A couple random questions

[Kazul]

When there's an emergency, what is best to feed your beardie: Zoo Med's Can o' Crickets or Flukers freeze dried crickets? We have both at our local pet stores, but Austin and I are just curious as to which would be better to use?

Also, we have a lot of box elder bugs here in Iowa, especially in the past few years. They drive Squirrel nuts when they climb on her viv, so I was wondering. I heard somewhere that they're related to lightning bugs? Either way, is it safe to let her eat one that might wander into her viv, or should I keep them away from her at all costs?

 

[NegativeCreep]

Odds are that your BD won't touch the dead dried out crix in a can.. either brand. They smell horrible and they have little nutritional value. In an emergency, a BD can go a few days without live food (much longer for an adult). If you couldn't offer live crix, then be sure to offer lots of veggies/salad to keep him/her full until you can get some crix/worms/etc... In a real bad emergency, you could offer some chicken/turkey babyfood (check around to be sure on the kind of babyfood, though), this way they are still getting protein, if it were absolutely necessary. But either way, you can get crix delivered in a day or two

I don't know what box elder bugs are (they may go under a dif. name..), but it's strongly suggested that you never feed wild caught bugs to your pets. BDs can be very sensitive to things like pesticides and other outside chemicals that any bug can carry (I have to be very careful in my own home, I can't even feed Blaze crix that have escaped, since my house gets sprayed often). Also, I would seriously avoid them even more if they are 'related' to a lightning bug. Lightning bugs are very poisonous, so I wouldn't risk it. Other than that, I wouldn't know what kind of shell they might have, or what kind of impaction risk they would offer, so I would avoid them..

Hope that helps!