crickets must suck.

When you find them dead, are they just laying there or are they on their backs?

They're dead, and all mushy like.

There was no movement at all.

I didn't mean that question to suggest they might not be dead, but the position they die in could be a clue. If they're dead on their backs it's a sign of poisoning. Dead on their bellies suggests another cause. One or two on their backs isn't an indication though, but if entire batches are dying that way it needs to be investigated.
I have known of people with chronic trouble keeping crickets alive that started looking at potential pollutants. It may have been a cleaning product, a certain air freshner, or another ariborne chemical that was poisoning the crickets. Dying on their backs is a symptom of this.

Another thing you may want to check is the sponge you are using for water. Most synthetic sponges, particularly the ones you get in the cleaning section, are treated with something, I'm not sure what. Whatever it is will foam up when you work the sponge in clean water. This may be a factor, I don't know. I've never used these type sponges for that reason.
I never offered my crickets an actual water source, I just misted greens and put them in the tub.

In my opinion, there has to be some outside influence that is killing them all in one day. The store couldn't keep any to sell if they died that quickly.
Low quality crickets won't live long, but they all usually won't die immediately.

Thanks a lot Clay, I'm going to check into this a little closer.

If crickets appear "mushy" then it may be that they are getting overheated. If there is any mositure on the side of the container then they are not getting enough ventilation.

Also bacteria loves to grow on sponges - get rid of it. If the sponge is "antibacterial" that it containes a chemical that is harmful to crickets

Try getting some water gel or purchase a watering system (a chicken waterer works well) you can buy them at any feed store.

Hope this helps.

Tracey