Now I'm Stuck and Feeling Overwhelmed!

[DeweysMom]

So when I began researching Beardies I felt overwhelmed trying to figure out what I would need for lighting and heating. Now that I got all that under control and understood, I'm stuck on feeding. I know that they need to eat and how much they need to eat. What I don't know is what I'm supposed to do with 1,000 crickets!

I'm living at home with my parents right now (mom's NOT liking this new pet idea of mine). I live down in the basement which has one finished room (my room), a workshop area (my dad's) and then a shower (very rarely used as it's not finished).

I was thinking I could keep a tub of crickets out in the shower area, but the problem is that there's no heat back there. I'm not sure what the temp actually drops to, but setting up another "heating station" really isn't realistic there either. I know I can't bring the crickets upstairs so that leaves my heated bedroom. I'm not at all crazy about the idea of having a stinky, noisy tub full of crickets in the same room that I sleep in, but I don't know where else to go from here.

Any ideas? Can crickets survive in a basement with no heat? I really don't want something as dumb as this to stop me from getting a beardie!

 

[DeweysMom]

After posting this I did some more reading and came across a thread that said that Superworms can be used as a staple and then http://www.greatlakeshornworm.com/ was posted as a source. I just went there and saw that they're now selling baby super worms and thus far with shipping, this is the cheapest route I've found. Would they be an ok staple? Worms would be SOOOOOOOOOOO much easier for me to store/handle.

 

[Claudiusx]

Why use crickets? Dubia roaches are far better and in a couple mmths your dubia colony will be self sustaining and you won't ever have to buy feeders. You should search around this forum about them, there is a ton of info on here about them. In most peoples minds ( including my own) dubia colonys are the way to go.
Good luck

-Brandon

 

[Claudiusx]

After posting this I did some more reading and came across a thread that said that Superworms can be used as a staple and then http://www.greatlakeshornworm.com/ was posted as a source. I just went there and saw that they're now selling baby super worms and thus far with shipping, this is the cheapest route I've found. Would they be an ok staple? Worms would be SOOOOOOOOOOO much easier for me to store/handle.

supers should only be fed to dragons over 16 inches long. I still would say it's a little unsafe to feed baby supers plus you can't always guarantee that you will get only baby supers in your shipment. As I said before, check out dubia roaches.

-Brandon

 

[DeweysMom]

Even if I went with the Dubia Roaches, I'd still have months of waiting for the colony to establish itself wouldn't I? I'd have to find something to feed in the meantime which brings me back to crickets so now I'm facing the same problem I mentioned above.

 

[Claudiusx]

No, you can Feed dubias right away. You don't have to wait for them to be self sustaining before feeding out of the colony. You will just have to buy them a couple times. There I'd no reason you have to wait months to feed.

-Brandon

 

[wes]

Any ideas? Can crickets survive in a basement with no heat? I really don't want something as dumb as this to stop me from getting a beardie!

We keep our crickets in the basement and don't have any special heat source for them. I suspect the room temperature is around 65F. If you were going to try to breed crickets, you would want to supply a heat source.

We bought the 5/8 inch crickets last time and they aren't noisy at all. The smell is not as bad as I thought 500 crickets would be, either, but we also have a good sized tank for them and I clean out the dead ones daily and wipe the bottom of the tank every other day.

That said, I will be buying roaches tomorrow, but they will need a heat source because I want them to breed.

 

[DeweysMom]

So last night I couldn't sleep. My mind was carrying on and on and on about these Dubia Roaches. I can probably set up a tub to keep in my room since they don't have an odor and are quiet. I read on some other posts that they can't climb which I like. When I first heard about people raising roaches all I could think of was having a house infested with roaches, but I see now that the chances of this happening are very slim to none.

Anyway, I haven't had a chance yet to do some shopping around online, but that'll be my goal tonight (I'm at work right now). Can anyone recommend a good source online?

When setting up a colony what's the best way to order them. Should I get all adults or should I get a mix of adults and juvies? Do you need multiple tubs to keep the baby roaches seperate from the adults? I read that the gestation period is about 28 days, but I'm not sure how big they are when they're born or how fast they grow, but I'm assuming since the adults are quite large (bigger than the space between the eyes) I can't feed those to a baby beardie. I'm thinking I probably won't be getting a dragon now for a couple of months. I'll need to make sure I have some appropriately sized roaches to feed a baby.

 

[Triage]

I recommend Ian at http://www.theroachranch.com , but there are other sources on this site. I just don't have any personal dealings with them. I KNOW Ian will treat you right. My BD is only 3 months old (maybe 4) and he absolutely LOVES the dubia. I happen to keep mine in my "heated" garage with a ceramic heating element on top (raised off of the plastic with some treated wood strips) and a heating pad underneath. It is true, they have no smell. And if you feed them oranges, like I do your room will have a citrus smell to it. If your bedroom is heated, you would probably only need a heating pad set to low to add a little extra heat.

When I purchased mine, I bought a bunch of full grown females and a few males...then I bought like 200 nymphs. I put all of these in the same bin with egg crates, some roach chow, and some water crystals...then started adding the oranges a few days later. When I needed a few to feed to Buddy, I would go down and pull a few nymphs of the proper size and bring them up to feed him. I think when the colony is working, you should have various sizes of nymph to feed.

So in a little over a month I have a bunch of babies too small to feed and a bunch of nymphs that I don't want to feed because they look too close to being adult and I want all the adults I can get. So hopefully my next order of small nymphs will be arriving tomorrow or Friday from Ian. I should be self-sustaining after this order. If not, I'll order some more. My dragon loves them so much, I don't want to punish him by feeding him nasty stinky crickets.

Check out that site I mentioned and email him. I think he might be short of females right now, but I may be wrong. And post back, cause if he has females, I am getting some more. ;-)

 

[DeweysMom]

Thanks for the great info. I'll look into this. Another issue that I thought of today is that most places (or all that I've seen so far) require someone to be home to sign for the packages since it's live food. What do you guys for deliveries? I do work every day and it would be very difficult to take time off to recv a package of bugs. :lol: Do you ever try to get Saturday deliveries and do you get charged more?

 

[mike91383]

I keep mine in an unheated base. I bought a 1000 of them a coulpe of weeks ago and they are still alive and sheading. I feed them potateos and a wet sponge for water. Also I have a 9" X 8" reptile heating mat on the bottom of a rubbermaid container. It has a screen covering a hole I cut out of the top of the lid. That's it. Ready I go!

About deliveries, Call your post office and they can hold your mail for what ever day you want. Then you can pick it up after work.
Mike

 

[Callahan9119]

Yeah, raise Dubia roaches, all you need is a Rubbermaid tub with a lid you can cut a whole in vent it with screen and duck tape, throw a heating pad under it an you're golden.

http://theroachguy.com/ this guy sells the chow and water crystals in bulk. You can find better deals on the roaches here though...someone from here sold me like 600 mixed for 20 dollars.

Mine have been having babies for 2 weeks now...I actually had to feed off some of the males.

 

[DeweysMom]

More questions... sorry I'm asking so much!

When feeding roaches, since they're meatier than crickets, do you go by the same feeding routine? Do you just let the beardie have 15 minutes to eat off what it can? Considering the fact that the protien needs to be cut back when feeding adult beardies, how many do you normally feed to an adult during a week?

I'm just thinking that if I started a colony now and give it a few months before bringing home a baby beardie, I should have a good start on the number of dubias that I have, but will I have TOO many dubias as my beardie cuts back on it's eating? Hope that made sense!

 

[Callahan9119]

It can get out of hand...it's winter, if it does fill a bucket and toss em in the woods or feed adults.

Mines 16 inches now, he can still eat 30 large nymphs a day if I let him.

 

[mike91383]

I was talk about crixs. If you still want to buy a 1000 of them at one time to get a better prices break. Then do it instead of taking care of dubias. Some people just can't handle touching and/or even the sight of them. Like my wife and everyone else I show them to.
I also have egg creates in with my crixs. That way you don't have to worry about them repreducing.

I do have a dubia colony. They are great for all my reptiles. I have not had to worry about having to many though. LOL. If you do decide to go with the dubias and you get to many, let me know. I'll take them and pay for shipping.