Crickets Crawling Over Sleeping Beardies

[Critter]

I feed my Beardie crickets in his tank and he sometimes misses some. I know you are supposed to remove uneaten ones but I sometimes miss them too and they always seem to find little areas to hide. For his basking spot my Beardie has a log which instead of a fake log is a real one that I bought from the pet store. Because its real it's full of lots of little gaps and holes and the crickets all hide in the log all day, then at night they come out and roam around the tank.
Almost every single night I see these sneaky crickets crawling all over the tank, including over my Dragon while he is sleeping. He has never once woken up from the crickets crawling on him, and has never even stirred so it doesn't seem to bother him but I need to know if there could be any serious troubles from this. It is probably possible for me to catch every cricket at night and put it in a box but I estimate it would take several hours, those crickets are fast little buggers and keep hiding from me! So what do you think? Is it okay if they crawl on him or should I worry about it?

 

[LilStinkpot]

Crickets are nasty lil' buggers, and they'll eat ANYTHING, including sleeping beardies. It's best to feed your baby in a separate container that you can more easily extract the un-eaten crickets from.

 

[Critter]

Crickets are nasty lil' buggers, and they'll eat ANYTHING, including sleeping beardies. It's best to feed your baby in a separate container that you can more easily extract the un-eaten crickets from.

Hmm, I did see the crickets eating a little bit of my Beardies shedded skin that was left in the tank one night and I thought that was pretty gross. I hoped they wouldn't get a taste for Bearded Dragon. The separate container idea is good. Now I just need to find one big enough. Can they really do that much harm to him while sleeping? I did see them eating his dead skin, but I have only ever seen them pass by him or quickly crawl over him while sleeping.

 

[LilStinkpot]

Can they really do that much harm to him while sleeping?

Yes! The crickets will sneak up and nibble. That nibbled spot can get infected easily.

 

[Critter]

Okay, I will try and get as many out as possible. I will probably have trouble getting them out of the log where they hide.

 

[JenFid]

Back when I fed crickets I partioned off part of his tank so that they couldn't roam around and have anywhere to hide, and if he didn't eat them all they weren't difficult to catch.

Other option is just removing your beardies things while you feed him so stray crickets don't hide.

Also, bug vacuum :mrgreen:

 

[diamc]

When one of my beardies was a baby, I had a log that had lots of craters in it, I bought non-toxic playdoh and covered all the holes. It hardened and worked like a charm. Something you really should think about.

I've seen cricket bites on beardies that have gotten infected, you certainly wouldn't want that to happen.

 

[Critter]

Gah! I've spent the last half hour trying to get crickets out of his tank and in all that time I only have one! I swear my Beardie is just sitting there laughing at my attempts, he makes it look so easy! These little buggers are fast!

 

[imaginarium]

I feed my crickets in the 20gal I had Chester in before I upgraded with the old repticarpet for traction. You have to wash the carpet once a week cause the crickets make it kinda smelly but I keep it in the corner of the computer room with a blanket over it and you would never even notice it was there. Works great.

 

[BeardieN00b]

i have an old wine box i use so when its time to eat i put drake in there and drop a few crix in .. when their not being used for feeding i have a little critter tank i use and i fatten em up with sweet potatoes and repto cal supplement while their waiting for their demise

 

[CataclysmKitten]

Yes as said, crickets will nip at beardies.
But I thankfully don't have that problem because Zeus freakin' OBLITERATES the crickets in minutes. He's nuts. I worry about him sometimes. :mrgreen: