Why are my crickets dying so fast?

Once a week, I get 120 large crickets from my local reptile store. When I get them, they are lively, and active. They seem very healthy. Within a couple of days they start to often bloat and die, Most of the ones left after that, lose their jumping legs and slow down. It becomes a race to feed them to my dragon before they die off. Every once in a while, a bloated, dead cricket will fall out of the tube and Rin will eat it before I can grab it out of his feeding tub. I really hate that..not to mention it is probably really bad for him. They're kept in a large cricket bin, with 4 black tubes in it. I feed them a gut load (not sure of the name, but it's a green cube recommended by the reptile shop, and kept in my refrigerator when it's not being fed to my crickets). I also feed them chopped apples and red lettuce, sometimes chopped potato. They munch out on the food, and seem to really like it. I don't give them water. The one time I tried sprinkling just a tiny bit of water over their food, they died off really quickly, and I was told they will drown in the smallest amount of liquid. Is that true? Should I be giving them water, even if it's just sprayed onto the food? How do people make their crickets last more than a week (other than breeding them in captivity). No matter what, I am going to the reptile shop once a week, and I don't understand how people seem to keep their crickets alive and vital beyond a week without losing their jumping legs or dying.

Any tips and pointers as to what to do and what to feed them would be appreciated. I don't think they have any insect viruses because they die off slowly, not in one big massive death. Is it possible that because I am getting large crickets that their lifespan by the time I get them is just at the end of the cycle? Should I be getting medium crickets instead, so they last longer?

I have a few thoughts. One could be diet, the other could be temperature. Crickets like to be kept warm. If it goes below 70 or so a heating pad might help keep them happier. I kept mine in the basement and they'd die quickly in the winter (low 60s). When I put a heating pad and rock in the tank they'd congregate around them and were much happier. The other thought is diet. I'm not sure what the green food is but I found that the orange flukers gutload was great short term but prevented them from shedding to grow long term. I wound up switching to a staple diet of grain feed and water crystals. You do need to give them water but they drown in open water so keeping a wet sponge in with them or using water crystals (without nasty chemicals) helps. You can still feed them veggies and they'll go to town. I ordered all of my crickets from premiumcrickets/georgiacrickets and was able to keep them for a month or more using their grain feed and water crystals. I housed them in a 20gal tank with a screen top in the basement. No extra lights, just the heat in the winter. Lots of paper towel tubes for them to live in and wood chip substrate to keep the stink down and make it easier to clean up once or twice a week.

Interesting. I had no idea crickets shed. I'm going to get more feeders on Saturday, and I will ask about cricket grains and water crystals. Thanks!

okay so I just checked and the green cubes are called "total bites for feeders" and it says it has food, water, vitamins, amino acids. Says it's complete for feeders. Im beginning to wonder if it should be called total garbage. They dry out within a day or two, and I don't think I can moisten them back to hydration. My crickets are kept in the laundry room, on the first level of our two story house, and it doesn't get cold, especially now, in CA.

I'll have to see what they say at the reptile shop tomorrow when I get new feeders, although they are the ones who sold the stuff to me, so wish me luck. I think I'll ask what they feed their crickets and ask to have some of that.

I switched away from the flukers orange cube for the same reason. It dried out way too quickly. Easier to feed a grain base with some water crystals and then add veggies as I get them.

Make sure the humidity level is very low.......they like it very dry and warm with access to water. Grain food and water crystals have worked best for me. I feed them only greens that I use for my dragons....turnip, collards, mustard, kale etc... most veggies will add a lot of humidity to a cricket bin so I don't use them.

Thanks. Im wondering of the apple slices Im using are also causing humidity. I went to the reptile store yesterday and instead of getting 120 large crickets, I got 120 medium crickets. They said the crickets should do just fine with the green cubes since it has water in it, but that the large crickets only last about a week and a half due to age. I don't know if that's true, but we'll find out with the medium (younger) crickets.