Some feeding questions

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WinFam01

Juvie Member
Too much time on my hands to think apparently... ??

If we are feeding calciworms every day, do we still need to dust the other feeders? (Dubia)

Speaking of dubia, we have gotten 2 shipments now (same source) and each time there has been one, and only one, white roach in the container. What's up with that?

And speaking of what's up with our dubias...also wondering what is up with our calciworms. You may recall that we accidentally got 1200 large instead of 600, so we've had this batch for almost a month now, and I recently started finding little tiny worms in the container. Were they there all along and too tiny to notice at first, or were there possibly eggs in with them to start out, or ???

We've been taking her out to feed her for most of the time we've had her...any reason we shouldn't keep doing this?

Ok, that's it for the feeder edition of my questions (for now). I may or may not reappear in a different thread with other burning questions. ?
 

DragonPete

Sub-Adult Member
Let me say first, I don't feed Dubias but I do know that the white ones have just molted, shed their shell. ?Superworms do the same thing, pale cream color after they molt and no crunch when my boy eats it. ?
As for tiny worms in your calciworms, sounds like they were already there, but just got big enough to see. Hopefully someone with more experience with them, will chime in. If there should NEVER be tiny worms, it could be a problem. ?
Have you considered dropping an email or call to the seller and ask if it's normal? If they are baby calciworms, that would be a win/win for sure! ?
Sorry I can't be of more help. ?
-Dee
 

Draven88

Hatchling Member
White dubia is just freshly molted and will grow a new one as noted previously. Great opportunity to feed with no shell I say ad its even easier to digest.

The tiny worms sounds line there was most likely something else in the bedding of your calciworms probably eggs laid in it. If your beardie is of a size that you can grow them to feed just move them right away to a new container. You can reference https://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/growing-phoenix-worms/ if you aren't familiar with fattening them up. If your beardie is young and needs them that small just make sure to separate them and make sure none of the little worms are fed. I don't know that they would hurt anything but better to be safe. Someone who knows exactly what they are may add more.

I still dust dubia but I more tend to alternate days on food.
 

DragonPete

Sub-Adult Member
Draven88":t0rialxx said:
White dubia is just freshly molted and will grow a new one as noted previously. Great opportunity to feed with no shell I say ad its even easier to digest.

The tiny worms sounds line there was most likely something else in the bedding of your calciworms probably eggs laid in it. If your beardie is of a size that you can grow them to feed just move them right away to a new container. You can reference https://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/growing-phoenix-worms/ if you aren't familiar with fattening them up. If your beardie is young and needs them that small just make sure to separate them and make sure none of the little worms are fed. I don't know that they would hurt anything but better to be safe. Someone who knows exactly what they are may add more.

I still dust dubia but I more tend to alternate days on food.

That's what I was thinking too, about the tiny worms. Are they calciworms or something unknown. I'd be getting up with whoever I ordered from. Would be afraid to feed something that I don't know what it is.?
-Dee
 

Draven88

Hatchling Member
Well BSFL (calciworms phoenix worms... whatever name they are going by) can hatch thousands from 1 gram of eggs so they are extremely small. So it is possible they some eggs were in the bedding. When you think about it its a likely event as while a breeder will make any attempt they can to keep the breeders in one place they are flys and some will escape and some will lay eggs in the bins of larva growing. Its just hard to say for sure.
 

DragonPete

Sub-Adult Member
Wow. If that turns out to be the case, the OP got quite a deal after getting double what they ordered to start with. ? I should be so lucky! ?
-Dee
 

WinFam01

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Thank you!
I am pretty sure they are tiny bsfl, they look just like the big ones, but tiny. ?
I left the tiny ones in the old container and have a new fresh container of larges we're feeding from.

I will make it a priority to feed the white ones when I see them! We just got our first big shipment of 500, so we should be seeing more than just 1 here and there!
 

Draven88

Hatchling Member
That's a good move to separate them. But keep in mind the substrate they are send in is not food. So likely if it was eggs it was just a small amount that got suck to the larva in being transferred to the packaging (it still could be another form of larva, with being so small its hard to judge even when looking at them).

Something to keep in mind with the BSFL as well is they can be grown IF your beardie is ready for a larger size. https://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/growing-phoenix-worms/

Straight out of the cup works great for babies but a full size beardie could eat half the cup if they aren't grown out without being full.
 

WinFam01

Juvie Member
Original Poster
I did look at that article earlier...but can they be grown bigger than the "large" size we buy them as?
 

Draven88

Hatchling Member
They can get to just about twice as long and thick as large size from sellers. That can translate into 6+ times the overall body mass overall and really help fill the bottomless pits they can seem like sometimes. You just want to make sure they are ready for the larger size. They may be sift bodied (no shell to speak of) but I still adhere to the rule of no larger than the space between their eyes.
 

WinFam01

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Oh wow. I will have to look at the article more closely, because I am confused about how to have them warm enough to grow without having them turn into flies. We can't even just leave ours sit out without them turning black, we have to keep them in a cooler. ??‍♀️
 

Draven88

Hatchling Member
Well The pupating I would say is more they have no food and so advance their life cycle as they are far enough along to do so, but with food they continue to grow more. When shipped to us they are in a substrate bedding, but there is no food in there. I am not en expert on that by any means though I just follow that guide myself and it works well.
 
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