Switching from crickets to dubia's...advice plz! :)

Hi all,

So I started my beardie on crickets at 3 months old because thats what the reptile breeder was feeding him before I got him. He's about 5 months old now and Im dreading the cricket life. They're so messy and hard to handle when it comes to feeding time. One day I decided to make the switch and got 40 dubia roaches. My beardie loved them and gobbled them all up. Unfortunately, he had major diarrhea after that and I've been scared to get more ever since. It really worried me.

ALSO, when I got the dubias the reptile guy said there was some odd bugs in there (possibly tiny black beetles and long crawly things) but that they were totally safe for reptile consumption. So I didnt worry about it! My beardie had a FEW of those along with the dubias. Now Im thinking they maybe werent so safe for consumption? Or maybe I transitioned him too quick?!

So, what do you guys think: was this just bad luck and should I try again? Maybe transition more slowly? Remove creepy crawly things that arent dubias? I'd really like to feed him dubias full time so I dont have to freak about the jumping crickets all over my house.

Thanks for the advice!

I agree stay w/ the dubias - just give him the dubias tho-- they are so much easier to work w/ than crickets - also they are less likely to give him parasites--

Karrie

Those little black beetles are cleaner beetles. They help clean up dead roaches and maintain some of the fras. It might be hard to tell what gave your dragon the runs. How many roaches did you feed him the first time? Sometimes a drastic change in diet can cause diarrhea. Though I'm unsure what would be in a roach that a cricket didn't already have besides a higher percentage of nutrients.

Other reasons for diarrhea may be caused by whatever the dubias/black beetles have eaten. What were they gutloaded with? Whatever the roaches eat will pretty much end up in your dragon. If the roaches ate something that might not be suitable for your dragon to eat, then that may be the cause of his diarrhea. I personally gutload mine with mostly collard greens and apples, which are fairly safe for a beardie to eat. I would never feed my roaches anything that I wouldn't give my dragon.

Though back on the subject of how many roaches he ate, if he ate too much or roaches that are too large then that might cause problems. I have to ask, what did his poop look like? Was it pretty much all liquid or was it a thick oatmeal consistency? If it's mushy but still solid, then it may not be something to worry too much about. Because if I feed my girl enough roaches, she'll have a mushy stool; still solid enough to be acceptable but not loose enough to be considered diarrhea.

The only real way to tell if it's the dubias doing it is to give him a smaller amount of roaches the next time you give them to him and see what happens. Don't worry about not feeding him enough because you have to remember that one dubia roach has the nutritional equivalent of about five crickets. Even one or two appropriately sized roaches will be a half decent meal for your dragon. My girl is 5 months old too and I give her dubias once a day every day, they are her main source of protein. However, I only give her seven or eight roaches per feeding.

Thanks for replying! Oh wow I had no idea the nutritional content was so drastic! I may have given him too much too quick now that I think about it then. I put about fifteen dubias into a shallow container and let him eat them all in one go, he ate them all in under 2 mins. As for crickets I sprinkle about 15-20 of them in the tank and he usually eats one per minute hunting. So maybe that made his tummy upset. Glad I know that now!

TMI but his poo was straight liquid, brown, yellow mush after the dubias. And that happened twice. I had to clean the entire tank cause it was such a mess. Thats why I was so scared to try dubias again, I thought he was going to get super dehydrated so I quick stopped. So next time Ill give him less dubias and fingers crossed it wont happen again.

Im not sure what the dubias were gutloaded with since I only bought a few for a test run. So whatever the reptile store fed them. Personally I gutload my crickets with Total Bites Cricket/Feeder Insect food and Ill throw in whatever greens I have in there too (collard, mustard, bok choy, occasionally kale). Once I transition to dubias Ill probably stick to just greens and fruit for gutloading.