Tips for keeping bugs alive for next day?
 

I tried putting a little salt water and a small Ziploc bag of ice, but 2 out of 5 died. Any tips?

They do need some air. Wet saltwater towel, bowl, refrigerator. Should last a day, anymore then that freeze em'.

I found that if you keep them clean and cool but not cold, they can live up to 3 days. Little splash of seawater every now and again to keep them hydrated helps too. Don't forget to bring home a little bit of kelp to put on top of em they seem to like that.

Probably not the best but I just toss them in the sink, wet a clean shop towel and put ontop of them and than throw a hand full of ice over the towel and go to bed, always alive until dinner or I freeze them. Tired the same method in a cooler and they died but sink works well.

saltwater towel on top of them in a cooler with the lid open


actually forgot about them once in my garage and they were still alive after almost 3 days!

• Put the bugs in a bucket (no water)

• Put the bucket into a insulated grocery bag (Trader Joe's)

• Put two 1-liter FROZEN water bottles on either side of the bucket (but inside the insulated Trader Joe's bag)

• Put the lid on the bucket (slid off to the side a small bit to allow air flow)

• Lay a folded beach towel on top (for insulation)

When I come home from work the next day to deal with the bugs... they have been kept cool and comfy and are plenty feisty when I am ready to deal with them. I have gone as long as a couple days and they have been fine.

I tried to put them in the refrigerator once and it killed them. Dry and cool seems to work good for me.

A buddy of mine puts them in a plastic storage tote and then puts the tote on some frozen bottles and that seems to work well for him. With the lid cracked of coarse so they can breathe.

Hope that helps someone. That's what I've figured out so far. :lobster:

Soaknews paper/Sawdust in salt water, and put that in the bottom of a box or cooler on top of some frozen paper towels/ice pack/water bottles. It should work just fine for a few days.

Wrap in a wet towel put in drawer of refgerator then turn the humidity knob I p for that drawer

They ship live lobster all over the world. Insulated box, cold packs on bottom, wet news paper, lobsters, more wet news paper, more cold packs, then lid. You want then damp and cool. If you immerse em in water they will use up the O2 and die. Mike

Put them in a 5 gallon bucket and put them in a fridge on a medium temp setting. They will last for days. What you do not want is ice cold water, a cold Ice pack or ice directly touching them as it chills them unevenly and they then die quickly. I have a little dorm fridge I use just for bugs and they will last days in a five gallon bucket. I've even had big lobsters rip of the legs of smaller ones and eat them after being in the fridge a few days.

After a day or two they will will slow down and eventually will hardly be moving but usually they are still not dead. With a dead lobster the tail will come loose from the back of the carapace leaving a gap, once you see that you should clean them immediately.

Some people think that a dead lobster injects some kind of toxin when it dies into the flesh. The truth is just like with fish bacteria in it's digestive track multiply after death but in a lobster it there is no gut to contain it and it can contaminate the meat. Colder they are when they die the less bacterial growth you get and the longer they last. In other words a lobster that dies in your truck, bait tank, or room temperature Ice chest is more suspect, then one that dies after a few days sitting in the fridge. If your worried about them spoiling cut off the tails and remove the digestive track, and then throw them on ice. Tails will last for days chilled or on ice, so if there's a question about them lasting clean them, chill them down, or even freeze the tails.

The big deal is if the meat is soft or mushy when cooked it's not worth eating. You want that meat to be firm after it's cooked.

fill up your biggest cooler with ocean water the day before

I've had friends that try to keep them in baitanks filled with saltwater, but even in a large tank unless the boat is in the water with the pump running refreshing the tank they do not live very long.

I think it's a oxygen or toxicity thing. The other thing to watch is the temp. I had a friend that left a limit of lobsters in a full forty gallon tank over night in his skiff in his driveway. The next morning was warm and sunny by the time he got to them they were not only dead but already spoiled.

I've also had friends that tried to keep them in a saltwater aquarium, but they told me if you don't have a chiller to get the temp down they die.