Cheap feeders?

[BigDaddyDragon]

So I'm gonna start buying feeders in bulk, with a few questions,

A. What is the cheapest place to buy bulk feeders?
B. What is the best way to keep 1000+ crickets at a time?
C. I'm thinking about getting waxworms as well, good idea or bad?
D. Be honest, is it a pain in the a$$ to start a roach colony?

Thanks guys!!
-Sam

 

[Beardie_Mommy3991]

In my opinion, its really very easy to keep crickets. I keep mine in a 58 quart sterilite bin. Very cheap. When you buy them in bulk, they come with peices of Cardboard egg carton (when stacked, keeps them from crushing each other. Think of them as cricket skyscrapers.) You can get them very cheap from online sites. I use LLLreptile (25$ for a 1000) But I have also heard other good ones, such as Ghanns. Once you have the crickets, you can feed them with lettuce (very cheap, keeps them hydrated and fed at the same time)

PS. as a personal addition, put some toilet paper tubes in the bin too. they love to climb in them, and it makes it easier to collect when feeding

 

[BigDaddyDragon]

Question about the waxworks though, I can only buy them 250 at a time, and I only have 2 beardies. Is it even worth buying? Or should I get mealworms. And how do you keep mealworms?

 

[staylor]

Mealworms are a no no. When I was ordering that many crix I would get them from Ghann's cricket farm. They were about $20 for 2,000.

 

[BigDaddyDragon]

A no no?? How come?

 

[Beardie_Mommy3991]

mealworms have a lot of chitin in their shell, which makes it very hard and difficult for them to gigest. If they can't digest it, they can't pass it, and they end up getting impacted. It's kind of like how humans can't digest gum, or cats getting hairballs, except it can't be spit up. In severe cases, it can actually lead to death. So we mainly just try and stay away from them all together, just to be safe

As for the waxworms, i have never tried buying them before.

 

[BigDaddyDragon]

What about supers?

 

[Craiger]

Supers are a good feeder. I breed them for mine. I just wouldn't use them as an everyday staple. I do, however, use Dubia Roaches as an everyday feeder...well, as everyday as you can get with two adult beardies. Dubias might seem a bit expensive on the front side of the breeding process, but once established, are free for as long as you can keep your colony going. I've had mine going for three years, now.

 

[BigDaddyDragon]

No kidding, I'm gonna have to look into that. I've heard good things about starting dub colonies, roaches make me skeevy though. Lol.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

I breed dubia, supers, and I am in the middle of wax-worms. Cheap = DIY

 

[zebraflavencs]

If you start out with 250 mixed, within a month you'll have approx 28 more per Adult female... 30 days later... even more.
Might take 3-6 months, but since I started, I've never looked back.

And I'm feeding 4 dragons, 9 adult geckos and one infant gecko...
Hope this helps !

 

[Craiger]

I used to be the same way. But trust me, after having kept crickets and Dubias, I'll take dubias any day of the week hands-down! Crickets just gross me out anymore. They stink, they're noisy, and cannibalistic. Just not a good combo for me. Sure, I'd keep them again if I HAD to, but there are so many better choices. Not to mention, bug-to-bug, roaches are more nutritious than crickets.

And I agree with Tom....cheap = DIY.

 

[corrine]

I keep dubia as wee. It was a bit pricey getting it going but now that I have a colony established they don't cost me anything. They are very easy to keep and breed. They don't smell and they don't make noise. It was the best investment I ever made as far as my lizard stuff lol. I ordered mine from theroachguy.com. All my lizards love them and they are a great staple.

 

[BigDaddyDragon]

Ok, you sold me. Cause cricket smell is absolutely nasty. I don't mind noise, or insect cannibalism. How do I do this? What am I gonna need?

 

[ladyknite]

for dubias, you'll need a large Rubbermaid Tub. Something opaque. Roaches don't like light. Cardboard egg crates and a UTH works best. There's different foods available. Me, I'm lazy. Greens, fish flakes and oranges

 

[Fliehigh]

for Dubai's, you'll need a large Rubbermaid Tub. Something opaque. Roaches don't like light. Cardboard egg crates and a UTH works best. There's different foods available. Me, I'm lazy. Greens, fish flakes and oranges

Ladyknite also forgot that you need a little patience!

You will want to make sure that wait until the colony is selfsufficient that what you feed you animals won't kill the colony. Also start with as many Dubai's as you can afford to buy, this way you won't have as much of a wait time until your are self sufficient.

I started with $100 mixed 7 months ago and I am just starting to get to the point were I can feed regularly out of my colony (I added 50 more 2months a go as well), but I didn't have the money at the time to buy more than 100.

Hope this helps

Fliehigh

 

[BigDaddyDragon]

How long is the turnover time from babies to adult? Once that is figured out, and you factor in how many you go through a day, you can figure out the amount you would need to keep in order to be self sustaining right? Or is really just not that easy. Lol.

 

[Fliehigh]

Well....... I know there are others on here (Zebraflavencs) ;D that can help more but from what I know are some general rules:

you want 1 male for every 7 - 10 female adults (more males cause fighting)
each female can lay between 25 and 30 babies every 30 days (Assuming you temps are correct)
you really only want to feed you nymphs to dragons and depending on the size of they dragon they can eat around 7 -10 good sized nymphs a day.

This has been my experience though.

Hopfully someone else (Zebraflavencs) ;D who has a LOT more experience with Dubai's will chime in.

Fliehigh

 

[zebraflavencs]

About 3 to 5 months to maturity...

 

[BigDaddyDragon]

No kidding, that's a long cycle. But I'm sure it's worth it. I'll have to save some money to get things started right.