What is a great feeder I can breed? (can't dubias)

[casioravine21]

I am wanting to breed a feeder for Freddie, and I was wondering which is the best? I can not do Dubia Roaches, I'm allergic to roaches. Thanks.

 

[Baldwin]

Crickets are pretty easy to breed. I'm doing that myself and have about 5000 pinheads at the moment from about 100 store bought crickets. Do a google search or youtube for information.

 

[CountofCasualty]

You can breed Supers and Silks as well. Silks are a bit hard and tedious to do, but once you get started and used to the routine it's really easy from what I know.

 

[Sauzo]

Can also breed Black soldier flies aka phoenix worms.

 

[unkempt1]

Can also breed Black soldier flies aka phoenix worms.

Agreed. As long as you are ok with maggots, I would think that would be the best bet. I personally disagree with feeding a dragon a staple of any type of worm, but if you are hell-bent on breeding a non-roach feeder that would be the way to go.

Personally, I would recommend just buying crickets over breeding anything else outside of roaches. I don't think I could ever bring myself to breeding crickets or maggots. :shock: There are some good YouTube videos out there for breeding black soldier fly maggots (i.e. Phoenix worms). Check it out! If its right for you do it!

 

[CountofCasualty]

Why do you disagree feeding worms as staples? Just curious...

 

[casioravine21]

I'm actually thinking crickets. I don't want maggots and flies all around my house, or beetles.

 

[CountofCasualty]

Silks actually turn into flightless moths, they stay alive for a week, lay eggs and then die. I think they lay around 100-200 eggs(do not quote me) per moth. Maybe more. You can keep them in the big rubbermaid bins and they should be fine in that during the time they lay.

 

[Sauzo]

I agree with Unkempt1 as far as if you are gonna breed anything other than dubias, it's not really worth it. You can use phoenix worms aka reptiworms aka calciworms as staple but I would vary their diet. I feed Harley dubias and phoenix worms. She used to eat crickets till she tasted dubias, now she won't touch crickets unless there is nothing else and then only in protest and just enough to keep herself from starving. In your case, might as well just buy crickets although I hate crickets. They can harbor parasites like pinworms plus they stink to high heaven. You can get crickets in bulk for cheap as well. I used to buy like 1000 crickets for $20 or something like that from Ghann's Cricket Farm. Silkworms and hornworms are great as well but they grow very fast unless you control their feeding so if you got just 1 beardie, it can be a waste. I know the crickets Ghann's has are banded crickets vs house crickets so less chitin and from the ones I had, they grew kinda slow but I would order 1 size below what you need if you order in big bulk so you have time to feed em without them outgrowing your beardie. Anyways good luck in whatever you end up breeding/ordering.

 

[unkempt1]

Why do you disagree feeding worms as staples? Just curious...

Worms have higher fat content when compared to crickets or roaches, pretty much across the board. It's also a pain in the rear to gut-load them, if you can gut-load them at all. They aren't the miracle feeder that, ahem, certain companies attest.

 

[CountofCasualty]

I disagree completely. Wax Worms yes and supers to a point, but Silks, Horms, Butters and BSFL do NOT have that high of a fat content.

Crickets on average have 6-7 percent fat. Horns have about 3 percent, Black Solider Flies and Silks hit about 9-10 percent, Butters are 5. Even Dubai Roaches are 7% fat, higher then Horns and Butterworms and a few percentages below BSFL and Silks.
Let's forget the higher calcium content across the board(34-40 mg of calcium per 100g), less risk of impaction and over all ease of using these worms as feeders.

So tell me again they have a higher fat content, please.

And while you can not easily gutload Silks due to their specific diet needs, Horns, and BSFL can be gut loaded. There are dozens of dragons on this board that get high amounts of worms as a staple and they not only do incredibly well but THRIVE on these worms.

 

[unkempt1]

I disagree completely. Wax Worms yes and supers to a point, but Silks, Horms, Butters and BSFL do NOT have that high of a fat content.

Crickets on average have 6-7 percent fat. Horns have about 3 percent, Black Solider Flies and Silks hit about 9-10 percent, Butters are 5. Even Dubai Roaches are 7% fat, higher then Horns and Butterworms and a few percentages below BSFL and Silks.
Let's forget the higher calcium content across the board(34-40 mg of calcium per 100g), less risk of impaction and over all ease of using these worms as feeders.

So tell me again they have a higher fat content, please.

And while you can not easily gutload Silks due to their specific diet needs, Horns, and BSFL can be gut loaded. There are dozens of dragons on this board that get high amounts of worms as a staple and they not only do incredibly well but THRIVE on these worms.

I thought you wanted my perspective because you were "just curious?" Seems like you are more than just being curious, it's more like you're taking it personally. :?

I said they had a higher fat content pretty much across the board, and I stand by that. I also followed up with a comment about gut-loading. By combining those two together, you get my answer. For example: silks are "decent" feeders, but can't gut load and just suck to care for in my opinion - ZAP, I don't want to use them. Butters are not too high in fat, but nutritionally aren't the best staple - ZAP, I don't want to use them. Roaches are decent nutritionally, can be gut-loaded, and can be dusted to better balance the Ca-Ph ratio - DING DING DING, winner winner, chicken dinner! I'm not going to bother breaking down the other options you listed because frankly, I don't feel I owe it to you now.

Instead of seeing that as a whole, what did you do? You separated and dissected my words and, in supreme forum troll fashion, attacked them individually. You literally turned my two sentences into a four paragraph response/rant - was that necessary? Bravo to you, bravo.

Bottom line - it's my perspective but, more importantly, it's a perspective you asked for. No need to get upset and snotty when you get something you ask for. So I WILL NOT tell you again that they have a higher fat content, because I never said that in the first place. I said much more than that, in fewer words than you. Thanks for hijacking this poor guy's thread. :lol:

 

[Sauzo]

If you are talking from a staple viewpoint then none of the worms are very easy to deal with compared to crickets or roaches. Crickets and roaches will eat pretty much anything, live a fairly long time, grow rather slow(compared to worms), easy to house and pretty much breed from just looking at each other. Worms are good too but when you compare price and requirements to raise/breed, unless you got lots of cash or lots of time, it's better to just buy X amount of worms at a time and feed em as a supplement or treat. Of course the best is to feed the beardie a variety of all kinds of stuff. And to respond to the OP, stick with crickets if you can't do roaches. And are you allergic to dubias or all roaches? Cause there are ones like red runners, lobsters and discoids.

 

[diamc]

[Rudeness and unfriendly sarcasm will NOT be tolerated on this forum. There are nice ways to word your posts so next time, re-think what you are saying and only hit the "submit" button when you are sure that your comments are polite. Thread high-jacking is also not allowed. A warning has been sent.]

 

[CountofCasualty]

My Apologies, Mod.

OP, good luck with your cricket colony if that is what you decide.