Crickets keep dying,,,,,,why?

For those of you who purchase crickets from pet stores, you will want to make sure to find out where they get their crickets from because they may still be receiving them from places with this virus. I was just told by a customer of mine who works at a "pet store" that the crickets they just received died.

Most of the places who have the virus are purchasing from others to keep customers orders filled but the virus spreads so quickly that just by them handling the crickets they can pass it on to the none infected crickets. Double checking who your supplier is getting crickets from Is a good idea. You will loose a lot if you dont. I was buying them by the thousands before my supplier told me about the problem.

For my referance does anyone have any suggestions of suppliers that are known to be clean?

Lazy H bate, Armstrong, Ghann (but ghann is out of 3/4" and 1")

Mostly anyone that is on the east cost is good, on the west coast cricket factory claims to have clean crickets. I haven't tried them yet but am about to i placed an order today just to see.

Originally Posted by BreedersCircle

Lazy H bate, Armstrong, Ghann (but ghann is out of 3/4" and 1")

Thats probably because they were selling to other breeders out here in the west coast.

Ghana I'm pretty sure would be a good choice if you have a need for smaller crickets right now. I have a friends here that are ordering from them to here and others who are working on it.

I have to say that this cricket virus is scary stuff. I own a reptile store and my partner owns 2 others and we have been jumping from supplier to supplier for the past few months. Our latest one has just run into supply issues and we're in serious need for crickets as we order 100k a week. I have a feeling that, just like Europe, all our cricket farms will crash and we'll be left with roaches only (I'm not sure what the Dept of Ag says on other cricket species). Of course this will be quite a set-back to the reptile industry, as I know many of my customers will not be happy with roaches.

I spoke to my supplier here in northern cal and he to has run out if adult / large crickets all he has left now are up to 3-4 weeks. I to have been reduced to roaches and supers for now. I lost my entire colony of crickets a few months back when I ordered a few crickets from a supplier down here as a surplus.

Originally Posted by ace9916

I spoke to my supplier here in northern cal and he to has run out if adult / large crickets all he has left now are up to 3-4 weeks. I to have been reduced to roaches and supers for now. I lost my entire colony of crickets a few months back when I ordered a few crickets from a supplier down here as a surplus.

Now this could mean one of a few things, they may be upping their production and holding back more adults in order to increase their production due to additional customer inflow or they may just have the virus and their crickets are dying off. If you suspect the latter is what is going on I'd suggest looking for another supplier and or a different food source for your critters.

X

Originally Posted by DAND

Now this could mean one of a few things, they may be upping their production and holding back more adults in order to increase their production due to additional customer inflow or they may just have the virus and their crickets are dying off. If you suspect the latter is what is going on I'd suggest looking for another supplier and or a different food source for your critters.

He told me that he had sold out, and the ones he did have were breeders.