Questions: Black soldier fly larvae for adults

[Fishercat]

Hi.

I've had Teach, a 3-year-old male, for a little over 3 weeks. I'm currently buying 60 crickets a week. They get gut-loaded, and fed to him 3x a week, about 20 crickets at a time. Taking into account the ones that die before they get to him, he's probably actually getting to eat about 50 crickets a week. That amount seems to be good so far. He looks healthy, and is active and alert.

I'm interested in switching his prey to black soldier fly larvae, but I have no absolutely no idea how many to order. I understand they're easy to keep for several weeks at cool temperatures. My questions:

-How many BLSF larvae are equivalent to 50ish crickets?
-How often do you have to supplement with calcium if you're feeding BLSF?
-Is there any point in gut-loading?
-Do you need to give them water?
-Can uneaten prey be left in the vivarium?

Thanks!

 

[Gunshin]

I am still new to bearded ownership but I think i can answer these.

-How many BLSF larvae are equivalent to 50ish crickets?
I am not sure of the direct comparison, Our 4 month old eats around 35-40 a day, but then again he is a growing boy.

-How often do you have to supplement with calcium if you're feeding BLSF?
Never, from all the research I have done they have a high enough calcium content on their own, their packaging claims so as well.

-Is there any point in gut-loading?
The ones we buy which are Phoenix Worms are around $6 per 100 or 27.95 for 400. There is $6 shipping as well no matter the quantity. They are supposedly fed on some sort of grain which is very nutritionally balance for Herps. They are very proud of it on the site.

-Do you need to give them water?
Nope they just sit in their little plastic cups until they are given over to be consumed.

-Can uneaten prey be left in the vivarium?
Yes, they will not hurt the beardie, they can't. They will try to burrow and become flies, which your beardie can also eat, but you should be aware. They also squirm like crazy but are not great climbers so if you put them in a dish you should be fine.

 

[brittani299]

Jus to add. The fridge is too cold for them. You can put then in a wine cooler but the fridge will kill them.

 

[Fishercat]

Thanks for the replies. I don't have a beer or wine fridge. The garage is about the right temperature now, but I'd have to figure something else out for the summer. Then again, if he likes them, I'm going to try my hand at raising a colony, and they want higher temps to metamorphose to adults and then breed.

I can't imagine that 35-40 a day would be as good for a 3-year-old as it would for a juvenile. Teach is not only done growing, he's also only got about half his tail, so he probably has slightly lower calorie requirements than other adults.

Now I just have to figure out how many to order. Does anyone have any advice on roughly how many BLSF larvae (Phoenix Worms/Calci-Worms, Repti-Worms) to order at once for a single adult beardie?

 

[SciencePam]

I would love to hear an answer to this too

 

[w0554096]

Adults do well getting around 50 feeders a week. I feed mine somewhere between 12-15 every other day or depending on how big/how old the feeders are getting.
For one adult, and given that phoenix worms will only last a few weeks, I'd reccomend doing one or two orders per month of about 200. This also depends if you plan on adding in any other feeders for variety.
I keep supers on hand, and that is my main staple, but I also do orders of phoenix worms, hornworms, silkworms and butterworms on occasion for variety. What extra worms I get also depends on how I'm doing money-wise that particular week/month. There have been a few occasions where money's been real tight I my beardies just get supers for the month.
I buy about 250 supers per month, and generally somewhere around 250 other feeders.
When I place an online order for feeders I'll usually order 250 supers and 100 phoenix worms. Then I'll pick up silkworms, hornworms, and butters at my local petstore when I've got some cash laying around or I run out of phoenix worms.

Of course this is just what I do, but I hope it helps you a bit.

 

[SciencePam]

yes it does Thanks....how often do you use supplements?

 

[w0554096]

I actually just answered a similar question in another thread, so I'm going to copy my answer here.
This is roughly what my schedual looks like.

Mon -12-15 supers dusted with calcium
Wed - 12-15 supers dusted with calcium
Fri - 12-15 supers dusted with calcium
Sun- 12-15 supers dusted with mutivitamin
Tue - 12-15 supers dusted with calcium
Thur - 12-15 supers dusted with calcium
Sat - 12-15 supers dusted with calcium
Mon - 12-15 supers dusted with Multi

That is the rough idea anyways. A few days of calcium to a day of multi. When I add in other worms, I reduce the amount of supers accordingly. Sometimes I treat them to a few more worms, specifically if my phoenix worms are getting a big old, or if my silks and horworms are getting big.
When I mix phoenix worms in with their supers, I still dust the supers, just not the phoenix worms.