How Do I Keep My Crickets From Dying

[Kristy]

I have heard that the water stuff is okay, but not the stuff loaded with vitamins. I have never used it so I can't speak from experience.

I would just use veggies like carrots, potato slices, I use the left overs I have from the dragons veggies. Fruits will work too.

[cierahailee]

I can barely handle crickets! I dont think I could handle roaches!

[Kristy]

I rarely feed crickets anymore since I switched to Dubias. I try to change it up for the Dragon though so I do get some crickets here and there.

Dubias are so much better than crickets though. I didn't think I could handle the roaches but it wasn't bad at all.

[cierahailee]

I'll look into it. How many would a beardi the size of mine eat a day? See the pic with my sig for sizing!

[nixer]

crickets need water food and lots of air!
what size crickets are you buying?
when i had them all the time id use there huge critter keepers
even then they will still die

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Merged both threads for you

[cierahailee]

Thanks Deborah!

[SoCaliSon]

I'm another who swears by Dubias... I keep all sorts of Herps and have not had to buy a cricket in months since my Dubia colony got up and going. They don't stink like crickets do... They are easy to handle... They don't chirp... and they breed like crazy when you keep them warm. IMO the best feeder for bug eating herps.

As for crickets... When I was raising them I found the survival rate stayed up when I had extra ventalation. It's like the smell of crickets...kills the crickets. I cut an openings in the sides and the lid to ensure a nice pathway for cross ventalation.

[Clear]

The smell of crickets kills humans! actually when they die they release a toxin that kills others, so one dead will kill 3-5 more and so on! ventilation is a must, mold and rotten foods will also kill them fast.

As far as roaches go, they are not as bad as you think they are. I dont even think that my dubia look like a normal american roach. They are a little slow to get off the ground to breed but once they are going your never have to buy crickets again. They like it warm so temps need to be in the 90's, with good food and a water supply, I use water crystals. He will be eating just a little less dubia than crickets, dubia are meatier so he will fill up a little faster, so just feed 2-3x a day for 15 mins all he can eat!

[Beardedragon]

What size crickets are you buying? Beardies should be able to eat all 500 in two weeks easily. They cant die when they are already dead

BTW, to those who hate cricket smell, if your crickets smell, your doing something wrong. I buy thousands at a time and have never had a problem with smell. Its all about diet.