My cricket feeder army.

[Greasy3489]

So I was having issues getting Drachen to eat in his Viv I think its a lil too big for him right now. I picked p a 15 gal sterilite and also put repti carpet in it worked out well he was chasing them around since they were closer to him. Then I was like hmmm how can I keep my crickets clean and make sure Drachen gets the ones that are gut loaded? So I decided to just mosey into a dollar store to browse today and found insect cages...for a dollar they are perfect I got 8 of them 4 white top for "gut loading" 4 orange top for "gut loaded." So far they seem to really make maintenance easy. I transfer them over into the "gut loaded" cage in the morning and they seem to be staying clean. The "gut loading cages are really easy to clean then just a nice scrub with warm water new food new flukers cricket quencher and Drachen has prepped meals. Then maintaining the colony is easy enough I put about 200 in a large cricket cage and the other 800 in a large 75gal sterilite bin. $23 for 1000 feeders at local reptile shop overall not a horrible experience. Sadly that same shop stopped selling Phoenix Worms and I don't think anywhere local sells the Reptiworms. May start to breed them saw a few people talking about it.

I find the duct tape actually helps keep the crickets at bay and its easier to use then velcro which is what I am using for the Viv

Happy fed Drachen, chilling on my tee-shirt as always.

The bulk crickets

 

[z71]

What are you "gut loading" with? I had always heard that crickets don't need to be gut loaded. Just keep them fed and happy and they'll be fine. I just keep all my crickets in 1 large container and the ones I grab are the ones that get eaten. They eat cricket chow and various vegetables as they want to.

Seems like a lot of work transferring crickets from bin to bin but I can see how it would keep everything cleaner!

 

[Greasy3489]

Its not really a lot of work at all, gutloading is basically making sure you give nutritious foods to the ones that are gonna get eaten like 24 hours before feeding them to the Beardie. I use oranges or other fruits that they enjoy. The cricket feed is also great I do sprinkle that on to the fruits so they get both. The transferring is easy once you get used to it. It also helps to give them something dark to climb into as they will go there when they dont want to eat and then you can shake them out. The orange lid containers are empty except for crickets so I can just feed them to Drachen and whatever he doesnt feel like eating I can scoop back into container those are the first I offer next meal then break into the next container during that meal.

Transferring and cleaning in the morning takes about 2 mins. The main cage and tub take longer to clean of course, but I clean those less often.

 

[kjinxx2]

Be careful with the duct tape in there! I don't know about beardies, but with Ball Pythons it was always a BIG no-no to put adhesives in the tank - especially tape. It was almost guaranteed that your reptile would get stuck to it at some point. Maybe somebody else with more experience could give some input.

 

[Greasy3489]

I monitor all feedings in that bin and I the duct tape is put on so that there is no places for even crickets to get under. Thanks for the warning though, but that is not a permanent viv or anything, just used for feeding right now while Drachen is young.

 

[ataraxia]

it is very important to gut load your crickets. dragons in the wild need no supplementing because of the variety of insects they and the variety of nutrients the insects get from foraging on various things.

the more dynamic your gut load is the more healthier your feeders will be. i raise different species of chameleons and it is essential to gut load if you want one to live long term. beardies are a little more forgiving but it should be practiced to give your animal all the nutrients it needs.