She wont eat crickets

[killzinus]

Charlie is almost a few days over 8 months old and she's about 14 inches long. She's never had any problems while in my care (she had an infection in her leg with the previous owner and it had to be amputated but she hardly even notices). She seems perfectly healthy and happy. Where we used to live in Michigan i fed her wood lice as i had a massive colony of them and she loved them but through a whole bunch of crazy drama, the colony is now extinct and she and i ended up in New Jersey. Out here i don't have wood lice available to me and the only live feeder i have access to (*cough* that my grandmother will let in the house*cough*) is crickets. The only problem is she won't eat them. I've tried hand feeding them to her. I've tried refrigerating them to slow them down. I've tried baking them (the worst smelling idea i've ever had by the way). She won't eat them. She eats her veggies just fine and she seems healthy and fine in every other way but i'm worried about her getting enough protein. Is there an alternative to live feeders that i can give her so that she can get protein?

 

[Kaiser]

Well, live feeders are probably the best thing you can feed your bearded dragon in terms of protein and other nutritional values. However, I do believe there are prepared bearded dragon foods, that come in varieties of pellets, cubes, pieces, etc. You can probably find something at a local pet store. Though those are certainly an acquired taste, and I'd be surprised if your bearded dragon took a liking to them as opposed to live feeders. Additionally, I hear baby food can be used as well for protein, but it's usually a temporary food, mainly for helping bearded dragons in emergency conditions that require them to gain back excessive weight loss or lack of weight.

But I highly recommend live feeders over replacing them with something else. There are a number of alternatives to live feeders; have you ran them all by your grandmother yet? Personally, I prefer to feed worms (see below for more information) rather than crickets, and my family sure prefers that I order worms instead as well. The main issue with crickets is that they are very good at escaping, and can survive for long periods of time when they've escaped. They can also be noisy and smelly as well. Worms can be kept in a small container, out of eyesight, and they could never really escape, considering their very low speed and poor ability to climb. If your grandmother can handle crickets, perhaps she can handle worms? Especially since it's something she'll most likely never see. Other than that, here are a few live feeders you can check out:

- Wide variety of roaches, with the most commonly recommended being of the Blaptica dubia (dubia roaches) species. Another possibility is red racer roaches. I haven't had any experience with roaches myself, but I know many bearded dragon owners consider them some of the best live feeders available. I doubt the thought of roaches inside a house would be a step up, but I figure I'd at least mention them.
- Wide variety of worms, with the most commonly recommended being black soldier fly larvae (typically under the brand names of "Reptiworms" or "Phoenix Worms"), silk worms, superworms (ONLY recommended when the bearded dragon is of a certain age and size, closer to being an adult), and hornworms. I personally recommend black soldier fly larvae, as they are very easy to care for, have proper balances of nutritional values (especially a very good calcium to phosphorous ratio), and are cheaper (for me at least) then buying crickets from pet stores. Unfortunately, most chain pet stores do not carry some of these worms, though it is possible that there may be some out there, and/or you can recommend them to your local pet store to carry as a product.

Other than feeder alternatives, however, your bearded dragon may not be eating the crickets simply because of relocation stress. It's a possibility, considering you've moved recently, I'm assuming. But if your bearded dragon doesn't eat for an extended period of time, these are just some possible alternatives to turn too. Best wishes, and I hope to hear that you find something your bearded dragon will eat!

 

[killzinus]

Thank you for your help. I will try to find some sort of worm for her or the fly larvae. I'm sure my grandmother will be fine with it. Somewhat ironically, the only problem she has with any sort of roach is that she's worried about them getting out and infesting her house. I already tried the pellets and she didn't look twice at them so that is out of the question.
Also, i don't believe relocation stress is the problem since we moved 4 months ago.

 

[Slave2Scarlett]

I had the same problem with my beardie... So I ordered her some of the reptiworms from www.reptiworms.com.. She loves those.. But i wanted to try the crickets again.. So instead of feeding her in a seperate bin I put her in her viv and let the crickets loose and she went nuts! She was running and chasing them and i was so happy.. But if u just can't get yours to eat them then I would try the the reptiworms