Let's See Your Feeder Bins!

[DeweysMom]

I had a delivery of crickets made to my work today and found out that one of my coworkers also has a beardie. We got to talking about them and he asked me why I order through Ghann's as opposed to going to the petstore. I told him it ends up being cheaper buying in bulk. His next set of questions was on keeping the crickets alive. I told him how I set up my bin and that I'd bring some pictures in tomorrow so he can get a visual. He may end up switching to order online to.

Anyway, I got to thinking about it and thought this might be a good thread to have for people who haven't yet set up a feeding bin. It's nice to be able to share ideas to ensure our beardie's feeders stay alive longer to save us some money in the long run.

So, with that said... would you mind sharing photos of your feeding bin set ups? Here's mine. So far, I'm only keeping crickets. I want to switch to dubia's eventually, but for now it's crickets - who I honestly don't mind so far.

Overhead view... yeah, I sucked at cutting straight lines on the lid. The screen is secure though so that's all that really matters.

I got sick of the paper towel tubes falling down so I taped some twine (it's all I had in the house) across one corner and stood them all up. There are plenty of tubes and eggcrates which provides a lot of crawling space for the little buggers to move around. The gel water is being kept in the bottom of a styrofoam bowl that I cut up.

 

[SkitTer]

Very nice Beardie09

Your setup looks well planned out. The only thing I would suggest, GET THOSE CRIX OUT!
Your setup will work perfect for dubias, which don't smell or die off as easy as those crix. Just use more egg cartons and no paper towel rolls.

The dubias will breed easily and are perfect to feed any beardie from a 4" Juvenile or a 30" Giant. They have nymphs that start out super small, but the roaches will grow to 2" with little work. Just need 85-95* F and about 50% humidity (they will live and breed as low as 20% humidity in my experience).

As soon as I get my camera working again, I will post some pictures of my setup and how big these bad boys get.

 

[DeweysMom]

Thanks! I've only been in beardie world for about a month so this is all trial and error. I was planning on getting dubia roaches, but haven't made the plunge yet. I honestly don't mind the crickets at all. I was expecting pure hell based on what I read, but their not bad at all. Granted I don't jump up and down when it's bin cleaning time, but it doesn't gross me out at all. I only clean it once a week and it only takes about a half hour - mattering on what tv show I get distracted by... :lol:


Come on guys... you must have some more creative ideas out there! Won't you share them?! :?

 

[SkitTer]

Trust me, if you don't really mind the crix. You will love the dubias! They are super easy to take care of and feed. Plus they don't readily run from you or jump like crix. Thus making them way easier to feed to your beardies.

 

[rmzsuzuki89]

Getting mine together right now. I have some cardboard that I'm gonna throw in too until I can get more paper towel rolls. Also gonna cut the paper towel rolls in half so their not so close to the top. I still have to cut one of the lids and screen it.

I'm also thinking about switching to Dubias, how would I go about starting a colony, and how hard is it?

 

[rmzsuzuki89]

Ok I think I got mine situated, for now at least.

Lid, there will be about a 1'x1' hole with a screen in the middle.

 

[rmzsuzuki89]

Ok here's my finished bin, crickets and all lol.

Temporary vents, gotta get out to HD.

 

[DeweysMom]

Very cool! Nice to see someone sharing their idea! How many crickets are in there?

I'll be ordering my next batch of crickets next week. I've been ordering 1,000, but I'll be getting more this time around. I have probably about 200 left right now (and that's being generous) from last Tuesday's shipment. Dewey sure does have a healthy appetite!

I found as the cricket numbers drop it becomes harder and harder to round them up for a feeding. Tonight I had a bright idea! :lol: I took all of the egg crates out of my bin and left only a few tubes. Doing this will get the crickets to cling to the tubes which will make collecting them so much easier! Can't believe it took me that long to think of it!


Anyone else want to share their bins? I think it'll really benefit the newer members (myself include) on the best setup ideas to cut down on feeder deaths (in the bins, not by becoming a meal . Any feeder bins are welcome - crickets, dubias, turks, worms, etc.

 

[rmzsuzuki89]

There's only 250 now. I have a feeling they'll go quick, so I may start ordering 1,000 at a time.

 

[RioReptiles]

I have too many to show, lol!

 

[DeweysMom]

I have too many to show, lol!

So pick your most creative! :lol:

I'm really surprised that this thread really isn't going anywhere. I thought I had a pretty good idea. Oh well... :roll:

 

[shinedown]

I think it was a good idea! I just don't have anything special to show. I am talking my wife into letting me get some Dubia's and will show it when she says yes!

 

[TwistedCrayon]

I can't post pics at the moment but we just started a dubia and a Madagascar hissing roach colony (seperatly of course) we cut holes in the container so we can stack them. Put wire on the bottom of one and placed it into another bin so the nymphs will fall through but the larger ones can't so collecting smalls for my three babies won't be as hard. The big guys love the males. A local breeder gave me about 100 or so males just to feed off cause she needed the space in her bins.

I ordered 1000 superworms that should be getting to the house any day now and plan on starting a super colony as well. We'll see how that goes.....

 

[shinedown]

we cut holes in the container so we can stack them. Put wire on the bottom of one and placed it into another bin so the nymphs will fall through but the larger ones can't so collecting smalls for my three babies won't be as hard.

Has anyone else tried this and/or have pictures of it? I was thinking of doing the same sort of thing when I get my colony set up, but I wasn't sure how well it worked.

 

[TwistedCrayon]

The lady I got my roaches from did this and when she picked up the top bin the bottom of the second bin was COVERED in just nymphs. It may not get every single one but it does get a bunch. Or you could always do the pickin' them out one at a time but if you read my sig line and add 3 teenagers to that you'll soon realize why I think that would be okay.... Lol.

She then transfers the babies to a seperate baby bin of thier own wher she either grows them up to make more pairs or she sells them as nymphs. Whatever she needs at the time. And she has about 25 or more bins FULl of these guys so she is cutting some unheard of deals