NO MORE CRICKETS!

[sporeworld]

I posted quite a while back about splatter on the back wall behind my enclosures. Thought it might be spray from flies being violently snapped out of the air (which it MAY have been). But a few months back, I started watching my Idolos more carefully, and I saw them occassionally spritz fluid from their backsides - presumably some kind of waste. But it looked just like when big cats spray urine to mark their territory. Maybe all mantids do this (God knows I'm no entomologist). But it did explain a few things. And since I've never SEEN one of my mantids puke personally, for all I know, it could have been coming out the other end! Euchk! Anyone elese experience this..?

 

[warpdrive]

Does anyone refridgerate crickets...?

OMFingG...I'll be back late tonight to solve her problem.

Oh, and no, do not keep them in the fridge.

Harry

 

[hibiscusmile]

I never seen it either, we must be special!

 

[Precarious]

I posted quite a while back about splatter on the back wall behind my enclosures. Thought it might be spray from flies being violently snapped out of the air (which it MAY have been). But a few months back, I started watching my Idolos more carefully, and I saw them occassionally spritz fluid from their backsides - presumably some kind of waste. But it looked just like when big cats spray urine to mark their territory. Maybe all mantids do this (God knows I'm no entomologist). But it did explain a few things. And since I've never SEEN one of my mantids puke personally, for all I know, it could have been coming out the other end! Euchk! Anyone elese experience this..?

Yup, I've seen the Hershey squirts. Mainly after I feed them Mexican food. But seriously, yes. Some other species do it too, but not all.

 

[warpdrive]

Yup, I've seen the Hershey squirts. Mainly after I feed them Mexican food. But seriously, yes. Some other species do it too, but not all.

LOL-I've seen both too.

But the real issue is diet or you are not washing you're veggies enough and the pesticide is killing your crickets.

Carrots are a no no for mantids, and Ghann's and almost every other place feeds carrots.

I don't think ghanns ever had the cricket virus issue, but did do a major clean up and had another feeder place ship that week or two during that time.

I really want to know more about the care and diet first but poor cleaning and diet...and poor keepers or containers with too little ventilation is what i bet.

I've seen it before on other forums....

500 crickets...check.

Small tub/fish tank/garbage can....check

Minimal or no ventilation....check

Decaying food and way too much stinky poop on bottom...check

Forget to wash greens....ooops

What could go wrong?

On the UK forum, some people won't even sell to you if you are going to feed crickets. But it is all about the care you are giving them.

I've fed crickets to almost every leaf and many flower mantids with out issue. I've even posted photos here of almost everything I've had and all lived long lives.

Harry

 

[sporeworld]

That's kinda what I thought. I'm almost certain that Gongy's must do it, too. I first discovered the... ahem.. "results" of this squirting action when I only had Gongy's.

As for the crickets, I was just curious. So many other insects can be extended by keeping them cold - thought maybe someone had done it with crix.

 

[warpdrive]

I'm sorry I missed how you took care of your crickets.

I'm not saying It's your fault. All farms have had issues and I'm sure i must be mistaken about ghanns too. Yet I've never had an issue.

This cricket virus is an old issue that could be redirecting again. I just bounce around and buy from anyone with a good deal, ghanns included, and have been lucky to never been hit yet.

But I also never feed off anything until two days to always make sure they are healthy and full of my food.

 

[Psychobunny]

i have had this happen with mantids as well. it means the humidity is WAY to high.

I am in process of checking into this and have been doing tons of research.

I have 4 of those plastic hygrometers that are highly rated and cheap.

However, I have seen that these devices, and all the other inexpensive plastic

ones are not accurate. In fact, when compaired to a NIST certified and expensive

hygrometer, they are WAY off!! sometimes more then 100% off!!

In other words, they are all worthless unless they can be calibrated and annualy

NIST certified!!!!

If you want a hygrometer that is accurate, you will need to bite the bullet and spend

the money.

After doing some study, I finally decided to buy one of these;

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NI7C0A/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details

You can calibrate it yourself, of sign up for the annual calibration program, send it back

every year, and have it professionaly calibrated with a NIST certificate.

You get what you pay for, and at least you will know FOR SURE which hygrometer in the house

is reading the CORRECT RH!!

 

[patrickfraser]

That's a pricey piece of equipment. I just rely on the readout on my humidifier and have no probs. Good luck on getting your humidity under control.

 

[Psychobunny]

That's a pricey piece of equipment. I just rely on the readout on my humidifier and have no probs. Good luck on getting your humidity under control.

Thanks.

You dont have to spend this much to get a good calibratible, certified hygrometer. I just happen to like the looks of this one

 

[Introvertebrate]

Ghann's should be switching to Gryllus assimilis soon:

When will Ghann's have the "new cricket" (Gryllus assimilis)?

UPDATED 9/14/11 - Our Gryllus assimilis are thriving just fine, but building up the colony to commercial sales numbers is a slow process. We are now estimating that we will be able to begin shipping Gryllus assimilis sometime shortly after the first the year (maybe Feb 2012). Watch closely - we will make an announcement when we have quantities ready to ship!

7/13/11 - We're happy to announce that we have just been granted permits by the USDA to LEGALLY produce the new VIRUS RESISTANT cricket that everyone is talking about, and TODAY we received our initial breeding stock - our "Adams & Eves"! The species is Gryllus assimilis (commonly called the Jamaican Field Cricket), and it's VERY similar to the standard Acheta domesticus that we all know & love. The adults get a little larger and are a little darker in color, but the MAJOR difference is... the deadly cricket virus that kills Achetas does NOT affect Gryllus assimilis!

 

[gripen]

I am in process of checking into this and have been doing tons of research.

I have 4 of those plastic hygrometers that are highly rated and cheap.

However, I have seen that these devices, and all the other inexpensive plastic

ones are not accurate. In fact, when compaired to a NIST certified and expensive

hygrometer, they are WAY off!! sometimes more then 100% off!!

In other words, they are all worthless unless they can be calibrated and annualy

NIST certified!!!!

If you want a hygrometer that is accurate, you will need to bite the bullet and spend

the money.

After doing some study, I finally decided to buy one of these;

http://www.amazon.co...s00_i00_details

You can calibrate it yourself, of sign up for the annual calibration program, send it back

every year, and have it professionaly calibrated with a NIST certificate.

You get what you pay for, and at least you will know FOR SURE which hygrometer in the house

is reading the CORRECT RH!!

yeah i know where to get a good hydrometer all im saying is 50% or less humidity is fine for ever species i have ever had. if it gets above that problems start to happen.

 

[sinensispsyched]

About the squirting: I had my young chinese on the edge of my laptop while I was on this website, and he did it right across the screen!

As for puking, I was allowing my chinese to drink when he puked on my finger. YYYUUUCCCKKK! It smelled terrible!

 

[GreenOasis]

It's "hygrometer" when you're checking humidity on it, btw.

I had serious aversions to using crickets back when I first got into mantids, too...and heard about the "no-no" faux pas of feeding carrots to feeders (such as mealworms), but I am here to tell you that the fault with feeders lies in the diet/care of them, but has NOTHING to do with carrots, per se...it also has to do with where you are getting them from (i.e. the diet they were getting prior to arriving to YOU). Getting crickets from a source that only feeds them potatoes is a guaranteed death sentence....both for the cricket involved and the mantid being fed to. Often crickets will ARRIVE with potatoes, but this is usually just for transit, temporarily, it is NOT meant to be their daily diet all the time!

Look into the data and you will find that potatoes are usually the suspect item when "potato salad goes bad", and hubby kindly advised me as to why, since he had his food-handlers permit & they are required to take a test for that: Potatoes can harbor all kinds of bacteria in them, including botulism, whether fresh or cooked, if they are allowed to sit & rot for any period of time. The skin protects them somewhat...until they are cut open & exposed.

As soon as I get my crickets, I remove the potato from them, and if I can't give them "Bug Burger", water gel, or roach chow right away, I give them carrot until I can get to them. My "homegrown" mealworms always get carrots & lay in a nice bed of organic wheat bran/organic oat meal to feed on. They don't turn black & die. The crickets only die off a bit when I initially get them (because they are weak from the temporary potato diet & stress of being bounced around in a truck for a day and a half.) After the initial die off of a few dozen crickets (out of a box of 1000), rarely any more deaths occur.

Rebecca, I'm sorry, but I find it very hard to believe that when you get your crickets shipped to you, that there are NO dead crickets in the box...it just doesn't happen.

So, folks, in my humble opinion, carrots have NOTHING to do with the quality of your feeder...Potatoes are worse...cut up old, rotten potatoes = death.

Whenever I can get my stupid hosting service software to cooperate, I will be listing pre-gutloaded crickets for sale, as I no longer believe that crickets are the devil's playthings. They will be fed roach chow, bug burger, water crystals/hydroload, carrots and honey.

BTW, brown stains on the wall are usually ejected waste water. (Rather like in the human world....eww.) I've heard that some species will do this if they are being kept too moist. I know that H. multispina does this ALL the time, no matter the humidity. And it does get rather stinky if you don't keep them clean. Be more concerned if you see black "goo".

Creobroters are particularly susceptible to "black rot" of the exo, often starting around their mouths...from too high of humidity. This usually happens with older adults, but sometimes with nymphs that have been kept too moist for too long. Stating this from experience.

Sorry, I haven't got much time to be thorough in my explanations...time to start dinner!...but just thought I would share my thoughts/experiences!

 

[Newflvr]

I do the same.

I have my crick tub on a heater at 75F, which seems to work for them.

My dubia's will survive at 75F, but 90F is the magic number for them, they breed like crazy at that temp.

When I turn the temp down, they stop breeding. I can control the colony that way.

In my opinion temp sounds good, large tub with good ventilation- good. I would play with the food variable = no lettuce, see what changes etc. Just change 1 thing at a time to see if that's it or not. Fingers crossed Good Luck

 

[agent A]

My crix do fine, a few stiff dead bodies once in a while but most of my crix deaths r from predation and mismolts

 

[sporeworld]

Concerning humidity and temp gauges, once I got past 15 tanks, I reorganized. I found $7 Taylor brand gauges and bought them in bulk. Once a month or so, I collect them all and put them in the same enclosure for a day or so, and make sure they read abooooooout the same (seldom exactly the same). Close enough to trust their relative accuracy.

 

[Psychobunny]

yeah i know where to get a good hydrometer all im saying is 50% or less humidity is fine for ever species i have ever had. if it gets above that problems start to happen.

I agree. I keep my rooms at 50% all the time

 

[Psychobunny]

My crix do fine, a few stiff dead bodies once in a while but most of my crix deaths r from predation and mismolts

Where are you getting your cricks from?

 

[Psychobunny]

In my opinion temp sounds good, large tub with good ventilation- good. I would play with the food variable = no lettuce, see what changes etc. Just change 1 thing at a time to see if that's it or not. Fingers crossed Good Luck

Thanks, I am doing just that.

I am expecting a new batch of 200 cricks from Premium Crickets and also bought a pound of their crick chow.

I am washing my tub out with hot soapy water with a little bleach.

I have also disscontinued the lettuse, it is not organicly grown, and may be loaded with chemicals which may be

bad for cricks but harmless to humans.

I also change the egg cartons regularly because they get pretty nasty!!