Is a Beardie right for us? Feeding question

[Laurenmarie76]

Hello all,

I'm sorry if this has been asked before - I'm seeing lots of information on the topic of feeding, and I'm getting a bit overwhelmed.

My daughter will turn 12 next month, and we are planning to get her a Bearded Dragon for her birthday. It's not a surprise present - she has asked and is very much involved in the whole process. One of my main concerns is feeding her friend-to-be. I see a lot of care sheets and posts about feeding live prey. I do NOT want live crickets, roaches, etc. in my home - it's a deal-breaker for me. I don't like them, and I KNOW the crickets, or whatever else we would feed it, would escape the enclosure. I'm a klutz, and I would find a way to make that happen!

So my main question is: do Bearded Dragons have to eat live prey? Or are there other alternatives? Pellets, canned food, frozen food? I saw a thread from a couple of years ago about buying fresh crickets and freezing them. I could do that - we have a deep freezer in the garage, so the crickets could go directly from the store and into the freezer without actually going into the house. (I am also seeing posts about people "gut-loading" crickets, and I have no idea what that is, or if it is something we should be concerned about?)

Many thanks in advance! Thank you for this wonderful site, by the way - lots and lots and lots of information to be found!


Lauren

 

[Soulwind]

CAN they live on processed commercial food "pellets"?
Yes. [although there are plenty of dragons who won't touch the stuff until they are truly starving to death].

Is it the best diet for them?
Well opinion varies a bit on that, but around here we'd mostly say No.

Honestly, if you are completely unwilling to allow live feeders into your home then a Beardie may not be the best option for you.

(even Phoenix Worms? They are small larvae that barely move and are kept in the container they are shipped in until fed to the dragon...although feeding PWs as primary feeder source could get a bit expensive)

Perhaps you could look into one of the species that are primary vegetarians? I don't know much about them, but I think some of the Gecko species only eat plants (and the Repashy diet)? [could very well be wrong here, be sure to do your research first]

BTW- Gut-Loading means feeding the bugs with good foods (that you'd like the Beardie to eat as well) so that they have good stuff in their digestive tracts when the Beardie eats them. Non-Gut-Loaded bugs are much less nutritious.

 

[Malon3r]

Yes, bearded dragons, especially young ones need the protein from live prey to live and grow. When they reach adulthoransition to about 70-80% plants and 30% protein but will always need to be fed some form of live insect.

Gut loading is basically just as it sounds. You feed the prey items food that is beneficial to your beardie(greens etc.) So they well.. Have a full gut when they are fed to the beardie.

About being flash frozen... I have no idea on that subject matter. Hopefully someone else can chime in on thaat one

And although you may not like to hear this, if you are not able to keep the insects required to feed the beardie, it may not be in you, or a beardies best intrest for you to purchase one

 

[Taterbug]

I don't think a dragon is a good match if you can't provide live prey. As babies they eat a lot of bugs. The pelleted diets can maintain a dragon, but you will be in a bad position I the dragon refuses them or decides he doesn't like them some day. Adult dragons require much less live prey, but it's still ideal to provide it.

The catch with dragons is many are sight oriented and won't respond to dead prey. They are keyed to the movement of the bugs.

Proper gut-loading should also be adding calcium to the diet to help make the feeders more balanced. That requires either a formulated feed or for you to make one yourself.

Do you live in an area where you could keep the feeders outside? Many folks keep their crickets or roaches in the garage or a shed.

There are some other herps that don't require live prey...

Crested geckos are a popular "beginner" lizard and do well on meal replacement powders, though they aren't as handleable as dragons. They have simpler husbandry requirements as well.

Blue tongue skins I believe can be fed a diet that does not have live prey, but they still may appreciate it. They can be harder to find and expensive.

 

[Laurenmarie76]

Thank you for your replies. This is kind of what I thought - we might be better going in a different direction. (Or be creative in where we store the bugs...)


Many thanks,
Lauren

 

[Teage29]

If you are looking for a differnt reptile i know uromastyx eat only fruits and veggies. Also from what i read and heard from other people that they are a lot like bearded dragons. You should definitely look into other reptiles if thats the kind of pet you want.

As for an idea about housing insects you could always go to the store everytime you want crickets but that would get old after a few weeks. My parents thought they would hate have feeders in the house but now they dont even realize that there are about 30-50 crickets and about 20-30 superworms at any given time. Dont think to much into that a cricket will escape just make it so it cant. Keep a small amount in a big container to prevent escape. There's so many little tips and things you can do. If you really want to get a bearded dragon and its crickets holding you back just dont think to much about the crickets and think more about the beardie.

 

[Loz333]

I agree with the above posts, bearded dragons really do need live feeders to stay healthy, so I'm glad you're thinking of looking in a different direction, I'm also really glad that you're doing research before buying an animal, you'd be surprised how many people don't!
I don't think a uromastyx would be a good pet for a child/teenager either though. I have one and they are not naturally tame like bearded dragons, and take A LOT of patience to become tame, and some never do. They are usually quite skittish. Even the tame ones shouldn't be handled a lot outside their viv because they are very sensitive to temp changes, they need hotter temps than dragons. They can also live upwards of 15 years and if you get tail whipped or bitten it REALLY hurts!!!
I really don't know any herbivorous lizards that are easy to take care of. Iguanas are a bad choice for 95% of people.

 

[Beardy90]

I agree, beardys need insects but the insects dosen't have to be alive, i've been putting crickets, roaches and silkworms in the freezer and thawing them when it's feeding time. All of my lizards are healthy and it's never been a problem. However, the insects loose nutrition if they stay in the freezer to long and i would feed live insects if i could but it's against the rules to keep roaches and other insects in my apartment and i wouldn't want to loose my animals because of that.
Blue tongues are a better choise if you don't want to feed insects, but i still recommend feeding them snails and silkworms, it's a lot better than dogfood and raw chicken.

 

[Jaskotch]

Thank you for your replies. This is kind of what I thought - we might be better going in a different direction. (Or be creative in where we store the bugs...)


Many thanks,
Lauren

I felt much like you with respect to bugs in the beginning, but my desire to get a beardie won- I never warmed up to crickets, and suspect you would not either, but the good news is there are highly acceptable alternatives to those nasty, smelly biters and so if you are willing to have an open mind, I recommend you look into dubias and phoenix worms and later, when your beardie has grown large enough, superworms.
Yes, dubias are roaches, but they are tropical roaches and are NOTHING like the american cockroach. I actually came to enjoying keeping and caring for mine, and ended up getting rid of them only because the colony quickly outgrew my beardie's ability to consume them! But, as an initial feeder, they are simply the best in every way, in my opinion. Phoenix worms are carefree, you just keep them in a cup and they're good for a month or so… at least that was my experience. And now that my guy is basically full grown, I keep superworms, and they are by far the most carefree of feeders. Trust me, escapees were not a problem with any of the three choices I have mentioned above.

 

[evie]

I feed mine pheonix worms ! Theyre so easy to keep. I get them online from pheonixwormstore.com and you just keep them in what they send them to you in. you don't need to feed them or anything!

 

[pyrovamp]

when i lived in Hawaii i had a chameleon and my mom wouldn't let the crickets come in unless it was feeding time i kept them in a container in the back yard and when it was feeding time i would grab it so that they weren't inside but only a short while. and with my dragon he only ate crickets till he was 14inches and once i started him with supers he was hooked and hes never looked back.won't even touch the things now lol only my crested gecko likes crickets and he doesn't get them often cause he eats mostly the rapashy diet. but you can get creative with the keepers of even get a cricket keeper from your local fishing store or online which are meant to keep the crickets in till needed.

 

[Laurenmarie76]

Thank you all for all of your replies! My big concern with bugs was the possibility of escape. We have had crickets get into our basement (no idea how they got in!) and getting them out was difficult because they are jumpy little things. And my problem with roaches was that they are roaches. But as they are not THOSE roaches, I may be okay. And worms, etc, I would be okay with. I was just stuck on the idea of jumping crickets in my house. Would definitely be trying the frozen-cricket trick first, but if that doesnt work we will go with an alternative bug. Or, as the weather is starting to turn (!!!), the crickets could stay outside if need be for the summer.

Thanks a bunch!

Lauren