Dubia vs bsfl

[zachburnav]

Hello everyone! Dubias are pretty expensive to feed at the pace my beardie is eating them, so I was considering switching to bsfl. (1000 of them are $15 on dubiaroaches.com) I understand that the more variety the better, and I give plenty of variety for salads and will still be giving treats quite often if I make this switch. Is this a safe switch, and will my beardie still get the nutrients he needs with bsfl?

If I do end up switching, I was planning on setting up a dubia colony while bsfl is my staple, but it got me thinking, Tokyo is currently ~6 months old, and from what i heard dubia colonies should be given around 6 months (?) to breed a few times before feeding nymphs. By the time these 6 months pass, Tokyo will likely be mature and will need less dubia. Is it still worth making this colony if chances are i wont use it too much?

 

[KarrieRee]

Where are you getting your roaches from - as dragon get older they do no eat as much staple feeder insects - they only need to have protein 2-3 times / week - BSFL are small and you will need to feed around 50 or so per feeding - I would offer super worms meal worms and silk worms - silks are another good staple feeder - w/ all the worms salad and a staple feeder he should have plenty and that will cut down on the dubia feeding -- if you need websites for those please ask
Karrie

 

[zachburnav]

So as of right now I'm ordering 200 medium roaches from reptilianarts.com, but I want to switch to 1" bsfl. I was looking into silkworms but I couldn't find them anywhere. If I feed 10 dubia 2 times a day, that means my 200 pack only lasts like 10 days. At 6 months old thats what I think he should be eating. Would you start a colony in this situation? Also can you please give me some silkworm websites?

 

[KarrieRee]

Your dragon is 6 months old he should be able to eat the cupped w/ food from repitianarts-- 40 of them would cost $34 -- I can give you more websites for them tho -- adding the super worms silk worms and salad is going to cut the dubia consumption down along w/ the BSFL -- Blaze quit eating the second round of dubias by 6 months old - he was full from the morning feedings of all the salad and worms and dubias he was getting -- he also quit eating the BSFL as well -- and now at 15 months old hes not eating alot of dubias now either - maybe 3 tops and 1-2 supers - both the insects are large tho - some roaches good size- I have a 10 gallon tank full of roaches that are male and females and they have had numerous babies that I did not plan on starting a colony I guess you call it - it started all on its own - I now have a bunch of babies running in the tank - I would cut back on the dubias and feed the other worms like the silk and the BSFL - Blaze was eating around 10 once per day when he was 6 months old but he was eating everything else along w/ butter worms too and horn worms -- I have cut back now on the worms I only have supers in the house now w/ the dubias both have slowed on their eating so right now I am only feeding salads and 3 super worms -- some days they eat them and some days they dont -- both dragons have been very lazy and sleeping and basking alot - Hiccup was sleeping for 3-4 days last week - then he came out and went and basked and ate a little - hes been awake since but I thought maybe he going into brumation but he has not -
Here is some more websites for silk
www.coastalsilkworms.com east coast and west coast
www.mulberryfarms.com I think they are out but they have horn worms and butter worms
Karrie

 

[zachburnav]

The thing with Tokyo is that he's a bottpmless pit. He would keep going, and going, and going, and never stop. I did end up limiting his consumtion to a dose recommended to me, but If I do end up giving him all sorts of worms with his breakfast, I'm probably still gonna switch to 1" bsfl for the next 2 feedings. This is still gonna be a lot cheaper then dubia, even if I need 50 per feeding. Does this seem like a good schedule to you? And if they are 1", how many should I feed per feeding in your opinion?

 

[KarrieRee]

Since I didnt feed as a main staple the BSFL I am not sure I am thinking around 50 -- the one you can ask for sure is Claudiusx you can PM him I believe he feeds BSFL as a main staple -- you will need to limit if hes a bottomless pit - you dont want him obese --
Karrie

 

[zachburnav]

Okay thank you for the input Karrie.

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

BSFL are better staple feeders IMO than dubia anyways. But, variety is better than any 1 single bug. So if you can do both, that would be ideal. Adding in another bug here or there would be good too if you can

50 would be a good idea to plan for each day. It might be more, it might be less. And you can still supplement in some dubia roaches.
But you should start off slow on any new bug just so that the system gets used to it. BSFL in particular have a habit of passing through the system undigested because the dragon eats them so quick they just swallow instead of chew. If this is the case, you will need to offer only 1 or 2 BSFL at a time so that your dragon doesn't get too excited and inhale them lol.

Your dragon will continue to eat dubia roaches even as an adult, so if you want you can continue to try to grow your colony. Worse comes to worse, you can sell/give away extras from your colony.

IMO, always best to have multiple bugs on hand for your dragon.

-Brandon

 

[zachburnav]

Okay, thanks Brandon!