Hatred of crickets, new food source?

[Zeph94]

Has anyone else developed a hatred for these little hopping hiding (inappropriate word removed by moderator.) I also find 2 or 3 that were hiding very well running around Calai's tank at night a eating some left over salad. Does anyone know a better alternative to these things that I can pick up at petco or something? I need to be able to dust them with a calcium supplement too. She is around 9 inches I think if that helps with knowing what she can eat safely.

This is a PG 13 forum and bad words are not allowed.

 

[orionshaft]

Pheonix worms are great but you would need to most likely order them.

 

[Zeph94]

Would superworms be a good choice? I Don't know if they'll be too big or not. I just read an article saying that they were one of the best food sources and have a lot of meat on them.

 

[orionshaft]

I always read on here that you don't want to feed them supers unless your beardie is 16" or longer.

 

[Zeph94]

hmm, well what would you recommend as something to get from a brick and mortar store?

 

[orionshaft]

The only worms that I can find in stores are supers and mealworms.. Unless you order online you might be stuck with the crickets.

 

[Zeph94]

I guess I can take a whack at ordering phoenix worms. Do you use them as the main feeder?

 

[SlabOMeat]

Pheonix worms are okay, but I wouldn't use them as a staple. They are expensive and not readily available in pet stores, and stink. From everything I have read here, Superworms should only be fed to sub-adult and adult dragons.

The best feeder by far, if you can do the startup cost, are dubia roaches.

 

[Zeph94]

I could do that but i'm afraid of having them way overpopulate and go nuts. It also seems like it could be a lot of work to take care of them.

 

[SlabOMeat]

Overpopulation would take a LONG time...I don't find them too hard to care for, but they do require some maintenance. If you are just wanting to grab worms out of a cup and toss 'em in, then yeah dubias may not work for you...but constantly buying worms will ultimately be more expensive.

 

[mccallumpiper]

I would justlike to add that if you find a good place for dubias you can actually buy them monthly without starting a colony just buy what you need. I would get a tupperware container with food and what not and buy an amount you need for that month and do it monthly. There are some good prices out there you can certainly do handle that without going broke.

 

[Zeph94]

Hmm well I'll probably try the Dubias eventually. I'm going to try getting a mixed diet in of Crickets and a few superworms. I will get a big boost of $$ in July with my birthday and probably try to start up and small colony.

 

[orionshaft]

You should wait untill your beardie is bigger before feeding supers.

 

[Zeph94]

Well I havent fed her adult crickets, should I just start doing that?

 

[techdave]

You don't want to feed her anything that is bigger than the space between her eyes. The reason that you shouldn't feed superworms yet is because they could get impacted. Their intestines straighten out and can handle bigger food when they are about 16" or a year old. It's best not to do any supers right now, even the baby ones, just so there is no confusion. Dubias are definitely the way to go. They don't stink, they don't chirp and they don't get the intestinal parasites that crix can. And they're super cute!!! lol