Must Feed Bugs?

[cutesiepie4ever]

Hi there!
As a new beardie adoptive mama of 2 sweet BDs, I am just wondering about what type of feeding schedule I should have them on. They were previously owned by friends of mine who have been unable to take care of them due to the birth in their family. I know that the ladies have been fed greens, fruits and crickets in the past, but it seems like they have not been fed crickets in a while. My question is, is it necessary to feed Taz and Sam crickets or other bugs? Can they be on a fruit and veggie diet only, or is it best to feed them some sort of bug? If I need to feed them bugs, how many should I feed them and when?

Sorry for all of the questions! I'm very new to all of this and want to make sure my lovely ladies are well taken care of!! :love5:

 

[Claudiusx]

How old are they?

Even as adults, they should have SOME live insects.

-Brandon

 

[cutesiepie4ever]

I'm not too sure of their ages. I was told that they are approximately between 4-6 years old. Lately they've been eating mostly apples and greens, but I want to make sure they're healthy and live long, wonderful lives.

If bugs are needed for them how often should they be fed bugs?

 

[kittyfiend]

I have adopted a 4 year old beardie to whom I feed crickets. From what I have read here and been told, adult beardies should get about 50 crickets per week. I feed mine about 10 or so every other day. I also dust them with calcium and 1-2 times per week multi-vitamins. Veggies alone are not sufficient. They need the protein.

 

[cutesiepie4ever]

Thanks! I've read that you need to "gut load" the crickets as well, by feeding them. If I purchase them from a store, should I be feeding them at home, or will they live long enough to be given to my BDs to eat? Also, how do you get them in the habitat without them jumping all over the place?

 

[kittyfiend]

This is what I have done - I bought a "cricket keeper" to put them in. When I get them home I dump them from the bag into the keeper. NOTE: I don't put new crickets into the keeper until the older ones are gone and it has been cleaned. I buy once a week. Some crickets do die before I get a chance to feed them. When I find some dead, I remove them from the keeper. Never feed dead crickets. DON'T put water in the keeper until after the crickets are in there and somewhat settled. I made the mistake of putting the food and water in prior to putting the crickets in the first time I got some and ended up accidentally drowning the majority of them. It takes a surprisingly small amount of water for crickets to drown. I purchased a container of dry cricket food at PetSmart that I use to feed them. There are some gels, orange cube things that you can purchase to use as food and as their water source instead of actual water and the dry cricket food. You want them in there eating the food for at least 24 hours before feeding them to your beardie. You also want to get some calcium powder and multi-vitamin powder to dust the crickets with. These supplements are important. The keeper I have has tubes that the crickets like to climb up into and hide in. When I am ready to feed I take a tube out and put some of the powder in and shake the tube around to dust. The forums have good info on how often and how much of the supplements should be given each week.

 

[cutesiepie4ever]

Thanks so much!! I went to Pet Paradise earlier today and got some crickets and they absolutely loved them and ate them fast. Unfortunately they were out of the cricket keepers, so I'll be going to Petsmart sometime soon to grab one and some more crickets.
I think I'm going to figure out a feeding schedule so I don't forget when and what to feed my girls; especially in terms of the vitamins!! Has anyone set a schedule up before that worked for them?