raising feeders (other than roaches or supers)

[frog]

i want to raise a feeder but i cant bring myself to do roaches!! and superworms will not be good because my dragon is small (if you heard my story you would know what im talking about-lets just go with hes too small). I dont know anything about raising anything else, who raises something else? can you tell me about it?

 

[jscott]

i think you might have to bite the proverbial bullet and get some roaches. roaches are live bearers so you dont have to wait for eggs to hatch. when they are born they are perfect little bitesize pieces and they grow pretty quickly appreaently.

dubia roaches dont even look like the kind your used to, they look more like pillbugs. only the big ones have wings and even then only the males can flutter down short distances, not fly around.

i had to keep my crickets outside, rain or shine because of the terrible racket they made. i still do, but now i have a roach colony in my bedroom too :mrgreen: . they dont have a smell so far and they make next to no sound(a slight rustling when i spook them.

i hate domestic roaches but their way different from dubias. i think you should look into them :wink: .

 

[LQDragons]

i think you might have to bite the proverbial bullet and get some roaches. roaches are live bearers so you dont have to wait for eggs to hatch. when they are born they are perfect little bitesize pieces and they grow pretty quickly appreaently.

dubia roaches dont even look like the kind your used to, they look more like pillbugs. only the big ones have wings and even then only the males can flutter down short distances, not fly around.

i had to keep my crickets outside, rain or shine because of the terrible racket they made. i still do, but now i have a roach colony in my bedroom too :mrgreen: . they dont have a smell so far and they make next to no sound(a slight rustling when i spook them.

i hate domestic roaches but their way different from dubias. i think you should look into them :wink: .

they really do look like pill bugs or rollie pollie's

 

[frog]

ok. i know i should... we will see

 

[sithcdw]

yeah i just obtained 500 lobster roaches on thursday and they are great compared to crix
they dont stink and my leos seem to love them more than crickets
theyre not small enough to feed to my beardie yet (baby)... but i should have some soon

you could try raising mealies and wax worms... but roaches are best

as of right NOW i am raisng crix, lobster roaches and mealies... i will soon be raising wax worms soon (again). i used the ramains of my worms for fishing a few months ago lol

anyways, if you need any help just message me

 

[jscott]

waxworms and mealworms are high in fat/phosphorus and low in protien/calcium. mealworms dont hold a dusting, i suppose you can dust waxworms but ive read there are better alternatives. id really like to look into breeding phoenix worms.

 

[frog]

I loved my phoenix worms when i had them, except i couldnt find a cool enough spot for them so i lost a lot of worms. so breeding wouldnt work well!!

 

[MAJ]

Waxworms are super easy to breed. The only problem is that they are not the best of feeders, and within a month or two you will have more than you will ever be eble to reasonably use.

See more at http://www.exotic-pets.eu/waxworms.php

I was given some waxworm pupae over the summer and decided to try breeding them for fun. I pretty much followed the directions in the link above as far as container and cardboard. I used wheat bran and wheat germ mixed with honey (heated up like the sheet says), but also added some ground up dry dog food and some calcium and multivitamin powders. I used the biggest Mason jar I could find, and used a small piece of craft store bridal veil tulle under the lid ring to make a mesh top for the jar.

Then, I just left it on a shelf in the garage for a month in July/August (warm and dark).

I ended up with a TON of waxworms that I was never able to use up.

Home-grown waxworms are actually kind of interesting to watch. They move around much faster than their store-bought equivalents.

 

[frog]

thats cool. i want to try that. i have 3 leopard geckos too so i would simply be in good supply.


the link doesnt work :? i will google it

 

[patrickb]

Be warned, I understand from reading a few leo forums that waxworms are like crack. Once they try them, they won't touch anything else period. As mentioned, the mealworms aren't good as they offer very little nutrition and have a lot of chitin (the exoskeleton) which greatly increases the risk of impaction and thus should never be fed to a beardie.

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

couldnt you breed super worms and just feed them off when there small maybe around an inch or so? this is what im planning on doing and i got my supers in the mail today. i also have a dubia colony that is still getting going, most of the nypmhs i ordered are now adults or getting very very close to adult.

 

[muzikfreakah]

I think crickets would be fairly easy to breed as well. I am setting up one very soon, and all I will need are four plastic containers two large bins, one medium and one small for the hatchery. The largest to be used for the laying, then the smallest being used for the hatching. The two other will be for the segregation of sizes. But if my beardies can finish them then, I wont need segregation

 

[frog]

patrickb- i have fed waxworms many times before as treats and they still eat other things no problem because i only use them in moderation, as a treat :wink: as for the mealworms, i know this too. i use mealworms every once in a rare while for a variety in diet and i keep theem (pretty untouched) in my fridge in case i need them. thay are conveineint, you have to confess. anything that lasts that long in the fridge is something to keep around for emergencies.