Feeding in tank

[tabithabennett]

Hi guys,
Just wondering what everyone's opinions are about feeding crickets to your beardies in their tanks?
I've heard a lot about both sides of the fence, but the only down side I can think of is them finding finding places and the beardie not actually consuming them... Is that a big problem if a larger number is placed in the tank?
I'd love to hear what people think.

 

[casper31]

I feed Miss in her home all the time. But I also don't have a lot in her tank because of it. A climb structure & dig box is it. I don't have little blankets for her or bed box. I feed crickets in the a.m. feed & worms in the p.m. That way she has all day to feed on hiders (but rarely do we have any). I dump 1/2 of them in, wait til she eats most of them & then dump the other half. Worms are the p.m. feed cuz they don't escape the bowl. Final sweep of the viv before lights out to check for stragglers & we're done. Once in a great while i'll find a couple around the cracks of the dig box.

 

[Krispy]

I use alot of slate rocks to raise Smaug up as he's just a baby right now. I first started feeding in his tank but would see the crickets finding little cracks in the rocks so I started moving him to a smaller empty tank. I've been doing this for about 2 weeks and was just recently told to stop because he needs to have the hunting instincts in his environment. I may be wrong but I still see him use his hunting abilities in the small tank so I'll keep doing that. I also do it because he's still a skittish little guy and this helps with handling him and getting me associated with food

 

[RoscoTheBeardie]

I do crickets in the tank but I put them in a bag to dust them and then I just shake in two or three at a time and once thoese are gone I shake in another few and so on so I can watch that he is eating them all. I find it easier that way so I don't have to go looking for crickets later.

 

[tomboy1988]

My adults eat straight from the container. Their enclosures are wooden so dropping crickets in is a bad idea. They climb all over the place and I lose more than they eat. For the babies, I have been TRYING to feed them in other areas so I can keep track of the crickets, but they don't like being outside of their cage. I separate them one at a time and allow them to hunt no more than 2 pin heads at the time. Takes longer and it's harder to keep up with, but that's the only way I can actually get mine to eat. Everyone has their own opinions on the matter, but I say if that method works for you, stick with it. I'd rather have a fat and full beardie than one who starves himself because of stress.

 

[darkviolet1461]

I think it depends on what your tank is full of and how much you are willing to look for those stragglers. I use to feed Calici crickets in her home because I would just take everything out and give her free rain to eat until she got full. Then I would take the stragglers out and put them away, then put everything back in her house. Since she is so small in a 40-gallon tank and the crickets can leave a mess, I bought her a carrier (for when she is bigger and has to go places) and that's where I am starting to feed her. She doesn't have to run as far to catch her crickets.

So as I said before, I believe it really depends on if you want to deal with the hassle or not.

 

[tomboy1988]

I agree. When mine were fed in the tank, I took everything out. That's what I'm doing for my baby beardies now. They like to eat in their enclosure so I feed them one at a time in there with everything taken out.