4 reasons why your crickets smell (and how to fix it) | Tips & Tricks for Keeping Crickets

[@summerbaby9379]

Great idea about the chick starter for dry food. I'm still learning. How do you give them water without fruits or vegetables?

[@BuildingInASmallTown]

There’s TONS of options. Some sort of plastic top with a small lip (think yogurt lid or something similar) with either pebbles or a paper towel in the water for them to walk on will work on a small scale. We use chicken waterers with pea gravel.

[@jn123-r7h]

Hi, Great video. How often do you clean out the cricket tub? Do you scoop the bottom with a dustpan, or do you change the whole tub? Also do you think I can use a vacuum cleaner to clean the bottom of the tub?

[@BuildingInASmallTown]

We only clean it out at the end. We scoop the bottom out with a dustpan. Vacuuming them up is a challenge. The filters get clogged quickly.

[@catsincredulous9998]

I have potato slices for my beetles and meal worms, they devour them even when they go bad, but my smell didn't seem to correlate with that, but I did have 90% of probably 750 crickets die off. I am not even sure that was the cause, but it has been very humid lately, 55-60%! I'm thinking that was the biggest contributor for me. I definitely need to pay more attention though, either way, I definitely cleaned out the dead crickets and now am getting the humidity in control. Actually, I paused the video half way through and added another dehumidifier and turned on the fan in the room I have them in. Quick question: i though we had ample water but I'm thinking now maybe not because I've been spraying water in their dish daily now and I've lost much less since. Is dehydration the number one killer in your opinion? I'm going to change our approach to a small bird feeder with pebbles in the bottom. Just saw that and seems like a pretty good idea as I don't have to be so regimented with watering.

[@robertastk]

Thank you. As usual - informative and helpful.

[@BuildingInASmallTown]

Thanks so much for watching! 💕🦗

[@jayboonie5084]

Hi, Slowing getting into crickets. What do you use for feed pans? if you don't mind me asking :)

[@BuildingInASmallTown]

I use paper plates! Eventually, they eat holes through them, but that takes several rounds of grow out.

[@jayboonie5084]

@@BuildingInASmallTown awesome the cheaper the better I have multi friend in the chicken business so I have no problem getting egg flats either! Thanks for being the best cricket utube ive found yet..

[@EBLENDIS]

Thank you Shelby, I am Indonesian 😊 Good Job and nice explanation

[@diegofranquebalme4204]

Hello! One question, where do you buy the containers?

[@BuildingInASmallTown]

You can use a variety of containers, we use 50 gallon plastic storage containers.

[@IKanFlyDrones]

Is there a substrate you recommend to help keep the humidity low and possibly mask the smell?

[@BuildingInASmallTown]

No substrate needed IMO! more ventilation should help.

[@IKanFlyDrones]

@@BuildingInASmallTown thank you.

[@gregboshell977]

Have you every fed a collard leave to crickets before? I put a pretty good size leaf in and in about 15 minutes all that was left was the veins

[@BuildingInASmallTown]

I've never done that! I can see where they would be all over it though... Maybe something to think about with garden waste...Thanks for sharing.

[@heartb0xes]

thank you for this! i have to keep my crickets in my BEDROOM🤢.. so this helps

[@BuildingInASmallTown]

Oh man! That's never an ideal situation, but you have to do what you have to do. Hopefully this helps!

[@javiermontes905]

I noticed the smell at PetSmart. I thought it was normal. 😂😂

[@BuildingInASmallTown]

Nope! Not normal at all. Usually a pretty big indicator of problems.

[@CaliWalli]

video starts at 1:44 watch at 1.5x speed

[@gappygg8775]

How do you deal with inbreeding ? or cricket didn't have with this problem ?

[@BuildingInASmallTown]

Great question! Inbreeding does happen, especially when people have smaller populations. I would suggest introducing new bugs to your colony every couple of rounds (3-4 full growth cycles) to help with this. PLEASE please please make sure you are introducing new insects to your healthy colonies ONLY from trusted sources. Best practice would be to quarantine your new arrivals to make sure that they don't wipe out your current population. Hope this helps!

[@clotshotthot5750]

I'd rather eat living human flesh than crickets

[@BuildingInASmallTown]

Well, that’s disturbing.

[@clotshotthot5750]

@@BuildingInASmallTown depends on your perspective i guess.