Flukers Adult BD blend as a staple?

Hello-
I don't have any problem getting fresh veggies for my 6+ yr old BD ( I have had her for 1.5 yrs) but my cricket supplier is difficult to get to and expensive. I am wondering if https://www.homesalive.ca/flukers-buffet-blend-adult-bearded-dragon-formula-6389.html is an appropriate staple food, with daily greens. I would still be able to provide live crickets once or twice a month. If this is not appropriate, I expect to get some for convenience when asking someone else to care for her when I am out of town.

I have searched the forums and haven't found an answer about using both greens and this stuff.
Are there any experienced owners who have used this approach long term?

Hi there! I'm not familiar with that specific brand or using it, but I do know about a commercial bearded dragon food that provides wonderful high-quality insect protein without using live bugs.

The Repashy Grub Pie is used by a lot of our members here, as well as owners of other insectivorous lizards (like leopard geckos, skinks, etc). It's basically a bunch of ground-up black soldier fly larvae in gel form.

I don't use it as a staple, only as a treat every other day (as my beardie loves it) and as the food she's fed whenever I go out of town for a while. However, it's the safest and healthiest alternative to live bugs that's on the market. I think there are a few members here (especially who live in New Zealand) who use it as a staple.

Only thing you can really do with formulated stuff is add it for salad toppings. In my opinion its mostly useless but can be good when you cant do anything about proper food for a short while.
And at her age she'll just mostly be eating a healthy variety of greens and veggies and occasionally fruits with maybe insects 2-3 times a week. Plus freeze dried is probably one of the least healthy options as i'd guess its just the exo skeleton and not any good stuff inside. I've used freeze dried crickets before on salad and unlike regular alive crickets it just seemed like a waste of money. I do have veggie variety of that but ive only used it a few times and they dont really like it, i do have to point out this. If it had maybe more feeders in it you could use it for a longer period of time, never as a staple though.

Savora":2c7lcjar said:

Hi there! I'm not familiar with that specific brand or using it, but I do know about a commercial bearded dragon food that provides wonderful high-quality insect protein without using live bugs.

The Repashy Grub Pie is used by a lot of our members here, as well as owners of other insectivorous lizards (like leopard geckos, skinks, etc). It's basically a bunch of ground-up black soldier fly larvae in gel form.

I don't use it as a staple, only as a treat every other day (as my beardie loves it) and as the food she's fed whenever I go out of town for a while. However, it's the safest and healthiest alternative to live bugs that's on the market. I think there are a few members here (especially who live in New Zealand) who use it as a staple.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Savora. I will try to order some Grub Pie (Mmmmm!) within Canada. It's not cheap (comes to around 40.00 for 6 oz) but as a treat and for when I am away, I think it may be a good choice. And it probably isn't that bad considering what I pay for crickets now, 1/4 or more of which die before consumed.
EDIT: I later found a better deal: https://www.northerngecko.net/repashy-grub-pie-reptile/

VenusAndSaturn":mxctlmoh said:

Only thing you can really do with formulated stuff is add it for salad toppings. In my opinion its mostly useless but can be good when you cant do anything about proper food for a short while.
And at her age she'll just mostly be eating a healthy variety of greens and veggies and occasionally fruits with maybe insects 2-3 times a week. Plus freeze dried is probably one of the least healthy options as i'd guess its just the exo skeleton and not any good stuff inside. I've used freeze dried crickets before on salad and unlike regular alive crickets it just seemed like a waste of money. I do have veggie variety of that but ive only used it a few times and they dont really like it, i do have to point out this. If it had maybe more feeders in it you could use it for a longer period of time, never as a staple though.

Click to expand...

Thanks, V&S- I expect that it would be mostly for convenience when I am gone or- as you say- sometimes without a steady food supply. The only source I can reach gets crickets once a week and tend to sell out quickly so fairly often I am stuck for another week as my work schedule isn't very much like normal. They know less about bugs and lizards than I do and tend to be pricey. So as a once in a while thing, I think I will try it.

Pellets and premade packaged blends (any brand) are NOT SUITABLE TO USE AS A DAILY STAPLE.

Only mixes I know off that can be are Repashi GrubPie & Repashi VegeBurger , I know of keeper who lives in NZ who found live insect prices at the local pet shops of about $1NZ / cricket so he had no choice but to use GrubPie as his beardie's staple source of protein.

and maybe Wombaroo Reptile Mix see http://www.wombaroo.com.au/reptile-products/reptile-supplement.

kingofnobbys":2k1rcgmc said:

Pellets and premade packaged blends (any brand) are NOT SUITABLE TO USE AS A DAILY STAPLE.

Only mixes I know off that can be are Repashi GrubPie & Repashi VegeBurger , I know of keeper who lives in NZ who found live insect prices at the local pet shops of about $1NZ / cricket so he had no choice but to use GrubPie as his beardie's staple source of protein.

and maybe Wombaroo Reptile Mix see http://www.wombaroo.com.au/reptile-products/reptile-supplement.

Click to expand...

That Wombaroo looks quite nice, maybe I'll help myself to it

"One for you, one for me!"

But how can they charge a dollar a insect? Isn't there any ideal growing conditions down there for them?

I know that live insects are hard to come by in Canada and are expensive as well, but please do not feed your Bearded Dragon ANY freeze-dried insects at all! Especially the Fluker's Buffet Blend, which contains the 2 worst possible freeze-dried insects, mealworms and crickets! Live mealworms are not very nutritious to begin with, they are not a suitable staple insect for dragons when they are alive, but at best an occasional snack or treat. So freeze-dried mealworms are horrible, and crickets are just as bad. You have to realize that Beardies get most all of their hydration from their food, they don't typically drink, and if they do drink standing water or water from a dropper, it's not nearly enough hydration to sustain them. As such, they get most all of their hydration from both the LIVE insects and FRESH veggies/greens that they eat. When either Greens/Veggies or Insects are freeze-dried, all of the hydration is removed, there is none left, and along with having absolutely no hydration, freeze-dried insects also lose most all of their vitamins, minerals, and nutritional value. As such you will be removing most, if not all of your dragon's daily hydration, vitamins, minerals, protein, etc. if you feed him freeze-dried insects. They may be fine for reptiles that drink standing water or water droplets regularly and whose bodies can properly digest them, but freeze-dried insects will only cause Bearded Dragons and other desert reptiles dehydration, malnutrition, and also impactions and bowel obstructions.

Repashy Grub Pie and the Repashy Burger are both good, but ultimately he needs fresh greens and veggies every day, and live, gut-loaded insects 2-3 times a week. You can feed live BSFL/Phoenix Worms/NutriGrubs in addition to crickets, and they can also be left inside their tanks as opposed to crickets. I think there is a cheaper online vendor in Canada to order BSFL/Phoenix Worms from, I believe it's called "The Worm Lady". I have heard of more than a few people in Canada ordering their live insects from this site for much less than anywhere else...

Thank you, Ellen D for that detailed response! I instinctively would not use dried bugs and I wonder why they get sold at all. Maybe OK for some other creatures?

I have heard of the worm lady but especially as it is very cold right now, I will likely wait for warmer temperatures, especially because the parcel may not get retrieved from the mailbox in time. I have found a reasonable source for the Repashy Burger and I expect that it will fill in the gaps when it is hard to get live bugs. I will not buy the package of Flukers at this time as the Repashy seems better for filling the gaps of time when I can't get leaded insects easily.

I have my doubts about Fluker's stuff , mainly because they have some very questionable products in their line to hydrate insects, feed lizards.

I've had success using VetaFarm Lizard Pellets (softened with water and mixed with graded veg)
Similarly with RepCal Juvenile Bearded Dragon Pellets (soften with water and mixed with grated veg)
And a mix of the two treated the same way.
I offered live insects as my lizards' protein stables, so these were supplementary.

I've have occasionally given RepCal Adult Beardie Pellets to my beardies - Puff liked crunching them up dry as beardie treats only.
I've since taken to buying the adult pellets as food for my feeder insects crickets & superworms and mealworms, crickets and mealworms LOVE them.