how to keep black soldier fly larvea in the dish

hi
my bearded dragon does not eat crickets at all......that's one reason why i changed his diet to reptiworms/black soldier fly larveas. but now i have a little problem:

he is not a fast eater...... so if i put the larvea in the dish, they escape in no time! they are very fast and in no time they are all over the terrarium. i tried different materials and sizes of food dishes......but they can alway escape very fast. even when i just put one larvea in there...... out of the dish in no time!

is there anybody howhad the same problem and was able to solve the problem?

Have you tried using a curved dish like this? https://www.bigalspets.com/lee-s-plastic-mealworm-dish.html

hi. thank you. yes i did. they are able to go out of this dish too. i have no idea what else i could use. i don't know, if he still would eat when the dish is high and big enough so he would have to sit in the dish to eat? does anybody has experiences with that? the bardie is 3 1/2 months old.

Perhaps try a taller dish with one of those slick(ish) glazed coatings. Then build a ramp/platform of some kind, maybe even just by putting a rock next to it, so your dragon can perch on that and reach in to pick them off. They are very agile and can be crafty when they're hungry.

Have you tried putting them in along with a piece of squash or tomato or something that they might hand out on to eat. Might also get your dragon to eat more veggies at the same time...

Are they completly dry? They have a harder time climbing when they are dry.

hi. thank you so much for all the ideas. yes the dish is dry. and i also put some greens in there. i don't know why but they still go out of the dish. they are so fast! think they know that they are food ;o)

i try tomorrow a higher and biger dish, so he has to go in to the dish to eat. maybe it works!??

it is just a mess when they are everywhere in the terrarium.

thank you all for the good ideas

The grubs need to be pretty dry too. I've not had much trouble with them getting out of 1" tall glass dishes, but flat or dishes with rough edges may be easier for them to climb.

When they are even a little wet I've seen the climb in the ceiling of containers! I never expected that.

i don't know.......maybe my larvea are just crazy. i tried almost everything........it is unbelivable how fast they climb out of everything i try. i have two sizes of larvea but both are the same problem. i have also the problem, that i have my bardie only for 2 weeks and he eats very little. i tried so many ways to get him to eat but no success....... he eats maybe every other day a waxworm...... no crickets or reptiworms....... he has also greens every day but he wont eat greensat all. he gets every day a bath......because i'm worrie about that he gets dehydrated. i have a 100 watt Mega Ray bulb and the basking spot has 113 fahrenheit....... he has also other spots between 80 and 95 fahrenheit.......but he still refuses to eat like people say he should eat.

i don't know ........ some people tell me he is probably still in relocation stress.......but how long does a relocation stress stays and stops him from normal eating?

Here is my dish I use and my black fly larvae don't escape.


Also if you've only had him 2 weeks he may not be eating much yet. I've had mine 6 weeks and they barely ate for the first few weeks, then became grazers and slowly ate a decent amount over a full day. Now in the past week or so they go crazy and eat a ton at once everytime I feed them. I feed mine dubia roaches and black fly larvae with occasional crickets and small horn worms. I want to try silkworms too but haven't yet.

hi mybabybardies

thank you so much for posting a picture of your dish ?. what kind of a dish is this? are you from the usa? if yes, where do you bought this dish?

and thank you very much for sharing your expiriences with the new bardies and there way to eat in the biginning. it helps me a lot. i was already thinking that i do something wrong and he is not happy in his new home. but it looks like he just needs more time to get used of his new home. thank you so much ❤

You're very welcome. I am in the US. I think my dish was actually supposed to be a cat or maybe dog dish. It has slippery I'd say ceramic sides. It keeps my bfl and dubia roaches in it.

Yep I'd say just give him a bit more time.

I use simply a jar lid as our dragon's feeding dish. I like this because it has low sides that he can easily see over, but there is a little rim that tends to keep stuff like worms in the dish. But the rim is not so big that it prevents him from being able to eat things hiding under it.

If the larvae are wet, then they can escape easily. If they are dry and the bowl a little tall, then it is impossible for them to escape. Rub them a little on kitchen paper to dry them before you throw them in the bowl for the dragon.

place the larvae on the paper towel to dry, and any type of the feeder dish can hold them as long as they are dried.