In the quest of a better diet!

[Potts]

My bearded dragon has lost weight and this is left me looking for a better diet for him but I have some questions.

His diet has always been a mealworm salad but ive decided to drop mealworms for something containing more nutrition buutt... the only worms I can find from any pet shop that I know of is wax and meal so it would seem worms are out of the question.. Now insects scare me to death! Pretty bad trait for a bearded dragon owner eh ? But I am prepared to go the extra mile to make my bearded dragon happy! Ive been told locust are they way to go but they send me running!

Are Locust the best for my beardie in my situation? (I can only get: wax worms, mealworms, locust and crickets)

How to Super worms differ from meal worms because my local pet shop is adamant that super worms are just large mealworms but I disagree?

Can bearded dragons eat "Fruit beetle grub" my local pet shop says they can order them in if I want but I have NO idea what they are?

Are locust > Crickets?

Ive never dealt with locust/crickets before but all I know is THEY SCARE ME! Can anyone offer any tips on how to keep them/stop them escaping/biting me/doing anything bad? Also how many a day?

Is one wax worm a day to much?

Is there a way to calculate if your bearded dragon is a healthy weight for his age/length?

Is it true that locust DO NOT in fact bite?(God I hope it is!)

Are cricket keepers any good? and will they help me to keep the locust?

Now I just want whats best for my bearded dragon! If you can suggest a better diet for him than my ideas so far shoot!

Thanks Pete

 

[peaches]

my beardie seems to love crickets. she gobbles them up and you let them eat as much as they want. Try a small amount like 70 or something. you can use any medium to large container or even a bucket as long as the crickets can breath. Also, supply them with food to keep them alive and full of protien. Remember never leave crickets in the terrarium with no one watching and always remove the uneaten crickets or they will bite your beardie. you'll still need a mixed diet of vegtables, fruit, and live food. Do a little research anyways so you know all about crickets. (you can get tools to grab the crickets at pet stores or online)

phoenix worms are a great nutritional meal and are better than mealworms. Plus most beardies gobble them up to.

You can get both crickets and phoenix worms at "ghanns crickets supplies". the'll ship them to your door and you pick sizes, and everything. You can also get supplies for the crickets here too (food, calcium, ect.)
heres the link- http://www.ghann.com/index.cfm
hope this helps, Teddy :wink:
__________________________________________________

care taker of:
1 beautiful bearded dragon
and
6 rabbits

 

[Potts]

Thanks for the info, Ghanns looks great but they won't deliver to me being in the UK so im going to hunt for a UK based cricket farm. What size crickets are you talking about because the ones I saw were pretty large, 70 would feed about 10 of my dragon Ive pre ordered locust so im sorta stuck with them now but if they don't work out ill try crickets, at the moment I'm worried he won't hunt for them because hes been lethargic lately. Again thanks

 

[Buggsy]

Ok locusts dont bite (us), but they are easy to gut load. I find that they are better for them, but thats just preference. For someone that doesn't like bugs they will be great, they are slower and easier to catch than crix.

thr crix keeper are good, but i found after a while it was easier to put them in a big plastic tub, with a secure lid and just get them out by hand.

Supers are not just big meal worms, they look incredibly similar, but are a totally different larvae, some stores have been known to stock hormone treated meal worms, which look the same size as morio worms (supers) but still have the hard exoskeleton and low nutrition. They are a good staple for your beardie as long as he is over 16" long, any shorter and they wont digest them due to a kink in the intestines that straightens out as they get bigger.

The best place to get live food from is:
http://www.livefoods.co.uk

For a treat they also do butterworms, which look like big red juicy wax worms and my female goes nuts for them!The can be kept in the fridge for 3 months!

I haven't had too much luck with phoenix worms over here, the only supplier i could find i have tried twice and they are always dead.

Any way, have a look at the website, i agree you need to get him of the mealies and onto something better, its your choice what you choose!

 

[Buggsy]

What UVB light are you using, you say he has been sluggish??

 

[Potts]

Arcadia 10.0 24" about 3 months old and I use a +D3 supplement daily.

I suspect his behaviour was due to his temps being about 3C out, se seems to be doing better but is thin. Also no I haven't do a faecal but I do plan to.

 

[Buggsy]

thats good, he may be a little malnourished due to the mealworms, but he may liven up once you get some good feeders in him!

 

[Potts]

Im getting some locust today but im still not really sure whats best, locust or cricket? Any help?

 

[Buggsy]

They are both excellent feeder, i fiond once they taste locust they go off crix, so they must taste better! lol Locust are also a bit bigger, slower and nicer to handle, and they dont smell!

 

[Potts]

Smell better? SOLD!

 

[Potts]

Update, I just got the locust and they are VERY scary! It was quite an ordeal for me! :? But he LOVED them!! he eat about 5 and didn't think twice about it! he saw them and went straight for them! Ive never seem him hunt like that! When I held the box of locust to the glass he tracked them with his eyes and tried to eat them threw the glass! Great success!!

 

[Buggsy]

Like i said dragons love them! They cant get them in the states so i guess we're lucky! I just went through the big ordeal of getting some roaches for Gizmo, they were very scary and it took me days to touch them! She now has decided she dosnt like them and is on hunger stirke until she gets her locust! Good job i ordered some yesterday, spent all day waiting for the postman, only for him not to come!! Not good!

You do get used to them! I promise!

 

[peaches]

Good i'm glad you found something you can handle and that larry loves

 

[Potts]

Ha I wish I could handle them Im using some huge tweezer sorta things! But its a good way of doing things and it seems to be working, thanks

 

[MandiceP]

Haha!! I use the feeding tongs too! They scare me! I feed my guy superworms that I buy by the 250 and keep in a critter keeper at home. And luckily I work 5 days a week at a small local family owned pet store so I can just bring home however many I need for one day and don't have to keep them!! I used to keep the crickets in a cricket keeper, but the day my fiance went to get in the car and shook his pant leg and a cricket popped out, was the day I stopped keeping them in the house!!! (that'll teach him to wear dirty clothes off the floor ) Fezzik also gets either Collard greens or Mustard greens daily with some other fruits and veggies mixed in here and there! We sometimes try to keep phoenix worms in the store, but they always die before we sell all of them. I may go directly to the distributor we use as he's only about 20 mins from my house and see if I can't get some when I get my next batch of supers.