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!
