Feeding with no budget

Well life issues, I lost my catering gigs for next month, I have no money left and am living on food stamps.

I can not afford live feeders for the next month (she just finished the last of the dubia), I am feeding Ouros chopped up Roasted Crickets I got from a local market on food stamps (human consumption) and meal worms I got from pets mart and dust twice a day, and chard/collared greens. How long can she live on this?

IS THERE any other human foods I can get with food stamps to feed her? She does not care much for the roasted crickets...I used to drizzle strawberry juice on them to entice her. I was debating maybe eggs and if so how often? Any kind of minced meats I can give her? Maybe some shrimp or crab (bugish)?


Myself, I am living on eggs, watered down with water, thickened with coconut flour, and some almond meal mixed in, romaine, cabbage, and sometimes the chard/collard green I got for Ouros. Or when I can some avocados (I have celiac so no gluten, UC means no sugars carbs, corn allergy, whey allergy, lactose intolerance, peanut allergies, and pancreas does not work right so no meats other then fish/crab)

Yes I know this all sounds bad but life is really tough for me right now, and unless I can get a new business going soon I might not be able to eat either. She is my emotional support animal.

PS I think this is the wrong area and should be moved to feeding, if needed can a mod move it?

Hello,

Sorry about the luck, things can happen.
Chopped up chicken or turkey is acceptable. Eggs but limited, would be ok. The greens are
good so you can continue to feed those, but, no avocado, they are toxic to him.
I wouldn't do seafood though.
Do the best you can & he should be just fine on a temporary basis.

Tracie

How old is the dragon ? …. this is very important for us to know else no one can give good advise.

3-5months. I knew the avocado was a no, lol Just telling you how limited my diet is. I have looked over that nutrition page and found it lacking in other human proteins to feed her so I was checking.

Amusingly due to my health issues, I live on a atkins/keto diet....I find it funny we eat the same greens and limit intake of other greens for about the same reason lol, like even for me kale and spinach are bad in moderate amounts and I prefer the ease of digestion with the same ones they say are good for her, found out via trial and error. Bit jealous...if she can have meat and I still can not digest it lol, well I also can not eat fruit or much squash and already was envious of her when I gave her some to try for a treat.

ROOMA":2n7p29cm said:

3-5months. I knew the avocado was a no, lol Just telling you how limited my diet is. I have looked over that nutrition page and found it lacking in other human proteins to feed her so I was checking.

Amusingly due to my health issues, I live on a atkins/keto diet....I find it funny we eat the same greens and limit intake of other greens for about the same reason lol, like even for me kale and spinach are bad in moderate amounts and I prefer the ease of digestion with the same ones they say are good for her, found out via trial and error. Bit jealous...if she can have meat and I still can not digest it lol, well I also can not eat fruit or much squash and already was envious of her when I gave her some to try for a treat.

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Ask mum and dad for some financial help or a loan to cover you for the period you are out of a job.
or
Go without lunch for a few days and buy 1000 x 1/4 size crickets by mailorder with the money saved.
Or perhaps buy a large bottle size bottle Repashi GrubPie to make up your HATCHLING's 2 meals of high quality protein per day.

Well my family is paying bills, food stamps...I skimp on food already the stuff can not be used to buy anything but human food.

I tried the ground turkey this morning, I cooked it in the microwave and minced up the little strings, unflavored plain. Let it cool and she cleared almost all of it before moving to the meal worms.
I have a farmers market this weekend and if sales go good I can get her some crickets from the local pets mart.

I hope to get a catering gig, or get a sponsor to pay for my financing injection for the food truck business I am trying to start. But for now it's scraping by hoping and praying.

ROOMA":1a0ptaxk said:

Well my family is paying bills, food stamps...I skimp on food already the stuff can not be used to buy anything but human food.

I tried the ground turkey this morning, I cooked it in the microwave and minced up the little strings, unflavored plain. Let it cool and she cleared almost all of it before moving to the meal worms.
I have a farmers market this weekend and if sales go good I can get her some crickets from the local pets mart.

I hope to get a catering gig, or get a sponsor to pay for my financing injection for the food truck business I am trying to start. But for now it's scraping by hoping and praying.

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I've been unemployed and on a very tight budget , so I do not think you are trying hard enough to find the money to order in the live insects your very young dragon NEEDS to thrive and develop into a big healthy adult dragon.
Took me under 5 seconds to find the price of 1000x 1/2" or 1/4" crickets in the USA is ONLY $18 + some postage , see
https://www.greatlakeshornworm.com/product-category/feeder-crickets/

One medium sized cup of live Phoenix Worms will set you back the princely price of $6.50 + postage
see https://www.feedersource.com/product_p/phoenix-worms.htm
A cup will likely have 100 - 200 worms in it and will last a couple of weeks for one hungry hatchling.

I find it very hard to believe you can't scrape up about $20 including postage to buy quality live feeder insects for your hatchling , especially when you can get them really cheaply per insect by buying in bulks ( 500 - 1000 insects per order ) and this will last your hatchling weeks .

Your hatchling needs LIVE insects twice per day.

1000 crickets (if cared for and kept fed and at the right temperature) will last a single hatchling the age and size of your dragon about a month (I'd order the 1000 crickets maded up of 250x 1/2" and 750x 1/4" , the small ones will become 1/2" or even 3/4" size by the end a month and your dragon will grow big enough to handle the bigger crickets in the month (if fed and allowed enough calcium , warmth, UVA & UVB.

I'm retired I am can easily keep 2 very big bluetongue skinks (about 900g each) and a very big bearded dragon (just under 25" long and 800g) and several water skinks very well fed (BECAUSE I buy my crickets , superworms, mealworms, BSFL in bulk and I breed my own silkworms. All my pet lizards get some live bugs each day + the offer of fresh salad.

I'm spending a lot more per month than you should be spending on live insects BECAUSE everything is a lot more expensive here in Australia then in the USA (especially live insects !!).

You need to get your expenditure priorities right, and if you REALLY can't afford to provide for your hatchling the live insects he needs , maybe you need to seriously consider surrendering him to a rescuer who WILL.

Well I got some card sales on a order and could get 500 roaches for her.
She has been feasting on them well 2-3 times a day.

To comment on the other poster....you can not buy those with food stamp money...I had no money that could be spent on online sales, food stamps is human food only, physically picked up at a store.

If you wish to order and ship then next time your welcome to...

BTW how old and big does she need to be to not be a "hatchling" She is 10 1/2 inches long at 4-5 months. I got her back on July 4th when I was better off with sales, and she was just under 4"

ROOMA":2tr00kk4 said:

Well I got some card sales on a order and could get 500 roaches for her.
She has been feasting on them well 2-3 times a day.

To comment on the other poster....you can not buy those with food stamp money...I had no money that could be spent on online sales, food stamps is human food only, physically picked up at a store.

If you wish to order and ship then next time your welcome to...

BTW how old and big does she need to be to not be a "hatchling" She is 10 1/2 inches long at 4-5 months. I got her back on July 4th when I was better off with sales, and she was just under 4"

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Maybe sell stuff you don't REALLY need , like say your mobile phone or other stuff that can easily be converted to cash at a pawnshop.