If you have a western dwarf bearded dragon and live outside WA , it's been trafficked illegally. I don't believe there are many captive breeding pairs of these little dragons outside Australia or even outside Western Australia, I live in NSW and I'd need a very hard to get permit to import one into NSW (next to impossible to get BTW)from WA.
https://beardeddragonsworld.com/bearded-dragon-as-a-pet/
Are you sure your little guy is a Pogona minor ? can you put up some photos of him including a good head shot from overtop him , it is likely he is actually a Rankins rather than a Pogona Minor.
A yearling still needs one feed if live insects each day. A one year old he's only a juvenile , so more insects are needed in his diet than for an adult (over 2 years old and fully mature and fully grown dragon , Adult Beardie Dietary requirements ,see this :
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=236074 ).
As to reducing costs of keeping your guy supplied with insects the best options are :
> set up both a cricket breeding colony and a roach breeding colony , 35L plastic archive boxes are perfect for this.
Breeding crickets at home
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=236820
If you cut the middle man out and buy these insects direct from the breeding facility in bulk, you should be able to cut the cost per insect to under 6c per cricket or roach , maybe even 3c per insect if you buy a few thousand insects 2 or 3 sizes smaller than you need.
> set up a BSFL breeding colony (the flies , and lavae are excellent feeder insects) . there are special bins for this.
> set up a silkworm breeding farm …. one female moth will lay up to 400 eggs …. doesn't take very long to scale up to having a 1000 or more silkworm of all sizes munching away on mulberry leaves or chow, 3 or 4 x 4L or 10L clipclock tubs with ventililated lids are perfect for the worms.
If I were raising 1000 silkworms I'd us an underbed tub like this :
https://www.ebay.com.au/p/EZY-Storage-Solutions-25l-Underbed-Storage-Containers/1038080403?iid=232084952893&chn=ps
If you have access to some big red, white or black mulberry trees the leaves are free , and you can blanch and freeze the leaves for the off season ,and then farming your own silkworms becomes very economical , essentially self sustaining and free. And it can even become a money maker if you have enough surplus leaves and silkworms and silkworm eggs and silkworm cocoons …. I know of a few lizard breeders who pay for their lizards' other food and costs by selling silkworms and mulberry leaves in bulk.
I've been "farming" my own silkworms for about 4 or 5 years , and only use chow over winter (I actually ran out of bulk blanched frozen mulberry leaves about 3 weeks ago so am now on chow). I restrict my worm farm to about 100 silkworms at any time which is enough for 2 adult BTs and an adult central beardie , they each get 2 or 3 large silkworm per day.
I buy my fresh mulberry leaves in bulk online (usually find these on GumTree) and I can keep the leaves in good condition for up to 2 months in an unsealed ziplock bag in the crisper bay.
It actually costs more to have the leaves sent to me by Express Post than the 250 - 300 leaves cost me. (Works out about $30 all up for each bulk order of fresh leaves).
I usually have some eggs waiting to hatch, some cocoons waiting to hatch (usually 30 or 40), some moths laying eggs (about 20 at present) and 50 - 60 small and medium silks , and 30 - 40 med to large silks on the go.
I keep my surplus eggs (still attached to the paper toweling they were laid on) in ziplock bags and glass bottles in the door of the fridge to keep them dormant until needed.
Blanching excess fresh mulberry leaves for off season use
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=221814
Silkworm farming at home
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=222193
How to blanch and freeze excess silkworms for later
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=236820
if a hatchling or juvenile dragon
> set up a blow fly breeding colony (the flies and maggots are very nutritious) , 10L cliplock tubs are perfect for this.
Breeding BSF (and other fly lavae) at home
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=236820
