Crickets in enclosure

[AustinnKaine]

I have a juvenile beardie, so of course he eats fairly small crickets, and they are hard to catch. So sometimes after feedings there are crickets left in his enclosure that simply stay in there. I have tile on the floor in there which the crickets seem small enough to hide in. I was wondering if it is harmful for them to be in there with him? I know he eats the ones he finds throughout the day.

My main concern is that he may eat one or two at night, or that they bother him in his sleep.

Does anyone have any suggestions or information?

Thanks in advance,

p.s his name is Raji !

 

[ruben0311]

yeah definitely don't want those crickets in there at night, they'll stress em out, try putting them in the fridge for a few minutes before feeding to slow them down, that way your buddy can catch them, and put them in a few at a time so he has enough time to track and eat all of them. I assume you don't have a separate container to do the feeding in?

 

[diamc]

It's VERY important that you take out those crickets out before he goes to bed or the crickets will crawl all over & bite your beardie while he is sleeping. I have seen quite a few cricket bites and they can easily get infected.

 

[AustinnKaine]

I used to keep the crickets in one of those Kritter Keeper containers from the petstore. I quickly realized how much more expensive it was to only buy 5 dozen or so at a time from the pet store, and recently I have been buying 500 at a time online. And of course that little container was to small to keep that many in. So I converted his first tank to hold the crickets. I will upload photos of that, and his enclosure.

 

[diamc]

Wow, that is a very high basking spot. Have you thought about putting a ramp on the other side so he can get down easier without jumping?

How close is he to the UVB bulb when sitting there?

I use an outgrown tank too for the crickets, work well. Still recommend removing all of the uneaten ones before he goes to bed every night.

 

[AustinnKaine]

4" from the uvb. We were discussing that yesterday in the UVB question thread. Through the mesh netting we estimated it was about 4 uv where he is. The wooden piece you see is what he uses to get up and down. This tank was really hard to work with to get him close enough to the basking spot. I built the piece you see.

 

[kingofnobbys]

If you can't find them all to remove. Leave some greens and veg / salad in the food dish overnight, the crickets will be drawn out to nibble on this , and if the beardie wakes up, it'll appreciate a midnight snack (including the crickets it'll find in the food dish and near it).
This is what I do with Peppa and Toothless (who are fed in their rearing tubs).

BTW : I'd remove that pedestal platform , if your hatchling leaps off it , and lands heavily/awkwardly on the tiles , he can do some serious damage to his legs, back, neck. Better off lowering the basking spot so it's no more than 8" off the "ground".

That (fake) plant will be harbouring rogue crickets and there is a risk the hatchling will sample it's leafs , I had some fake plants on Peppa's and Toothless' grottos and saw Peppa trying to nibble the plastic leafs so out came the Stanley knife and the fake plants are no more.

A mesh top (which essentially is just a open top) is a BAD IDEA in a enclosure. A solid lid on top is much better because :
- heat will be held in the enclosure making it much easier to create a stable thermal gradient (warm zone, cool zone and hot basking spot) , warm air created by the basking lamp will be very buoyant and will immediately escape from the enclosure through a mesh top.
- will make it harder for other household animals to get into the enclosure, a screan/mesh top is not much of a barrier to a determined cat or dog.
- it provides a good platform from which to hand lights (UV and basking globe).

 

[ruben0311]

so since he's just a little guy perhaps you can hang the light fixtures from the screen top just so you can keep him closer to the ground? grab some wire and lower the fixtures down to a safer height if possible? thats if you're able to, if your hood is the width of the top then you're kinda limited unless you can raise the floor by placing wooden blocks, or even better styofoam to keep it light, underneath the tiles. raising the floor would allow you to have the all around temperature higher, make it safer for him if he falls, and you can even have an area within the floor where he can burrow if you like, using like scraps of clothing or something till he gets bigger. Something i've always wanted to do but dont have the vertical space is a net!!! not anything too fibrous but just something that they can climb up and down and can serve as a safety item too. you can even put some fake leaves into it so it's like the top of a bush. :lol:

 

[AustinnKaine]

Thank you for all the suggestions so far everyone. I did lower the platform. I'll post an updated pic later. It's still a little high but these vertical cages are a challenge to work with to get temps right so I've been limited so far .

Don't suggest these for beardies.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Thank you for all the suggestions so far everyone. I did lower the platform. I'll post an updated pic later. It's still a little high but these vertical cages are a challenge to work with to get temps right so I've been limited so far .

Don't suggest these for beardies.

For little hatchlings like yours I recommend starting off in a simple 100 LITRE tub (mine a very lightly opalescent (white) but very much see though, they are dead easy to convert to a rearing tub for little dragons if you have a electric soldering iron (to make ventilation holes in each end , 1 lot high near the lid , other lot near the bottom) and a cordless power drill/driver to drill pilot holes for screws in the lid.

I have NANO COMPACT HOODS attached under my lids with UVB200 UV globes in them, and a piece of plywood (15mm x 75mm wide attached to near the rim of the tubs , far enough down to allow free sliding of the lid with my 60W Par38 basking globe (clear-colorless spotty).

My two hatchlings have a very simple arrangement = small hubbahut (smallest) + fake rock grotto (to bask on) some big sticks and bits of trunk bar (cf my big bluegum) + a home made heatslab ( 7W basic film style heatpad sandwiched between 2 layers of ceramic tiles <=== is inside the tub) + a rock look feeding dish.
The lights are on a household timer , the heatslab runs 24/7 controlled by a digital thermostat who's probe is attached to the heat slab and maintains 36oC .

The tall skinny enclosures like the one you have are better suited to geckos, camealions, frogs, snakes and more arboreal skinks and dragons. Not a good choice for bearded dragons , even as hatchlings.

Setting up a pendulum style light is easy :
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/glow_light.php are excellent for UVB200 globes, simply attach the reflector dome fitting under the lid , using cable ties in your case and adjust the height from the basking spot to suit , http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/reptile_dome.php would be ok for your basking globe.
or one of these http://zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php?EntryID=381&DatabaseID=2&SearchID=5&SearchContext=YTo0OntzOjQ6IlBhZ2UiO3M6MToiMSI7czo4OiJTZWFyY2hJRCI7czoxOiI1IjtzOjEwOiJEYXRhYmFzZUlEIjtzOjE6IjIiO3M6ODoiS2V5d29yZHMiO3M6OToiZGVlcCBkb21lIjt9 hung under the lid maybe .