Put them in a bucket fill with hose cold fresh water stir them repeat till water is clean... Colder the better then I pour a bunch of salt on them... Add a little water stir don't leave salt on them too long or they may die... I keep them in a 5 gallon bucket in the fridge in the garage with a good aerator they stay alive for several weeks but the only problem doing that for too long they will start eating each other!!!! Pulled one out the other day all was left was a claw and a bit of meat attached!!! :yikes: good luck hope this helps... Ps.. Good videos on you tube will shortin you learning curve big time..

 

Ok thank you. How long do you leave them in the salt for? And what if I wanna wait till I get a bunch for a get together? Would I put them in the water and salt water then freeze them after or what? Thanks

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Do you have any lake access? I live on a lake so I made a holding bin(sump) it's 2.5'x2.5'x10". It's plenty big and when I have a boil coming up(like I do this weekend) I'll start trapping a week ahead of time and just dump em in the holding bin and toss some dead bluegill or hot dogs in there. I had 350-/+ in there for a week and had 2-3 get eaten.

If you don't have lake access you can also use a kiddie pool with a little trickle from a garden hose to keep em going. If you don't feel like going thru all that keeping them in a bucket in the fridge I heard works.

As for cleaning them I toss them in a cooler with some ice water let it sit for about 10 minutes then change the water every 10-15 minutes. Usually give it a few stirs. I'll do that 3-4 times until the water I'm dumping is clean. Next boil I have u might try the salt water technique.

Good luck! If you have anymore questions feel free to ask everyone in this section of the forum is willing to help.


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Don't do the salt till just before you boil them I do it while the water is heating up.... I have them in a bucket with no water and dump a whole bunch of salt on them swish them around in the salt add a little water.... Just enough to stir them salt bath I just do for 5 min. Then rinse them good drain then into the boiling water they go! I used the Zanarains Cajun crab boil seasoning 3 quartered lemons 3 halved oranges corn red potatoes sausage.... Man they are good eats!!!! For best catches make sure your bait is fresh I use bluegills and catfish cut up and change the bait every check.... They rot quicker in water .... Good luck!

 

Don't do the salt till just before you boil them I do it while the water is heating up.... I have them in a bucket with no water and dump a whole bunch of salt on them swish them around in the salt add a little water.... Just enough to stir them salt bath I just do for 5 min. Then rinse them good drain then into the boiling water they go! I used the Zanarains Cajun crab boil seasoning 3 quartered lemons 3 halved oranges corn red potatoes sausage.... Man they are good eats!!!! For best catches make sure your bait is fresh I use bluegills and catfish cut up and change the bait every check.... They rot quicker in water .... Good luck!

what he said, also try some other boild, i like mcCormicks fish and crab boil, others swear by bay crab boil,, some just use a 1/2 cup salt per gallon of water to do their boil.
as to keeping them i personaly only keep mine a couple days with ice in a cooler , then i cook them, and eat or freeze them. usually eat...
theres some good youtube vids on purging and cooking.

 

Will using city water kill them when you try to purge them?

 

theres some good youtube vids on purging and cooking.

 

I'm not sure if it will kill them using city water I have a well.... I think it would kill them just cause I thought I heard that before

 

do you think they will live in a cooler with a bubbler put in it. If i get a 5 gallon cooler how many can i put in there? I would like to be able to keep them alive for 5 day and was going to change the water daily as well as the bubbler.

 

:lol:

They need a LOT more O2 than fish do, so unless you have a couple aerators - I wouldn't think you could get away with out die offs....

 

thanks for the response I will have to see if i can set something up. maybe something that i can keep them in the lake?

 

Search the crayfish section - there's a few posts on holding pens - just make sure they have a lid, or the raccoons will be eatin' good!

 

If you look at the beginning of where you post threads? There's all kinds of Info. on crawdad's. Lots of good stuff.