bayoupig5
Sub-Adult Member
I recently lost a dragon to some sort of kidney disease, this was quite rapid in onset, now my other dragon has a likely case of gout (1 week after the loss of the first). I do not want to go over husbandry here as I already have that up in another post about Emmalee (Kidney Disease - Is This Something I Did).
Anyway....I just found out that dubia can hold quite a bit of uric acid and all my adult dragons have only been eating adult dubia roaches for the last 5 years - a major staple (plus veggies/fruit, rarely supers, horn, etc). Bugs are fed 3 times per week. I have also read that quite possibly adult dubias potentially carry more uric acid that the nymphs. This really concerns me, mostly because I switched from crickets as I heard dubias were the best feeders and now it seems both my dragons (1 confirmed) have developed kidney issues....this can't be a coincidence...can it? Now I feel that the loss of Emmalee was somehow part of my naivete about dubia and uric acid.
My colony is large, dubia are healthy, with the heaviest losses being the males. I have never fed my dubia dog, cat or fish food (high protein), cricket food or Repashy Superload. I have fed a bit of soy protein in the past, but not for the last two years. They mostly get cereals (cherrios, puffed wheat or rice), stale crackers/bread, fruit and vegetable trim, oranges, etc (nothing goes in the garbage anymore). Based on their diet I do not think they are getting a whole lot of protein for uric acid build up. However, because the colony is so large I cannot determine if some are more starved than others which I also heard can build up the uric acid stores in the dubia.
Am I being paranoid, or is this a valid concern?
Anyway....I just found out that dubia can hold quite a bit of uric acid and all my adult dragons have only been eating adult dubia roaches for the last 5 years - a major staple (plus veggies/fruit, rarely supers, horn, etc). Bugs are fed 3 times per week. I have also read that quite possibly adult dubias potentially carry more uric acid that the nymphs. This really concerns me, mostly because I switched from crickets as I heard dubias were the best feeders and now it seems both my dragons (1 confirmed) have developed kidney issues....this can't be a coincidence...can it? Now I feel that the loss of Emmalee was somehow part of my naivete about dubia and uric acid.
My colony is large, dubia are healthy, with the heaviest losses being the males. I have never fed my dubia dog, cat or fish food (high protein), cricket food or Repashy Superload. I have fed a bit of soy protein in the past, but not for the last two years. They mostly get cereals (cherrios, puffed wheat or rice), stale crackers/bread, fruit and vegetable trim, oranges, etc (nothing goes in the garbage anymore). Based on their diet I do not think they are getting a whole lot of protein for uric acid build up. However, because the colony is so large I cannot determine if some are more starved than others which I also heard can build up the uric acid stores in the dubia.
Am I being paranoid, or is this a valid concern?
