Multivitamin? Should I?

CooperDragon · Nov 7, 2017

I throw moldy food out. Mold buildup in the roach tank can be harmful to them. They get scraps but they are relatively fresh scraps or bits that are just starting to go south. I keep their tank relatively dry and remove any leftover food that starts to go moldy (rare, they tend to eat just about everything quickly but there are thousands of them now).

I keep them in a 20g long tank with a mesh top but over the summer I split them to test out a new bin. They did well in a big rubbermaid bin with the top cut open and mesh put over it for ventilation. They live in cardboard tubes from paper towels and toilet paper on one side and their food goes on another. I keep a heat projector over them during the winter and they do pretty well at room temp in the summer.

Dragons are good at chewing their food for the most part. If they get excited by bugs they sometimes get a little bit ahead of themselves and don't chew well. I try to hand feed to pace them a bit and give them time to chew each bug but that might get tedious with a young dragon. They have sharp teeth and strong jaws so they are quite capable of chewing and breaking down lots of different things.

phobosdthorga · Nov 7, 2017

CooperDragon":3kk2xa2y said:
I throw moldy food out. Mold buildup in the roach tank can be harmful to them. They get scraps but they are relatively fresh scraps or bits that are just starting to go south. I keep their tank relatively dry and remove any leftover food that starts to go moldy (rare, they tend to eat just about everything quickly but there are thousands of them now).

I keep them in a 20g long tank with a mesh top but over the summer I split them to test out a new bin. They did well in a big rubbermaid bin with the top cut open and mesh put over it for ventilation. They live in cardboard tubes from paper towels and toilet paper on one side and their food goes on another. I keep a heat projector over them during the winter and they do pretty well at room temp in the summer.

Dragons are good at chewing their food for the most part. If they get excited by bugs they sometimes get a little bit ahead of themselves and don't chew well. I try to hand feed to pace them a bit and give them time to chew each bug but that might get tedious with a young dragon. They have sharp teeth and strong jaws so they are quite capable of chewing and breaking down lots of different things.

Thank you again

Does that mean you keep food within the tank that's going kind of gelatinous then? Or does that indicate the presence of mould too? I highly doubt that the landlord we have would allow us to possess a colony of insects of any kind on the premises, given that they are classified as pests. So the only thing to do in that case is to buy all the live food from online suppliers

I do wonder about silkworms though, since they quite aren't pests and have relatively simple husbandry in comparison. Plus there are plenty of mulberry trees nearby in my area of Sydney, Australia.

I've only seen the fangs on my Iggy a handful of times, hence why I asked the question. Plus he tends to vacuum down the bugs that he consumes

He refuses to be hand-fed and even gets grumpy if it is attempted. Iggy has never bitten me or anyone else though, even when that one time a week ago he was full of adrenaline and attacking everything in sight within his vivarium, as a result of a cat jumping up nearby. I picked him up gently and soothed him for the next 30 minutes, until his beard went down

CooperDragon · Nov 7, 2017

If the food is going a bit soft I feed it, If it's beyond that it gets tossed. I keep greens in a ziploc bag with a piece of paper towel in the fridge. That keeps them pretty crispy for weeks at a time which is nice. I'm not sure what the restrictions are on the various bugs in NSW but I don't hear of anyone out there having roaches. They are banned in Canada and Florida too. I think most folks feed woodies and crickets. You can feed crickets the same kind of leftover veges but they don't eat as much as the roaches do. Silkworms are popular too. Since you have mulberry leaves available it makes it quite a bit easier to raise them I think. Kingofnobbys raises his own silks and it works well. That's a good way to go I'd say.

phobosdthorga · Nov 12, 2017

CooperDragon":20vheipe said:
If the food is going a bit soft I feed it, If it's beyond that it gets tossed. I keep greens in a ziploc bag with a piece of paper towel in the fridge. That keeps them pretty crispy for weeks at a time which is nice. I'm not sure what the restrictions are on the various bugs in NSW but I don't hear of anyone out there having roaches. They are banned in Canada and Florida too. I think most folks feed woodies and crickets. You can feed crickets the same kind of leftover veges but they don't eat as much as the roaches do. Silkworms are popular too. Since you have mulberry leaves available it makes it quite a bit easier to raise them I think. Kingofnobbys raises his own silks and it works well. That's a good way to go I'd say.

I've started doing that with my own greens, but in a air-tight container instead, and you are right! They keep so much longer! As of the past week, I have been feeding Iggy strictly Woodies as his main protein source and when I can afford it, the occasional silkworm too as a treat (especially if I am trying to get him to taste-test new, unfamiliar veggies and/or fruits). I have found those woodies to be immensely cleaner than crickets and to have far less smell after an equal amount of time. I have no idea why anyone would opt for crickets when those are available. You also go through less woodies than crickets at feeding time, potentially saving money depending on where you get your live insects from.

I'll ask kingofnobby's about raising silkworms oneself sometime then

Multivitamin? Should I?

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko

phobosdthorga

Juvie Member

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko

phobosdthorga

Juvie Member

Members online

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

Forum statistics

Share this page