Worms, Crickets, Roaches, oh my!

OK so my wife has HAD IT with the crickets - the chirping, the smell, and "they just look nasty".

I have been giving serious consideration into switching over to the roaches and mixing it up with worms. I vaguely remember someone telling me there was a certain type of worm you need to cut the head off before feeding them to your beardie. This, of course, was on the 1st day we got him and I was on information overload.

Basically looking for the easiest, cost efficient, and (most importantly) most nutritious food for Puff. I have tried various Flukers blends and also just recently purchased some "Crafted Cuisine Dragon Diet" that is moist. And I randomly switch them around to add selection to his diet but I am wondering about the best live food.

I purchased 100 crickets over the weekend, have them in a large cricket keeper with the cubes AND dry food but a lot died by this morning.

Are there worms that are better than other worms (meal worms over hook worms, etc), do the roaches provide enough nutrition? Stuff like that. My son handles MOST of the feedings of the live food and I just want to make sure we are giving Puff the best possible diet.

Any insight or suggestions would be great.

Oh yeah, I also switch up the veggies as well from Kale to Collard Greens every week.

Thanks again, I really enjoy this forum and everyone who has offered advice has been super nice. Some day I hope to be as proficient in Beardie care that I can offer advice to a new parent.

Roaches are the best way to go --- they are the easiest to keep - in a 10 gallon tank and fed carrots apples squash they love yellow zucchini etc sweet potato-- they are the healthiest for your baby- 1 dubia = 6 crickets- they dont stink or chirp--- not sure what type of worm your talking about but someone else might- I order butter worms and horn worms for Hiccup they are served as treats- I order my roaches from dubiaroaches.com they come out of Kansas - he wont eat super worms - they do charge for shipping as other suppliers from Amazon do not-- I have never fed Hiccup any type of canned food pellet food from the petstores-- I give him roaches and fresh vegies like mustard collard turnip greens bean greans squash yellow and zucchini -- apple strawberries blueberries all fresh --- he is a little over a year now so the bug consumption has decreased and hes eating more vegies --- w/a balanced diet he really wont need the vitamins and calcium as much but when he will eat the bugs from here on out they will still get dusted -- w/ vitamins or calcium-- i got rid of the crickets long ago after my first visit to the vet w/ Hiccup which was last spring - she advised me to switch to roaches as they dont give parasites / worms - so he was switched at that time-- he seemed to like the roaches way better than the crickets anyway-- some dragons wont eat roaches so hopefully yours will-- hope this helps
Karrie

Yeah I don't remember which worms they were talking about. Naturally I assumed they were "hook worms" because, well it says HOOK right there in the name and the reason was because they can get stuck and cause blockages ... but I have been assured that is NOT the case with Hook worms so now I don't know what worms I need to avoid LOL.

And now you have sold me on the roaches (hoping he likes them). I have the large cricket keeper, would that be sufficient to keep them in? Do they need dark spaces or anything special other than the food you mentioned?

Seems ANY worm is more of a treat than a meal, am I right on that?

I swear I put more thought into Puff's diet than I do my own!

That's because they get sick easier and need just the correct environment for them to survive-- the large cricket keeper would be too small for a large amount of roaches-- the roaches like the egg cartons that they r shipped in keep those-- roaches also last longer than crickets-- -- if you have a plastic tote that works too-- they don't fly and can't crawl out of smooth sided containers--there is a nutrition link on the feeding board CK it out--
Karrie

I believe the worm you are thinking of is the phoenix worm, also know as, black soldier fly larvae (BSFL). Some people snip the heads off that particular worm so the beardies can smell it better. The phoenix worm is one of the healthiest worms you can feed as they are high in calcium. Also, silkworms are a fantastic feeder as well. Those are probably your best to mix in with dubia. Wax worms, hornworms, and butterworms are considered as treats for the beardie. Wax and butters are a higher fat content, whereas hornworms are higher in water content. Hornworms are great if your beardie hasn't pooed in a while and most love them. It gets their little intestines moving and out pops a poo within at least a day or two. I give those to Tampico if I feel she's gone too long without pooing. Haha

Hope this information helps!

Well that info helped me
Thank you
Karrie

KarrieRee":3grq0lnt said:

Well that info helped me
Thank you
Karrie

Click to expand...

I'm glad!

WOW - great info, thank you so much.

I know KarrieRee recommended dubiaroaches.com (and I will check them out) but are there any other places you (or anyone) would recommend? I see Amazon sells them, but if there is better company (read: more mom and pop or not so "corporate") that sells these I'd rather support them.

Thanks again for all the info and help. LOVE THIS FORUM

Not sure where you live you could call your petstore-- to see if they carry dubias-- I have a store in St cloud MN that is a mom and pops store that sells dubias but they have a hard time keeping them in stock they r supplying a big client list so I just order on line-- they also don't carry horn worms or not very often and they r expensive-- you can always Google dubiaroaches and see what it comes up w/--- reptilesplus and dubiaroaches are affiliated-- have dealt w/them for the past year and have been very good--
Karrie

Hello,
I am new. I have been filling my head with everything dragon for a few weeks now... and what I've read is that mealworms are not good, if you feed you must cut the head off as they can potentially eat their way out of the poor dragon. If I am wrong please let me know.. I have not not yet gotten my dragon. I am one of the OCDs. I want everything to be perfect.
JeiW

JeiW":2a36a3jl said:

Hello,
I am new. I have been filling my head with everything dragon for a few weeks now... and what I've read is that mealworms are not good, if you feed you must cut the head off as they can potentially eat their way out of the poor dragon. If I am wrong please let me know.. I have not not yet gotten my dragon. I am one of the OCDs. I want everything to be perfect.
JeiW

Click to expand...

No, mealworms cannot eat their way out. From what I've read and researched, it's an old wive's tale and nothing more.

In the newbie care guide on this website.. they suggest to avoid mealworms.... page 3 of 4.

JeiW":28hkyq0l said:

In the newbie care guide on this website.. they suggest to avoid mealworms.... page 3 of 4.

Click to expand...

Yes, do avoid feeding them to your beardie, but they will not eat their way out of your beardie's stomach.