Live Staples in the UK

[TheVillan]

Hi

I'm finding crickets to be a pain in the neck.

I chill them in the fridge for 20 minutes to make them lethargic and feed a couple at a time, but my beardies are having 3-5 each before they start to warm up and jump around everywhere. My beardies (2 months old) are not very good at catching them, so I then have to mess about catching the last few to remove them from the viv.

I have tried using a feeder tank, but my beardies don't like it. They just paw at the glass trying to get out.

I can carry on like this, but it's a bit of a pain. I would rather find an easier staple for them.

I ordered some calci-worms, but didn't get them as they ran out of stock (they sent me wax worms which I use as a one-a-day treat). Now I can't find anyone with them in stock in the UK.

I know that meal worms are no good, but I wondered if there are any other staples that I could use.

Are butter worms any good?

Does anyone know of a good calci-worm supplier in the UK?

Or should I just stop being a baby and stick with the crickets?

 

[MarleyMoe]

I hate hate hate crickets with a passion, noisy smelly evil things they are!

We can get Dubia roaches here now. You can start your own colony if you're able to and they are one of the best staple feeders going. You babies will be able to eat the nymph roaches with no problems i think (someone will confirm hopefully). I've accidently had a couple hide in the viv and they wont eat your beardie!

I got my colony off a guy who lived 5 minutes away from me on the same UK forum im part of. Its saving me £40 a month in live feeders as im only having to get locusts, morio worms and waxies for a treat now. I tried calci-worms but for the cost, how long they lasted and the amount i was feeding it wasn't worth the money i was forking out every week.. was costing me a fortune. A tub of 100 was lasting just over a day and cost getting on for £5.

My guys are 18 months i think now so someone who has babies aswell would probably be better to advise than me.

 

[TheVillan]

Thanks for the info.

My wife is REALLY not keen with having roaches in the house....I'll have to work on her

 

[FBradshaw]

Calci-worms aren't a good staple either. While they are the same insect as Repti-worms and Phoenix Worms, they have a considerably different diet that makes them extremely high in calcium.

 

[TheVillan]

Calci-worms aren't a good staple either. While they are the same insect as Repti-worms and Phoenix Worms, they have a considerably different diet that makes them extremely high in calcium.

Thanks for the info.

Can I get Repti-worms and Phoenix worms in the UK?

What about mini meal worms?

They don't seem very chitinous, but do they cause impaction?

 

[MissT]

You could feed locusts - definietly not as fiddly as crickets - iv used locusts as the main staple since Kazi was tiny. You could also check out http://www.butterworms.co.uk/ for worm options - they have black soldier fly larvae which are the same species as Phoenix worms... I found it too expensive to use them as a staple tho!!

 

[TheVillan]

I've already been looking at that site and they are out of stock on the soldier worms.

Are the locusts more docile than the crickets?

 

[MissT]

A little... They are def much easier to catch after feeding time. U can also go a little bigger than space between the eyes as they are soft bodied. I started mine off on 3rds but quickly moved on to 4ths.

 

[bandit27]

Hi

I was told you can use morio worms as they are the same as superworms. My male won't chase his food so i needed to find a staple that didn't run away from him :roll:

My female however won't touch worms so she has hoppers, if she does leave any i have bought a small aquarium fishing net to catch them, i find that so much easier

good luck