Buyer's Guide
Receiving and Holding Live Crawfish: A Handling Guide
How to receive, store, and hold live wholesale crawfish to keep them alive, reduce dead loss, and protect your yield.
The short answer
Live crawfish need to stay cool, moist, and breathing. On arrival, inspect the load and keep the crawfish in their breathable mesh sacks. Store them cold (around 38–45°F), damp but not submerged, and never sealed in an airtight container or sitting in standing water — they'll suffocate. Ice them indirectly with drainage so meltwater runs off, keep them out of direct sun, and use them within a day or two for the best yield.
On arrival
Inspect the load when it lands: the sacks should be cool and damp, and the product clean if you ordered washed-and-graded.
Don't judge them by the first look, though. Crawfish that were heavily iced for transit often arrive dormant and can seem lifeless — that's normal, not a problem. Cold slows their metabolism way down; give them a little time out of the deepest cold to acclimate and they perk back up. Proper, heavy icing is exactly what keeps crawfish alive through a long haul, so a cold, sluggish sack coming off the truck is usually a sign the load was iced right — not a sign of dead loss.
Look for genuine problems instead: a foul smell, a sack that's warm and dry, or crawfish that stay completely unresponsive even after they've warmed slightly. Note anything truly off before you sign.
Leave the crawfish in their mesh sacks. The mesh keeps them breathable and makes them easy to move and drain — don't dump them into a bin or bucket to store.
Temperature
Cold slows crawfish down and keeps them alive without freezing them. Aim for roughly 38–45°F — a walk-in cooler is ideal. Too warm and they burn energy and die faster; actually freezing them will kill them.
Moisture and air — damp, not drowned
Crawfish breathe air through their gills as long as the gills stay moist, so keep them damp but never submerged. Standing water without oxygen will suffocate them, and a sealed, airtight container will too. Keep the sacks damp (a wet burlap sack or towel over them helps) with air able to circulate.
Icing correctly
If you ice them, do it indirectly and with drainage: ice on top of the sacks, in a cooler or container that lets the meltwater run off — not pooling around the crawfish. Sitting in cold meltwater with no drainage is a common cause of dead loss. Keep everything out of direct sun.
Holding time and dead loss
Held properly, live crawfish keep best when used within a day or two of delivery — the fresher you cook them, the better your yield. Cook the oldest sacks first, and pull any dead or badly molting crawfish before cooking. Starting with washed-and-graded sacks reduces dead loss on your end, because the molting and trash are largely sorted out before the crawfish ever reach you.
Frequently Asked Questions
My crawfish arrived dormant and sluggish — are they dead?
Usually not — it's often the opposite. Crawfish that were heavily iced for transit arrive dormant and can look lifeless because cold slows their metabolism way down. Give them a little time out of the deepest cold to acclimate and they typically perk back up. Heavy icing is what keeps crawfish alive over a long haul, so a cold, sluggish sack coming off the truck is usually a good sign. Genuine problems look different: a foul smell, a warm and dry sack, or crawfish that stay completely unresponsive even after they've warmed slightly.
How long do live crawfish last after delivery?
Held cold, damp, and breathable, live crawfish keep best when cooked within a day or two of delivery. The fresher you cook them, the better the yield. Cook the oldest sacks first and remove any dead ones before boiling.
Should live crawfish be kept in water?
No. Crawfish breathe air through moist gills, so they need to be damp but not submerged. Standing water without oxygen — and airtight containers — will suffocate them. Keep them cool and damp in their breathable mesh sacks, and ice indirectly with drainage.
Can you refrigerate live crawfish?
Yes — a cooler around 38–45°F is ideal for holding live crawfish. It slows them down and keeps them alive without freezing them. Keep them damp and breathable, not sealed up or sitting in water, and use them within a day or two.
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