why are they dying? Please help

[Dark_Angel_25]

Why do my crickets die so fast? they are in a rubbermaid, and we have a dish in there with food and Flukers goat load thirst quencher... we bought 50 on Wednesday and today only 3 are left alive (minus the ones we fed) I don't get it? Anyone have ideas? or tips to make them last longer? They weren't adults, they were medium sized crickets about the size on average of your index fingernail.... I am getting so frustrated....
They have papertowel rolls and cardboard to hide in too... is there like a temp to keep them at or something? I am at a loss, both with patience and if this keeps up, money!!

[Big_V]

The best thing to do is too keep it fairly dry and cool. I used to keep 1000's of crickets a week and the higher the humidity and temperature the more they died. Its best to keep them in a basement and keep dry egg cartoon or paper towel rolls in there at all times. It worked for me and i ended up with only 10% mortality.
Cheers,
Ryan

[Will]

Room Temp or higher and maybe throw in some veggies. NO WATER!!! At all... When I bred them, I used lettuce and carrots, and that was their only source of moisture and I raised hundreds at a time with very few deaths. I used 50W heat lamps, granted my house was freaking cold, but I had no problem with high temps, if you can get to 80 or so, it will speed up their growth, if that's what you are looking for. Room temp is fine if you want to slow down their growth. Like Ryan said, low humidity and lots of air flow too, what is the lid on the rubbermaid like...? I had 1/3 cut out with screen mesh covering it. Hot glue and duct tape the edges. Always keep something in there for moisture though, like veggies, never used the cricket gel, but that should work as well, they dry out and die really easily.

[Linds]

I would get rid of that cricket jelly and just stick to fruits, veggies, and greens for moisture. The cricket jelly is not supposed to be ingested by reptiles, and if it is, may cause feeding problems... now it may not be directly eaten, but what goes in the crickets goes in to the animals eating them :eek: