Hi everyone ! My husband & I just purchased a baby dragon this weekend @ Repticon. The breeder informed us that small mealworms are a great, safe feeder alternative to crickets. Bought a tub of 500. Now after doing much research, it seems that mealworms are not the best/healthiest option.
Then discovered Dubias, and no...not gonna work living in Florida.
Any suggestions as far as the next best option ? Discoids ? Price point is not a big issue, health of our new baby & lack of stench are of utmost importance !
I'd go with discoids or horseshoe crab roaches perhaps. There are some Florida legal roaches available here http://capecodroaches.com/t/florida-legal-roaches I also suggest supplementing the roaches by offering silk worms and black soldier fly larvae. I get mine from lindasgonebuggie who is based in Florida.
The discoids are the typical Florida legal feeder. However, the polymorphic roach sounds like a good one to me. They have a good reproductive rate, cant climb, get about the same size as dubia, and are easy to care for and are fairly cheap.
A Florida legal I am really interested in is the Deaths Head roach (University of California cultivar) but they are more expensive, reproduce slower, and hard to find. Very pretty roaches though. I have been trying to purchase a colony for a few months now, but I can't get ahold of Kyle at roachcrossing.com. However, I would recommend his website for a lot of information on Florida legals. I would also highly recommend buying from him if you can get ahold of him. He's a really knowledgeable guy and very helpful....I bought my ivory heads from him. However he had to move his entire operation about a month ago...so that may be the reason for my difficulty with contacting him. But if you decide on a roach species, I would try him first.
The worms go to the dragon. I offer them as treats in addition to his main bug meal of roaches. The roaches eat his leftover veges and other kitchen scraps.