I now have two baby bearded dragons and they're eating,..A LOT. I just got the new baby and if i'm doing my calculations correctly,...I'm going to be spending OVER $10 a week on just crickets. That's not bad but it eventually adds up!! I've heard a LOT of good things about Dubia...but omg they do NOT look like something i'd want to touch!! If I absolutely HAD to do it for my babies,..I would and at this point I'm thinking I might want to TRY!
I also saw Hornworms...they seem to be really difficult to breed though and i don't want moths getting loose and flying around my house!!
Anyone have any suggestions about something I could breed,...that my babies could eat without the risk of impaction?
I bought most of mine through here, like Tom said. Look in the for sale section. They are the cheapest Ive seen then except beardeddragon.co, and they are out .
My babies HATE waxworms. Tried that today....FAIL!! Loki bit into one and threw it across his viv in disgust. As frustrating as it was....it was really funny. I'd definitely like to have them try dubia before I go buying a ton of them. lol. They seem to be picky!!
Dubia are definitely the way to go, especially with multiple beardies. A colony will eventually pay for itself if you take care of it and keep it moving along. It will take a few months to establish itself, however, and its usually best to leave the dubia alone during this time except for when you replace their food and water; but after a while your colony will be overflowing with all the baby dubia your beardies can eat. Many people hate the idea of keeping roaches in their home, but when you consider how much money you're saving over the years it makes up for it.
If you still scared at the prospect of roaches, you can try hornworms. You can buy the eggs and food off of Great Lakes Hornworm for good prices. (It's cheaper to buy the food than make it yourself.) The only problem is the food stink of multivitamin and the worms take almost a week until they get to a reasonable size. I've done it myself, and found it hard to thin down the amount of worms, but since you have two baby beardies, it just might work for you. My lizard's not a drinker, so what I've found is that the worms keep him hydrated since they're really gutty. They grow very fast as well, so you have to keep up with their growth. Dubia's are better a lot better in the long run, but this could be used as an alternative. There's a guide for horns floating on the first page, so if your interested you can check it out. It's actually quite easy to raise the worms, and from what other's have said, its not too difficult to breed them, but the eggs scatter everywhere. Also they turn into colossal beasts if they grow too big which can prove a problem if they're too big for your beardies. (+4")
I was afraid to touch the roaches when i first got them too but after a while you get used to them being on you and they won't bit you at all there feet just feel weird because they have the little suction cup things on there feet like most bugs. You should get used to them just start off holding the small ones and work your way up to the adults. The small ones you can barely feel on you. And before you start to feed from your colony you need to get it going so you don't run out quickly. You should probably get at least 50 females and like 20 males i think that will be good for 2 babies once they start to have babies.