How to care for Crickets??

[Frogsarethapoop]

I agree that your crickets are dying because you are using paper towel to give water, which becomes bacteria laden after only a day. The bacteria are what is killing your crickets. If you use paper towel, then you must change it every single day, or they will die.

 

[Anastasia]

OK, time out, here is a source of great info not a cock fight ring
Am gettin interesting on roach info
and why are they better source of food then crickets
if I got this right

PS not to hijack sumones thread, I can start my own or serch fer old info

 

[Arachnobrian]

Roach colonies may not be the most ideal feeder choice for those with smaller collections.

I purchase crickets weekly it gives me a reason to visit local pet stores, and see the new exotic arrivals. Oh, and I love seeing the look on peoples faces when they ask what the "bag of bugs" are for. lol

There is a great thread on breeding crickets in the articles section, which may help.


Cricket buying tips:

-I always ask for 2 dozen, as the clerks rarely take the time to count that many moving bugs, and usually end up with many more.
-Purchase medium in size, no chirping.

 

[Dom]

Sorry to hijack your thread
There are many reasons I gave up on crickets. One of them is I just didn't have time to get the a pet store each week. I didn't really trust that the crickets were properly fed/nutrified and would end up feeding them for a day or 2 anyway.
A small roach colony can be housed in a critter keeper so it's not really any different than housing the crickets that don't get eaten right away- except they don't smell, die or make noise .

 

[Tleilaxu]

For me the roaches would soon become pets and not feeders, than I am screwed. LOL

 

[mikeymo]

just to give my two cents:

I've had a LOT of sucess keeping my crickets in a small critter cage. The slits in the roof provide proper ventilation but are small enough to prevent escape. The egg carton thing gives them a place to hide and they seem to enjoy it.i feed them washed and peeled baby carrots and replace the carrots every few days. the food dish simply keeps the food in place. I lost two crickets the other day to a rolling carrot, in what will forver be known as the great baby carrot fiasco of '07

 

[Stylopidae]

OK, time out, here is a source of great info not a cock fight ring

Some people just have something to prove. What anybody in this thread does doesn't make any difference to me. I just don't see the point in high maintenance feeders.

I raised crickets for about 6 months for some of the herps in my old marine bio class (as well as an identical setup in my house) and they required almost daily maintenance.

For the price of one cricket shipment ($15) I can be breeding hundreds of crickets and never have to pay for food as well.

Not including tanks and such. My figure did.

I'm not going to get into a pissing contest over something that's self evident. All the colonies on my profile cost me ~$150 to set up, including heating implements and containment. and between everything I raise (some stuff I haven't quite got down perfect and that's not in my profile) I have feeders ranging from near microscopic to roaches that are pushing 3" in length (the smallest actual roaches I have are about 1/8 inch).

All 8 of my roach colonies require less maintenance than my one cricket rack did.

As for the nutritional figures, they can be found quite easily via a quick google search.

 

[Taceas]

I have to agree with Cheshire. Crickets may work for some people, but they didn't work for me, ever...and I have tried countless times. But once I found out I could raise roaches instead, with less work and involvement, it was non sequitur. And there are plenty of people on this site who will say the exact same thing, so you can't argue with numbers. Yeah you pay a considerably more up-front start-up cost, but it's well worth it in the end, imho.

I live in a little farm town of 8,000 or so. We don't have a pet store. The nearest pet store that carries crickets is 30 miles away. That same pet store charges $ 0.25/cricket. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to drive 60 miles every week just to feed my small collection of arachnids, one leopard gecko, and one tiger salamander overpriced, parasite ridden food (if its anything like their feeder rodents).

I used to have a bearded dragon a few years ago and ordered crickets by 500-1000 at a time. If, keyword there, they arrived as scheduled and the USPS didn't kill them by cooking or freezing them...by the third day over half were dead anyway. Not to mention they stank, I never did manage to get them to breed, they cannibalized each other, they made noise, they attracted gnats/flies, and they were too much work just to keep alive for intended multiple feedings.

Once I got a colony of lobster roaches going, I said goodbye to expensive, in that I had to re-order every whip-stitch because of mass deaths, crickets, forever. And I don't really factor in the cost of feeding them. I own a literal zoo, and between all of the animals I have and their feed, its only a fraction that keeps my roaches well fed.

Not to mention now, I've really begun to like the roaches. They're kinda cute, not cute enough to keep me from feeding them off by any means, but they're interesting to watch and take care of.

Obviously what you're doing is working for you, and I'm happy for ya. Apparently you're 1 in a 1,000, as not many people I've found on ANY critter forum where the critters eat feeder insects seem to be as fortunate in successful cricket maintenance.

 

[nepenthes]

I know I would love to switch over to FR, but my mom wont let me the whole They are roaches and will infest the house, But she doesn't realize that FR aren't the German roaches.
:wall:

I dont have that many inverts but I would love to have a nice looking Roach colony any ways! Most of my Crickets die, i feed them with water dish (soda cap) those little jelly things, and vegi's. I mist them every now and then too and they have hidiing places and are in a bug cage....

I find them dead to often and just HATE the smell of crickets in the morning... :evil:

 

[eight leg goth]

my mum wont let me get dubias because she saw a roach infestation in a hotel room on holiday oonce. she doesnt seem to understand that they were different but when i tried to explain she said
" they're roaches full stop" oh well i dont have a problem with crix they just dont look as good as a nice fat roach colony

 

[rYe]

Well I'm sorry for your bad luck, I had no idea so many people have problems with Crickets. I barely do anything with mine (I get them 500-1000 at a time as well) and I only get about a 5% (Estimate) death in the first days other then that I don't suffer any real deaths. To be honest I just don't know what your guys problem was.

As for a "Pissing" contest I'm not trying to start anything, just having a debate with you that was most interesting and informative. One last thing though my $15 did include tanks (I already own tons) but if I didn't another 15 added on would do the trick.

 

[Dom]

Well I'm sorry for your bad luck, I had no idea so many people have problems with Crickets. I barely do anything with mine (I get them 500-1000 at a time as well) and I only get about a 5% (Estimate) death in the first days other then that I don't suffer any real deaths. To be honest I just don't know what your guys problem was.QUOTE]


Many of us didn't have "problems" breeding/keeping crickets it's just that roaches are WAY easier and more enjoyable to keep IMHO.
Crickets are just a high-maintenance, smelly, noisy cousin to roaches. Plus they're a little small for many herps/inverts.
I can't remember how long the adult crickets live but I think it's only for a few weeks after maturing. Roaches live for a year or more after maturing and will have many broods/clutches of babies/eggs.
It's obvious that you like crickets rYe but they just don't make sense for the majority of hobbyists .

 

[Frogsarethapoop]

I know this is an invert forum, but for people like me with 100's of amphibians, roaches are pretty much next to useless, other than for a few larger species. It all depends on your application. I breed my own crickets, and after the initial setup, they are relatively easy to keep and maintain. I could probably do it in my sleep. I do agree however, that a roach colony is much simpler to look after, an 8 year old kid could do it.

This thread reminds me of a guy I know, who thinks everything he does, or owns is far superior to anything else another person owns or does. If he has a cd, he thinks it is the best, but if someone else has a cd, even if it is a cd of his favourite artist, and he doesn't have it, then he openly hates on it, only until he has it of course, then all of a sudden it is the most wicked cd out there! Or how he thinks his $1000 car is so much better than someone else $20000 car. Quite ridiculous! Get over it.

 

[Taceas]

This is a discussion forum where there is free exchange of information and ideas from many different people from many different backgrounds. Every now and then you're going to have a difference of opinion on something. Be humble and accept it.

 

[Only Exotics]

I prefer crickets they taste soooooooo much better dipped in chocolate then roaches do!!! :} :} :}

 

[simon780]

My crickets die when they are really dehydrated and they do kill each other when they don't have enough moisture from water or fruits.

And also large portion of them could die after getting them from the pet shop for a day or two, I don't know why, just make sure they are well hydrated, give them lots of hide, food.

Instead of giving them a towel, give them fruit, make sure they are pesticides free. I used to give them carrots, it works pretty well, they dried out instead of getting mould, but I think they may absorb some pesticides into the carrots, so I switch to peeled apples for them, but you have to remove it after 2 days or they will stink.

 

[Stylopidae]

Don't forget to remove dead specimens. Crickets are very sensitive to any sort of bacterial buildup and this will quickly kill them.

Also, change food daily because of the aforementioned problem

 

[Frogsarethapoop]

This is a discussion forum where there is free exchange of information and ideas from many different people from many different backgrounds. Every now and then you're going to have a difference of opinion on something. Be humble and accept it.

Im sorry, but the majority of the posts in this thread can hardly be called a discussion. I would say its closer to whining than a discussion.