50 CRICKETS A DAY???

[sweetpea1981]

I was nice when I reviewed his setup and told him what he would need to get to make it right and when I told him he was feeding way too little, and then he makes this post even though in his other post he was told that he was feeding way too little, it just seems sad to me that someone would come on here trying to get advice and then not take the advice we offer then make more threads to rant about the advice that was given. I'm just concerned about the beardie that is not getting adequate nutrition, that would be like us being told that all we could eat all day was a small bag of chips, certainly not enough for all day nor is it nutritionally balanced.

 

[brittani299]

It isnt harassment... he NEEDS to know what to do.. because he obviously didnt do much research before buying. And IMO those are the worst kinda pet owners. I have been on these forums and others for over a month now and i still have yet to go and buy my dragon. The main reason being i wanted to make sure i was prepared for EVERYTHING including the cost of feeding him/her properly. If he sees it as harassment then so be it... but if it makes him think and possibly give the dragon to someone who can take care of him or it motivates him to figure something out on his own its well worth the 'harassment'

I understand but again we all make mistakes. Yes I agree if it turns out he cant take care of it he should find it a good home. But he came here and is trying to find out even if he is being unresponsive. My bf got a beardie out of the blue. We went to the pet store and just got her. I had never even heard of bearded dragons before. So am I a bad owner? I know what I am doing now but I didn't before. Heck I didn't have a UVB on her for 2 weeks until I found this site.

 

[Lindz0518]

The difference is that you took the advice and wanted help, yes we all make mistakes but if you don't want to do whats best and think that the advice that is given is ridiculous, I am sure that he will probably not come back because he didn't agree with what we were suggesting. Sadly the poor beardie he has will suffer for it.

 

[Lindz0518]

I am currently battling a RI and the beginnings of MBD with Spyro because of owners that didn't care enough to give him the proper care. No uvb, sand, no calcium and an uth. I am sure they didn't make him sick intentionally but I have been battling almost 2 month to get well, the people on this site have helped me every step of the way and it's frustrating to see this lack of effort to help his pet.

 

[Momomo]

I think we need to stop being mean to him. He is probably a younger person and didnt know. We all make mistakes in life. Lets try to help him!!!

People did try to help him on his other thread and then he made this one, which is a pointless rant, not even a question. So how can we help him if he thinks that the right amount of feeders experienced people tell him to feed is "ridiculous". He needs to either 1)completely change his outlook on owning a pet , or 2)just let someone more caring to adopt the pet. And I really hope he will reply and tell us he decided to go with either one or the other option.

 

[XiDiS]

I have been members of forums for 10+ years ranging from fish forums, to computer help, to car and truck forums and on and on. I am not saying i am an expert... but when i see someone being told one thing in a post and then they make a new thread about the same subject its usually because they didnt like the information given in the first post and are hoping someone will 'side' with them and give them the answer they want to hear. I really hope thats not the case here. Either way i hope he responds and figures something out for the beardie.

 

[sweetpea1981]

that is what it seems like to me.....I hope he does the right thing for his beardie......

 

[MissRubyPirate]

It isnt harassment... he NEEDS to know what to do.. because he obviously didnt do much research before buying. And IMO those are the worst kinda pet owners. I have been on these forums and others for over a month now and i still have yet to go and buy my dragon. The main reason being i wanted to make sure i was prepared for EVERYTHING including the cost of feeding him/her properly. If he sees it as harassment then so be it... but if it makes him think and possibly give the dragon to someone who can take care of him or it motivates him to figure something out on his own its well worth the 'harassment'

^^^ Agree!!

 

[Lindz0518]

He was online last night and didn't respond, so I am guessing that since he didn't like the advice and suggestions given that he is just going to ignore them. Which is sad, the people on here are super nice and helpful. I don't think that they were bullying or harassing, especially at first. They are just concerned for his little baby beardie, as am I.

 

[Ranchero]

I was spending over $60 a month on crickets and just made my own tub and ordered them online. Its MUCH better

 

[katieerin]

Maybe he's buying crickets at Petco or something. In that case, I'd recommend buying bulk online. I order from premiumcrickets.com - Not only a lot cheaper, but also free from parasites that Petco/Petsmart crickets often carry.

Please don't starve your poor baby. If you can't afford it, just let people know so someone can be found to adopt him/her.

 

[DTRM30]

I know it sounds like a lot of crickets, but they really do need them. Not every dragon will eat 100 per day. It depends on the dragon, the size of the crickets and etc. Our BD is still a baby (just over 7" now) and easily is eating around 30 3/8" crickets per day.

But, crickets can be bought on-line a LOT cheaper than in the pet stores. Even with overnight shipping, it's literally 1/2 the price the pet store charges. You can easily keep them in a plastic storage bin - as long as they have a wet sponge for water and some food (a huge thing of Flukers cricket feet is about $6) they will be fine.

Yes, the initial expense is up there, but maintenance expenses once they get older aren't any differnt than other pets.

And, as they get older, they won't require as much live food, so the feed expese will decrease. Greens/salad stuff is cheaper than insects. Heck, you can grow your own during the summer You can even grow your own insects at an extremely minimal cost if you have the time/ambition.

A bunch of mustard greens cost around $2.00. plus some of whatever other vetetable/fruit that is in the house - that's $20 or so plus some insects. Really not much different than feeding a dog. I spend about $50 per month on dog food - and feeding our lizard will likely run about the same.

Please, find a way to feed your BD correctly, or at least find someone who can if you can't. I know not everyone can afford a pet, and sometimes something like a lizard seems like an inexpensive pet. My anoles didn't require 1/2 the crickets these guys eat at the same size.

If you didn't know- you didn't know - not necessarily anyones fault. They don't always tell you that kind of stuff at the pet store. I know they didn't tell me, but i had done some reading beforehand so was expecting the large quantity of crickets.
They just sell the animal and let you figure out the rest and don't tell you what to expect for feeding/maintenance costs.

It's sad, really. Pet stores should be required to post expected care requirements by the animal so people can at least be somewhat informed before impulse purchases. (I know a lot of that info is not always correct, but at least it would be a start).

I hope you can find a way to care for your BD...

 

[XiDiS]

I just hope he at least gives us some sorta update....

 

[Momomo]

He actually started a new thread viewtopic.php?f=18&t=187281&p=1501334#p1501334, where he says that he started to feed more crickets, but never replied to that one either. Not sure if he doesn't like what we are saying or there is some other reason...