whats all this about a disease thats killing the crickets?

[Lisa]

Hello, I'm fairly new to keeping gecko's . I'm just getting used to the different types of food I can feed them. I hear that there is a disease or something thats killing all the brown crickets off and wondered if anybody knows much about this.

I would also like to hear some advice about caring for the crickets and mealworms etc before I feed them to the gecko's. I have put all my crickets in a large tub with cricket food, and slices of apple and grated carrot. I got my first tub of mealworms today and I gave them a slice of apple and they ate it within a couple of hours. Do they eat each other, because there were quite a few shells of mealworms in the tub, same with the crickets, there are lots of dead ones and I'm not sure whether they are eating each other, dying cos of the disease thats going around, or for all I know they might shed their skin, I haven't been able to find much info on the subject so far, hope you can help.
[addsig]

[Shadrach]

If ya look closley at the dead one's I think you'll see they are the shed skin's of the insect's I had both and alway's had lot's of skin's in the enclosure's!!! As far as something killing them i haven't heard of that yet????
[addsig]

[telefrag]

are the crickets Acheta domestica?
shads right, they are probably molts,
but crickets will kill and eat each other if they dont have lots of places to hide.
They are also pretty sensitive to extreme heat, its best to keep them around room temp 70-75

[addsig]

[Lisa]

I think the disease is going around european cricket farms and affects only the brown crickets( I don't know the scientific name ) . The local reptile specialist where I get my crickets said he was importing his from America as the european type were affected by this thing so I don't think its affecting the American type of brown crickets. It only affects that particular type of cricket and isn't harmful to the lizards I've been told but thats about all I know on the subject.

Also.....when I last bought some Crickets (which were American imported ones) there were these little grub things in the same tub as the crickets, at first I thought they were mealworms which had got mixed in with the crickets but since I bought some mealworms its apparent that they are not the same thing. The thing is, I put some in for my little leopard gecko, and today I noticed that these things have been busy burrowing into the cork bark hide in her cage, leaving little piles of cork dust.........what are they, woodworms or something?, don't want those things getting loose in the house. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img]
[addsig]

[Bry]

I think the disease is called 'stupidity'. It affects a lot of humans too. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img]

Bry
[addsig]

[Lisa]

Thanks Bry, thats really helped me out a lot [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]
[addsig]

[Lisa]

Well, I did a bit of browsing and found the answer to my question here if anyones interested.cricket virus

And I've splatted al those little woodworm thingies too and thrown out the cork bark just incase, cos I don't want my house getting eaten [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
[addsig]

[Lisa]

OK, The link I sent only copies the home page so if you want to see the article you have to click on products, then click on food, then click on live food, then click single tub, it will take you to brown crickets and say important notice, and a bit about the problems obtaining the crickets and theres a link on that page to the article.
[addsig]

[motorherp]

Here ya go Lisa, Livefood.co.uk forum
I've been getting the "new" tropical ones and they are fine! Good luck with your new gecko!
[addsig]