Monthly cost?

[Elliot2012]

Im thinking about getting a Beardie once I return from Iraq. I was curious how much I should expect to spend a month on crickets and worms for a juvenile beardie? Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[dylanravenj]

If you order crickets from a good site you'll spend maybe 30$ or so if you order by the thousand.

 

[Kalyn876]

I spend $100.00 canadian per month just on crickets. If you plan to buy from the pet store expect to pay much more than this.
I order in quantity of 500 because I cannot handle the smell or care of 1000 crickets.

Kalyn

 

[dylanravenj]

I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't have stinky crickets :lol:
However, that being said, dubia roaches are also a good idea. They can't climb, don't smell, and are extremely easy to breed.

 

[Kalyn876]

I wish, Any kind of roach is illegal in Canada.

In addition to other feeders, repti/calci/phoenix worms or butterworms are also great staple feeders.

Kalyn

 

[dylanravenj]

Oh wow I didn't know they were illegal there :shock:

 

[Nixiemaiden]

I am spending around $130 a month on food :/

I think I might start a biopod or something because it is really expensive. Especially now I am going through reptiworms twice as fast as I thought I would because my baby decided to be a snob about crickets.

 

[midmichicer]

Im spending roughly $8 a month on food. All I have to buy is greens, since I have a dubia colony.

 

[Elliot2012]

Thanks for all the replies. $100-130. Thats a lot. How hard is it having a cricket colony? I dont think my wife would appreciate me raising roaches.

 

[midmichicer]

Breeding crickets was pretty hard for me...

 

[Kalyn876]

Personally the smell is not worth it to me. Crickets are horrid little bugs in my opinion, however I have heard of people breeding crickets successfully.

Kalyn

 

[Nixiemaiden]

Thanks for all the replies. $100-130. Thats a lot. How hard is it having a cricket colony? I dont think my wife would appreciate me raising roaches.

Crickets are horrible. I hate bugs...hate hate hate. I would take a roach colony over a cricket colony any day. You can get roaches that don't fly, climb, or jump. Crickets can climb and they can jump. Crickets are also smelly once they are adults and they are noisy and loud. If you are in an area that allows roaches that is definitely the way to go. You can keep them in a closet and nobody will ever know!

 

[tattykassy]

When mine was 4 months old I was spending roughly $80.00 a month on crickets, but I get a 25% discount since I work at a petstore.
Currently, I spend roughly $35 every two weeks on Supers, crickets, and Silkworms. I also spend $18 a week on his greens. I buy organic so its more expensive then going to a regular grocery store.

 

[Dementeddogz]

When I first started I wasnt spending too terribly much on crickets, over 1000 from local pet store for $15-20 at a time (2-3 times a month depending on age) plus greens. Didnt really care for keeping the crickets around noisy, stinky, and did i mention noisy? My wife wouldnt let me have roaches and I wasnt fond of the idea either.....after awhile I decided to give it a shot after finding dubias at a local pet store, and got permission to do so. The lack of chirping and crickets hoping out of the cage had me sold and after the initial heebie jeebies I switched over to dubias. A few orders and a couple weeks later.....I havent had to buy theyre main staple in awhile and never will again made a huge difference in what i spend a month. I have quite a few dragons and between the greens and veges, , misc feeders (supers, phoenix, exc) Im probably only spending 30-40 a month now.....Keep in mind thats feeding over a dozen dragons at any given time, plus hatchlings. It would be 10 times that if i was still buying their main feeders, they eat ALOT. Id push for atleast trying dubias much cheaper, easier, and quieter.



Now the electric bill on the other hand.....

 

[Elliot2012]

Alright well a few of you have mentioned roaches being the better option. Is there too much of a shell casing on the dubais? I read somewhere roaches have more shell than nutritional value, obviously this could be wrong and depends on the roach. And those who mentioned crickets mostly said smelly and noisy, so maybe I will get them and let my wife get annoyed to ease her into getting roaches. the only roach mentioned was the dubia, is this the best breed/type of roach?