Size of crickets.

[Rozen]

Hello! Dudley is about 5 months old now and he is eating circkets like no tomorrow, I bought 500 (small) of them last week and THEY ARE ALL GONE :shock:

So since i was out of town for 2 days i asked my mom to check in on him and feed him, She went out and bought 25 large circkets. They are MUCH bigger then the space between his eyes, but he seems to be alot more happy eating and hunting those ones. Now, Im not to big on the idea of feeding him large ones, but my mom seems to think its better. So i ask you guys, would it be ok to feed him the bigger ones, Hes growing like mad and seems to be ALOT happyer eating the big ones.

But i got a feeling that i should be feeding him the smaller ones. Just asking you guys for your input!

Thanks~

 

[Embee]

Hi Rozen!

Good to see you. Sounds like Dudley is happy, healthy and eating VERY well. :mrgreen:

My best advice is to wait on the large. If they are bigger than the space between his eyes, you risk impaction. Just not worth the risk. The question is not whether he CAN eat them, but rather, whether he SHOULD.

So, my question is, why not a happy "medium?" This is one of the reasons I order crickets online. Not only is it less expensive, but there is a much better variety of sizes to choose from. Our girl has been eating 1/2 inch since she was about 10 inches, and now at 12+ inches looks as if she's getting ready to graduate to 3/4. How big is your beardie these days?

Is it possible for you to order online so you can find an *in between* size?

Best to you!

Em

 

[Rozen]

Well, thats what i thought, but trying to find a good site that ships to Canada is very hard.(Well at least for me)

Oh and Dudley is doing so well, His colours are coming in so nicely. When i bought him i thought he would be normal morph but he is starting to turn orange! Its wonderful! Hes not eating his veggies but oh well!

I still can't get over how much he is growing. Also, he ate about 8 large ones today, when i got back to my house my mom left a note saying that he ate 8 large, what are the chances of him getting impacted from those, and if he does get impacted what should i do to make sure that he poops. Feed him apple?

 

[Embee]

Well, thats what i thought, but trying to find a good site that ships to Canada is very hard.(Well at least for me)

Ah yes, I did think of this after I posted. *sigh* Have you thought of supplementing crickets with something like phoenix worms? They are wonderful for growing babies and might help round out his appetite while you're feeding the smalls. And, they ship to Canada: http://www.phoenixworms.com. It's a thought at any rate. :dontknow:

Oh and Dudley is doing so well, His colours are coming in so nicely. When i bought him i thought he would be normal morph but he is starting to turn orange! Its wonderful! Hes not eating his veggies but oh well!

I still can't get over how much he is growing. Also, he ate about 8 large ones today, when i got back to my house my mom left a note saying that he ate 8 large, what are the chances of him getting impacted from those, and if he does get impacted what should i do to make sure that he poops. Feed him apple?

Oh, Dudley sounds like he's doing wonderfully! So good to hear! I hear ya on the veggies. Cloudy is eating them, but not exactly "happily." She sits over her "worm salad" in the morning staring off at me, trying to get me to remove the greens from on top. I've done this in the past, and she thinks she can will it... but I'm all about the tough love anymore. She's nine months old for gosh's sakes! LOL

Yes, impaction can be an issue with too large a feeder. I can't tell you what the chances are exactly, and in all honestly I imagine they are rather slim if he is doing a good job chewing the feeders, but again, it's just one of those things you'd rather not risk, because it has indeed, been known to happen. The other thing that can happen (although I believe, more prevalent with babies) is paralysis. This is where in the course of eating/ingesting the feeder, the beardie quite literally "freezes up." Rresults of either scenario can be grave as I'm sure you understand, however impaction due to a feeder IS a little more successfully treated than say with sand/loose substrate.

Indeed, look to see that he continues to poop regularly. Look for any changes there. Bathe regularly as usual (2-4 times per week). If you sense something is amiss, you'll want to reach underneath him and feel down the right side of his belly from arm pit to vent, and feel for any hard lumps. This would be the impaction. To treat, bathe often (daily or more) in warm water, while massaging from arm to vent down the right side. Also, you can get some unsweetened apple sauce, mix with a bit of olive oil and dab a little on the nose at regular intervals, see he can lick it/eat it. This little "cocktail" of treatment, plus the bathing/massaging will usually help pass the impaction.

Hope you don't have to use that information, but there it is just in case. :wink:

The best,
Em

 

[ddma]

i'm glad i found this because i was going to post asking this same question, but i think i got my answer. my beardies are 13 1/2 inches long, they have been eating 1/2 inch crickets for awhile now. 1000 crickets use to last me about 10 days or so (and that's feeding 2 dragons) now 1/2 inch crickets only last me about 3 - 4 days. and my beardies eat thier greens every morning, they devour them. i think i'm ready to move up to 3/4 crickets. i go to my local reptile store, they carry all sizes.

 

[Embee]

i'm glad i found this because i was going to post asking this same question, but i think i got my answer. my beardies are 13 1/2 inches long, they have been eating 1/2 inch crickets for awhile now. 1000 crickets use to last me about 10 days or so (and that's feeding 2 dragons) now 1/2 inch crickets only last me about 3 - 4 days. and my beardies eat thier greens every morning, they devour them. i think i'm ready to move up to 3/4 crickets. i go to my local reptile store, they carry all sizes.

That's a fantasic reptile store you've got there. Indeed, I'd say you're definitely ready to move on to the 3/4. I've still got about 300-400 left of my last batch (of 1000) of 1/2 inch, and our girl is about 12 1/2 inches. I'm on the fence right now as to whether I should order one more batch of 1/2, or move up to 3/4. I usually get a few 3/4 inch in with the 1/2 inch batch, and I believe they are "just right in there" for her, but maybe right on the edge, ya know? Of course, in a week when I'm ready to order more, she'll probably have grown more so... no worries! When these little dearies get movin' with the growin' they are quite extraordinary! :mrgreen:

The best,
Em

 

[ddma]

yes , i think i'm going to go up to 3/4 inch. they do grow very fast , i swear every day we look at them and they look bigger. we actually have two local reptile stores , they are 5 min away from each other. the pet stores seem to only carry 2 sizes, small (which are real small) and large ( which are very large, full grown). so it's great that we have the reptile stores. they are located just 15 minutes from my home. and they get thier crickets from ghann's. so i believe i'm getting healthy crickets.