A hearty hello, a thanks, and a question...

[Phurba390]

Hey everyone!

I'm Phurba and I'm 31 years old. I have been reading various websites including this one for a few weeks doing research before buying my first dragon. I want to start by saying thank you to everyone here for providing such great info on these wonderful creatures. I greatly appreciate it and will soon be putting it to use!

I do have one question that I haven't seemed to be able to find. I know the best food to give them is dubias; However, I have a very bad roach phobia. When I was growing up my family was poor and we had a bad roach infestation. I would wake up in the middle of the night with a roach crawling on my face sometimes. If I see one in real life I have a full blown panic attack.

I have been trying to get over this phobia by learning more about them and watching videos of them. Sadly, it hasn't helped. Even watching a video it is VERY hard to not turn it off immediately and I get really bad shudders the whole time. One video in particular almost gave me a panic attack.

So here's my question, what is the next best thing with top priority being nutrition, and second being ease of breeding?

I was thinking of just making salad with nice organic veggies, vit supplements, and calcium, and just feeding that to crickets. I will admit crickets do irk me a bit though so if there is another insect that would be better, especially for a baby, that would be great.

Thank you!

 

[Taterbug]

I find that the smaller roaches remind me more of rolly polly bugs than anything but I can totally understand the gross factor. There are a couple other species, but I don't know if they are more or less "roachy". I commend you for trying to get over you phobia, but you don't need them by any means.

Crickets are the common go too bug, I've not cultured them but there is a guide here: viewtopic.php?f=76&t=211453. They are going to be the easiest and most economical to get - and you can just order them in bulk while your baby is little and then move on to other feeders once the appetite goes down. Your gut-load plan sounds good

Black Soldier Fly Larvae (Phoenix, Cali and Reptiworms are brands) are an excellent soft bodied feeder, if you live in the Southern US they can be cultured in an outside composter. They are small though, and take quite a few to fill up a hungry dragon.

Silkworms - for a baby it would be hard to keep up with the voracious appetite but they are another healthful insect. I have had luck rearing them.