fishtycuffs
Member
Hi everyone,
In 6 weeks we will be the proud owners of a baby bearded dragon and quite frankly, cannot wait.
During the past couple of weeks I have been doing my research and looked at a multitude of food. Veggies and greens is pretty much self explanatory but insects is a whole mine field.
From what I can gather, dubia roaches appear to be the best feeders lb for lb nutritionally. The only advantage that I can see feeding crickets is that they are readily available from most stores... That's pretty much it. So, dubia's, I have decided to create my own colony as I will know how they have been raised and what they have been fed. Also over time it will save a pretty fortune and may even make a couple of quid "IF" everything goes well. My set up consists of a KIS Flexistore 106L tub (735 x 445 x 460) with a secure lid drilled with 4 x 75mm holes (for now, I can add more later if humidity gets to high) with stainless steel mozi mesh to stop anything undesirable getting in. This is sat on a heat mat with a mini stat. I've got this loaded with upright egg cartons and room for food and water crystals. I have no idea how many this tub will comfortably hold, if anyone can hazard me a guess I would be most grateful. Other than that, I think I have the set up pretty much nailed. The set up is in my large shed (more of a cabin as I built it myself) which is double skinned and insulated but unheated, therefore I have built I wooden cupboard to retain the heat from the heat mat which will give me enough room for air circulation and an additional small 9L tub for sorting feeders for easy picking when necessary. When the feeders get too large they can be dumped back in the colony.
Now here is my dilemma and although I have read as much info out there till I'm blue in the face :study: there is a LOT of conflicting info. Feeding the roaches.... Bear in mind I am a beginner and want to get things right from the start and if anything I say is wrong please flag me on it... Anyway, here goes... From my studies, it seems that rearing healthy roaches on good nutritious food from the outset is the way to go rather than relying on gut loading. I don't see the point in gut loading as I imagine the guts are pretty minuscule and will never really be of additional benefit than if the roaches are fed on a balanced diet throughout there life. One thing I will do in the feeder tub is reduce protein levels to reduce any uric acid build up in the roaches, replacing their diet with fruit and veggies for added vitamins and minerals (sounds like gut loading I know, but what a rubbish term). I have read a very good case study and led to believe that roaches thrive best on about 25% protein. So, I have decided to put the breeders on a mainly dry diet with water gel with occasional fruit and veggies. The diet I am thinking of is quite simple, layers pellets (around 16% protein), Oats along with fish flakes to increase the protein to (with a finger in the air) about 25% overall. The ingredients also include reasonable levels of fats, oils, fibre and ash. Dusting, goes without saying. So that's what I've concluded :? however if anyone can offer any additional advice or if if there's something not quite right I would love to hear from you.
As we will have our little dragon for (hopefully) a good 10 years or more I see this venture will certainly benefit both us financially and our dragon nutritionally
Anyway, sorry for wittering on and thanks for reading. Looking forward to your responses and thank you for your time if you do so.
In 6 weeks we will be the proud owners of a baby bearded dragon and quite frankly, cannot wait.
During the past couple of weeks I have been doing my research and looked at a multitude of food. Veggies and greens is pretty much self explanatory but insects is a whole mine field.
From what I can gather, dubia roaches appear to be the best feeders lb for lb nutritionally. The only advantage that I can see feeding crickets is that they are readily available from most stores... That's pretty much it. So, dubia's, I have decided to create my own colony as I will know how they have been raised and what they have been fed. Also over time it will save a pretty fortune and may even make a couple of quid "IF" everything goes well. My set up consists of a KIS Flexistore 106L tub (735 x 445 x 460) with a secure lid drilled with 4 x 75mm holes (for now, I can add more later if humidity gets to high) with stainless steel mozi mesh to stop anything undesirable getting in. This is sat on a heat mat with a mini stat. I've got this loaded with upright egg cartons and room for food and water crystals. I have no idea how many this tub will comfortably hold, if anyone can hazard me a guess I would be most grateful. Other than that, I think I have the set up pretty much nailed. The set up is in my large shed (more of a cabin as I built it myself) which is double skinned and insulated but unheated, therefore I have built I wooden cupboard to retain the heat from the heat mat which will give me enough room for air circulation and an additional small 9L tub for sorting feeders for easy picking when necessary. When the feeders get too large they can be dumped back in the colony.
Now here is my dilemma and although I have read as much info out there till I'm blue in the face :study: there is a LOT of conflicting info. Feeding the roaches.... Bear in mind I am a beginner and want to get things right from the start and if anything I say is wrong please flag me on it... Anyway, here goes... From my studies, it seems that rearing healthy roaches on good nutritious food from the outset is the way to go rather than relying on gut loading. I don't see the point in gut loading as I imagine the guts are pretty minuscule and will never really be of additional benefit than if the roaches are fed on a balanced diet throughout there life. One thing I will do in the feeder tub is reduce protein levels to reduce any uric acid build up in the roaches, replacing their diet with fruit and veggies for added vitamins and minerals (sounds like gut loading I know, but what a rubbish term). I have read a very good case study and led to believe that roaches thrive best on about 25% protein. So, I have decided to put the breeders on a mainly dry diet with water gel with occasional fruit and veggies. The diet I am thinking of is quite simple, layers pellets (around 16% protein), Oats along with fish flakes to increase the protein to (with a finger in the air) about 25% overall. The ingredients also include reasonable levels of fats, oils, fibre and ash. Dusting, goes without saying. So that's what I've concluded :? however if anyone can offer any additional advice or if if there's something not quite right I would love to hear from you.
As we will have our little dragon for (hopefully) a good 10 years or more I see this venture will certainly benefit both us financially and our dragon nutritionally
Anyway, sorry for wittering on and thanks for reading. Looking forward to your responses and thank you for your time if you do so.