Rhea, is cricket quencher the same as the water gel? You are absolutely right then, if they were to ship the crystals dry, it would make a lot more sense. You could then hydrate them as you needed them.

I have a jar of the gel, too, but I'm not convinced I always want to get them.
I might be sounding as if I'm on a bit of an environmental trip today, but I do have lots of concerns about this. The husband of one of my former tutors at college, was a scientist doing research into disposable nappies (diapers) and said, that the swell gel used in them might hold the water well, but once it's on a landfill site, it starts oxydising and giving off toxic gases. He said, that that problem was worse still than the fact that the nappies take so long to rot. He recommended using the cheapest brand of nappy, if we had to use disposables at all, as they only contain paper pulp.

People here love their hanging flower baskets and for a while I worked at a friend's nurseries and made hundreds of them, all with a small amount of swell gel in the bottom to stop them from drying out. It's fantastic stuff, but I wouldn't want to know what effect it has once the baskets get emptied out into gardens and compost heaps at the end of the season. All those poor little hegdehogs, etc. munching on swell gel.