BSFL as a staple?

I read in many places that bsfl would be a great replacement for beardies and would like to confirm that before I invest in them. I did the research for the care, and found many websites that confirmed they would be a great staple, much better than crickets. Is this true? This would be the place to ask!

Hi there,

BSFL are a great staple feeder. They are quite high in calcium so you don't need to dust them either.
However, I will still try to offer 2 or 3 different bugs in your dragons diet. Variety is key IMO
But BSFL are definitely a good choice.

-Brandon

Ok sounds great! I was planning on buying crickets too. He currently eats a few worms here and there, but mainly crickets. I feel the bsfl will make a great addition to his diet, and they are more accessible than the crickets where I live. One more question, how much would I feed him in a sitting? I am starting to go to two feedings a day (slowly, he’s still a younger juvenile), so how many a day? I’ve read about 10-20 per sitting but might as well check that too!

If he is still quite young, you can let him eat as many as he wants in a sitting. The number is different for all dragons. However it's usually best to slowly introduce a new insect to the diet as opposed to letting them gorge out on it the first day. This helps prevent any tummy issues from developing

The BSFL tend to get eaten up real quick, sometimes they don't chew them well enough and they pass right on through still whole. So feeding a few at a time instead of just dumping a ton in a bowl is usually helpful.

-Brandon

I have started introducing Caliworms as a calcium supplement for my beardie--can someone let me know about how many she should have? they are pretty small and i have a young adult--not exactly sure how old because she was a rescue--but she is a bit more than 17" long--Thank you

They can go through quite a lot of them since they are so small, but the amount they want will vary. Sometimes they eat so quickly they don't chew so if you start to see them pass through undigested, try offering them more slowly or one at a time to ensure they are chewed up and digested.

Yeah--we just started giving these too her--took a little coaxing at first because they do not wiggle as much as other worms--but once she had a taste she goes for them like a kid in a candy store--we do feed one at a time--she is a picky eater--and its not easy to get her to eat the greens that she needs--so we try not to let her gorge on live food--

I used to have a dubia colony, but recently switched to BSFL for their calcium content (and overall ease of purchase and use), and was surprised when my wife took our young beardie to a new vet (we wanted a more knowledgeable one than our last vet, who was a generalist, so we took her to a reptile specialist registered with ARAV), and she approved of our veggie diet (arugula, kale, collards, romaine, and cilantro), but said that BSFL could be too fatty, so she suggested to feed dubia instead!

In reality, I might start a dubia colony back up again, and will eventually feed other things like superworms probably, as well... but I was wondering: does anybody have a reliable comparative source of nutrition data on these different bugs? When I search the web, I find wildly different numbers... for example, I've seen crickets listed at 6% fat and crickets listed as 17% fat. Likewise, I've seen BSFL listed as 9% fat, and other sites list it as more like 20%. Which is it?? Am I reading the data wrong?