How is this?

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ROOMA

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I know it needs some work, I need to see about getting that ceramic heating element for night time instead of the nocturnal bulb. I thought I could turn it off with the other lights at night but his tank will drop below 70F. I also need to see about getting a log or something for him to chill in on the shade side.

37218852_1964249606965970_776375335150157824_o.jpg

Took awhile to get a good UV light, the large ones I found would not fit, the zoo med one was dead. I then had to track down a mount that could be secured inside with the correct ballast to prevent flicker. Finally got that mounted today instead of on top.

I have noticed a odd thing....I feed him a few meal worms starting off each meal 3 times a day, then go to the cricket method of feeding til he stops in a small time frame as suggested. If I am going to be gone for lunch I leave some freeze dried meal worms in his salad dish to the side. Past few days I found he will take them and hide them eat half and hide the other half in the basking rock cave.

He will also cock a attitude if I do not feed him his fill. This morning I gave him the last 5 crickets....then he wanted more. I offered a meal worm and it turned his head away and started circling the area I drop the crickets in....then when I tried to change his water (I do after feeding) he ran up got on the water dish and just kept staring at me with his mouth slightly open....like he wanted more and would not let me do anything til he got them. I just moved him to the basking rock and finished and went to go get him more.

These standard behaviors?
 

kyleena29

Sub-Adult Member
Haha, sounds like he's trying to be the boss. We don't really recommend meal worms at all due to that they have too much shell. How old is your beardie?
 

ROOMA

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Original Poster
Unsure Ouros is almost 6" long, I I break the meal worms in half for him and tweezer dance them normally.

Crickets are expensive so I try to get him to fill up on meal worms, I am on disability for multiple reasons with a set income.
-_- there are multiple circumstances to my money and living arrangements.
 

kyleena29

Sub-Adult Member
He is still very young then. Mealworms can cause them to get impacted since the cannot digest the shells well. It is a huge risk. There are sites online where you can buy crickets in bulk pretty cheap. He should be eating a whole lot while they are young. As much as he wants in a 10 min period 2-3x per day.
 

ROOMA

Member
Original Poster
Link on the bulk buy...need much cheaper then 14 cents each, and the proper sized crickets from said site.

One other thing....I can not dust, live crickets without killing them with the tweezers (Immune system issues I do not handle his foods with my hands) Freeze dried meal worms are how I have been getting him his calcium and vitamin D dusting them....I also gut load his crickets. Should I dust his greens? Or just omit the powder?

PS I do not use multivitamin Powder as I had a bad reaction to it.
 

Taterbug

BD.org Addict
Your enclosure looks pretty good, I would turn all lights off at night, it’s ok for the temps to drop at night, even down into the mid 60F.

Supplements, especially when they are young, are so so important. The freeze dried mealworms are not a great feeder since they have zero moisture in them and you cannot be sure they have been gutloaded. They may fill him up, but he won’t be getting as much out of them as he should. Only dusting the mealworms will not guarantee enough calcium is being used to grow strong bones if he is also eating many crickets.

How are you offering the crickets now? Maybe we can help you come up with a way to offer them that allows you to dust them.

What are you feeding the crickets? It is possible to feed your crickets in away that would help you not need to dust, but it has to be carefully done.

Mealworms and superworms are easy to breed, that maybe an option for you to help save money on feeders. Roaches are a popular feeder as well, but I’m not sure if they would be OK considering health sensitivities. They aren’t that gross but can be dusty and contribute to allergies.
 

kyleena29

Sub-Adult Member
Here are some sites for crickets. As you will see they are way cheaper than the pet store, even with shipping. I'm going to guess you need 1/4" size crickets? The space between the eyes from the top of the head is a good indicator of how big he can have.
http://www.premiumcrickets.com/Departments/Live-Crickets-Shipped.aspx
https://la.armstrongcrickets.com/collections/crickets/products/crickets?variant=7281274191895

You could opt for liquid vitamin and calcium.
http://www.bug-de-lite.com/ccp8/Item/Liquid_Calcium
http://www.beardeddragon.co/index.php?route=product/product&path=61&product_id=111
If you do the liquids you could get the vitamin with D3 added since the calcium doesn't have any.

Could you dust crickets in a like freezer bag and shake them? It would be best for calcium to be on the bugs or you could give liquid calcium just before eating. They only need a very light coating on one feeding per day while young.
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

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