Questions of a soon to be a beardie owner

Sushi

Member
Original Poster
Hello everyone!

I usually avoid forums of any kind, as I usually get bad experience on them.

Although, since I'm gonna be a beardie momma.. what else can I do? :D

So.. my questions are:

Any specific basking temperature for a beardie of any age? (I need that in Celsius)

How to tame them?

What to feed them? How often?

Can you "potty" train them? If so, how?

How warm should their water bath be? (Celsius)

Can baby to juvi beardies eat mealworms?
(I am scared of crickets, and hoppers [to death lol])

Or should I be getting small dubia roaches?

If any new questions arise, I'll ask here ^^

Thank you! :)
 

Groggyfroggie

Juvie Member
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Draco
Sorry.. Last question. Should my beardie get insects once per day everyday, same with veggies?
If they’re a baby you can give them insects 2-3 times a day, depends on how many they eat. For example with small dubias I used to give mine 10-15 per feeding, 2 feedings everyday. Or you can let them eat as many as they can in 10-15 minutes. Just make sure they don’t eat anything 3 hours before bed to ensure digestion.
If they’re a juvenile feeding insects once per day is fine. Then if they’re over one year old you wanna give less insects, some people feed every other day, some do twice a week, just less insects in general.
 

Sushi

Member
Original Poster
If they’re a baby you can give them insects 2-3 times a day, depends on how many they eat. For example with small dubias I used to give mine 10-15 per feeding, 2 feedings everyday. Or you can let them eat as many as they can in 10-15 minutes. Just make sure they don’t eat anything 3 hours before bed to ensure digestion.
If they’re a juvenile feeding insects once per day is fine. Then if they’re over one year old you wanna give less insects, some people feed every other day, some do twice a week, just less insects in general.
And veggies twice per week or?
 

Sushi

Member
Original Poster
So uh... my neighbour wimped himself out of helping me to build my viv... Got the £14 bunch of BSFL.. And I never am getting them again. Demon children LOL. So about 80% of them is dead now, maybe 1% of them are flies now.... I cannot deal with calci worms, specially when something flies and jumps. I really do get a pretty bad hysteria. I hope eBay will refund me the £14, and hopefully I will be able to find silk worms. I just hope the same story will not happen like with calci worms...

Anyways- Do you guys have any tips on better worms that will not flare up my hysteria?
 

Groggyfroggie

Juvie Member
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Draco
So uh... my neighbour wimped himself out of helping me to build my viv... Got the £14 bunch of BSFL.. And I never am getting them again. Demon children LOL. So about 80% of them is dead now, maybe 1% of them are flies now.... I cannot deal with calci worms, specially when something flies and jumps. I really do get a pretty bad hysteria. I hope eBay will refund me the £14, and hopefully I will be able to find silk worms. I just hope the same story will not happen like with calci worms...

Anyways- Do you guys have any tips on better worms that will not flare up my hysteria?
I feel you 😂 I nearly had a heart attack when I got home and found out BSFLs had escaped… now I stick with dubia roaches and silkworms. Honestly in terms of worms I don’t think there’s a lot of options. Main ones are superworms mealworms waxworms hornworms and silkworms. The first two aren’t recommended to feed babies (esp. babies who just relocated to a new home), and waxworms and hornworms are usually used as a treat. Hope you can find a good silkworm supplier!

In terms of least scary insects I’d say dubia roaches. Can’t climb smooth surface, don’t make noises, kinda dumb really, and even if one or two escaped you know it’s fine because they’ll just hide in a corner and die. Give them a container and egg crates they’ll happily eat and sleep repeat 🤣
 

Sushi

Member
Original Poster
I feel you 😂 I nearly had a heart attack when I got home and found out BSFLs had escaped… now I stick with dubia roaches and silkworms. Honestly in terms of worms I don’t think there’s a lot of options. Main ones are superworms mealworms waxworms hornworms and silkworms. The first two aren’t recommended to feed babies (esp. babies who just relocated to a new home), and waxworms and hornworms are usually used as a treat. Hope you can find a good silkworm supplier!

In terms of least scary insects I’d say dubia roaches. Can’t climb smooth surface, don’t make noises, kinda dumb really, and even if one or two escaped you know it’s fine because they’ll just hide in a corner and die. Give them a container and egg crates they’ll happily eat and sleep repeat 🤣
I do personally prefer dubias over anything else 🤣 Nothing that jumps or flies is just not for me. I hope to get dubia bumper colonies, and get them to breed. I got a heat mat and a thermostat for them already, and some paper rolls for hides, and a plate for food. I hope they don't die on me again.
 

Sushi

Member
Original Poster
More questions lol.

What are oxalates, and what they do/to for beardies?

What does high phosphorus do to beardies?

Is it worth to order a silkworm breeding kit and breed them? I hope it is not something that will put me in trouble and hysteria? Lol
 

Groggyfroggie

Juvie Member
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Draco
More questions lol.

What are oxalates, and what they do/to for beardies?

What does high phosphorus do to beardies?

Is it worth to order a silkworm breeding kit and breed them? I hope it is not something that will put me in trouble and hysteria? Lol
Regarding what exactly is oxalate I think you can find more answers on Google, but what I know is that it’s calcium-binding, too much of it can lead to calcium deficiency. So we try to avoid any food that’s high in oxalate like spinach and rhubarb.

Beardies need a balanced (preferably higher calcium) calcium to phosphorus ratio. From what I know both calcium and phosphorus utilize the same vitamin D to be converted and absorbed. So too much phosphorus too little calcium can also lead to calcium deficiency. There are detailed scientific explanations of that on the forum, this is just off the top of my head :ROFLMAO:
 

Groggyfroggie

Juvie Member
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Draco
I’ve never bred silkworms myself but here’s what my silkworms look like at the moment. Silkworms that just hatched are all black and sooo tiny, they look like long ants 😬 Aside from daily clean ups and their never ending need for food, silks are actually pretty cute imo, almost therapeutic to watch them eat. They do get very fat and long tho. Maybe search for silkworm videos and see if they make you uncomfortable.
A712AC62-7C84-498B-9940-275C0371BD04.jpeg
 

Sushi

Member
Original Poster
Regarding what exactly is oxalate I think you can find more answers on Google, but what I know is that it’s calcium-binding, too much of it can lead to calcium deficiency. So we try to avoid any food that’s high in oxalate like spinach and rhubarb.

Beardies need a balanced (preferably higher calcium) calcium to phosphorus ratio. From what I know both calcium and phosphorus utilize the same vitamin D to be converted and absorbed. So too much phosphorus too little calcium can also lead to calcium deficiency. There are detailed scientific explanations of that on the forum, this is just off the top of my head :ROFLMAO:
Ah so just calcium issues. I will research on it more a bit later.

I’ve never bred silkworms myself but here’s what my silkworms look like at the moment. Silkworms that just hatched are all black and sooo tiny, they look like long ants 😬 Aside from daily clean ups and their never ending need for food, silks are actually pretty cute imo, almost therapeutic to watch them eat. They do get very fat and long tho. Maybe search for silkworm videos and see if they make you uncomfortable. View attachment 74814
Silkies are cute, especially their flightless (very good lol) moths. I read a thread on someone breeding them. It looks very hard, and most likely is. Specially expensive and time absorbant. I found some silkies available with a subscription. 120 silks per week for £40....... I am so torn as to what to do.
 

Rocky2022

Sub-Adult Member
Beardie name(s)
Rocky, Ruby
With regards to potty training- it appears that beardies develop their own patterns. I've seen videos where people encourage potty training via baths because it also assists us with cleaning. I monitored Rocky's behavior. He has gone in the same spot of the enclosure since I brought him home. You'll find a post where I was excited that he was outside of his enclosure but found his way back to poop. THANK GOODNESS...he also found his way to the bathroom--- don't ask. I posted about that - pic included.
I believe each beardie is different and pooping is one of those things you can monitor when you first bring the beardie home and see if they develop a pattern.
It was more exciting yet frightening for me to experience glass surfing for the first time because until this day, as soon as Rocky poops, he wants it out!
When you smell it, you will see why.
 

Sushi

Member
Original Poster
With regards to potty training- it appears that beardies develop their own patterns. I've seen videos where people encourage potty training via baths because it also assists us with cleaning. I monitored Rocky's behavior. He has gone in the same spot of the enclosure since I brought him home. You'll find a post where I was excited that he was outside of his enclosure but found his way back to poop. THANK GOODNESS...he also found his way to the bathroom--- don't ask. I posted about that - pic included.
I believe each beardie is different and pooping is one of those things you can monitor when you first bring the beardie home and see if they develop a pattern.
It was more exciting yet frightening for me to experience glass surfing for the first time because until this day, as soon as Rocky poops, he wants it out!
When you smell it, you will see why.
No poop smells like flower 🤣
 

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