Live food

[Mellie24]

Hi, can you tell me what live food and how often I need to give this to my BD?
I have a slight problem as I do not have a pet store in my town and will require to order live food in if I can't feed him any of the little critters from the garden!

 

[ianedward1]

The best things to use as the staple of his diet are either crickets or roaches. If you are having to order them, then you will probably want to go with the roaches (Dubia or Turkistan) because they don't make noise, don't smell, are easier for the beardie to handle, and are much easier to keep from escaping. You can just put 10-20 into the enlosure and let him food for ~15 mins. If he eats them all then you can choose whether or not to give him more. If he doesn't eat them all then gather the leftovers and put them back into their own container (I use a 40 gallon plastic storage container with vents cut in the top and covered with screening). You have to remember to dust the insects with calcium supplements before feeding them. You can also feed superworms, hornworms, pheonix worms, and silk worms occasionally as a treat but be careful as your beardie can get spoiled on these and they don't make the best staple.

 

[Mellie24]

Thank you, I've ordered the dusting supplement for the crickets as the pet shop never told me this, can I still give him crickets without the dusting for the mean time (2 or 3) ?
I've managed to find someone who is bringing me back some crickets from Darwin tomorrow
Can the eat earth worms?

 

[ianedward1]

Most won't eat earthworms (I'm guessing they don't like the taste). And yes you can feed them without dusting but as soon as you get the calcium make sure to start using it.

 

[Mellie24]

Thanks for the advice / help
He also doesn't seem to be interested in his "salad" or the pallet food yet, I guess it's just trial and error till I find something he likes

 

[ianedward1]

Mine will let his salad sit there all day but I just mist the greens during to day to help keep them fresh and usually they will be gone when its time for his crickets the next afternoon. He will get hungry and eat eventually so its more of a waiting game.

 

[Augie]

Make sure you resolve the feeding situation ASAP. When they are young, they are voracious eaters and need live food (AKA easy protein) almost exclusively. Most refuse greens early on, it's usually because of how they are raised by breeders, unfortunately. The good news is they will eventually come around.

And hey, if you ever want to learn how to raise roaches let me know. I'm always happy to share my thoughts on that topic.

 

[Mellie24]

Thanks, I think he is settling in nicely as his been eating his crickets, with added supplement and he seems to have taken to tomato and bok Choy, my understanding is that these are a some times good but I can not find mustard leaves etc at my local shop!

Your advice is much appreciated as I'm still learning and I want to care for my little Spike the best I can

 

[Augie]

You need to read those links someone provided in your introduction thread immediately before you feed your dragon the wrong things. I'm getting a strong vibe that you might not have done enough research prior to you getting a dragon. It's not too late to start, but you need to start right now!

Again, like I said in another post, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings or make you feel defensive. Based on what I have read from you so far I highly recommend you read those links immediately, especially the color-coded one on nutritional information.

I can summarize for you though: buy some collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, and/or dandelion greens. Use those almost exclusively. You can put a little of the bok choy in there from time to time, but tomatoes should only be given to humans in my opinion - the good news is, is you can eat them instead. The greens mentioned above are all cheap. I know you live in a small town but I would think at least one of those options is available to you, especially if you were able to get your hands on some bok choy. I get collard greens for 88 cents a bunch, so it's easy to provide healthy (and CHEAP) greens for my Reggie.

Oh, and don't worry about providing a huge variety to Spike. I think some people go overboard; I have read accounts of people lavishly mixing up the types of greens on a daily basis. The truth is most dragons eventually gravitate towards what they like, and prefer to stick to that. The good news is the items in green on the guide are all you really need. Good luck!

 

[Lemonpie]

If there is no pet store in your town I would HIGHLY recommend starting a roach colony. You can order a few adult roaches online and enough small ones to feed your little guy until they begin breeding enough to sustain him. In my opinion roaches are far better to feed nutrition wise, don't escape like crickets do and my 2,000 roaches smell far less than 2 dozen crickets! Also, if you get the roaches from a reputable supplier none of them will die before you feed unlike crickets! Dubia roaches breed very well and require extremely minimal care.

 

[Mellie24]

I did say these are sometimes food, I didn't say I was giving them to him every day, I also took a list to my local store of the above leaves you mentioned and they did not have any!
I HAVE done my research so don't accuse me of not doing it properly, every site I looked at said the above is a treat and not his main diet, but it was either bok Choy or spinach and I believe spinach is a no go

 

[ianedward1]

Bok choy is actually not a bad green to give to him. The nutrition list provided on the website puts it down as being too high in Vitamins A & C but mustard and turnip greens are way higher and people use them constantly. It has a decent Ca : P ratio but a little supplementation there would definitely be a benefit. I can't get bok choy around but if I was able I would probably be using that and collard greens for my tortoise.

 

[ianedward1]

Oh and almost forgot, Endive and Dandelion Greens are awesome for pretty much anything whether its a tortoise, lizard, or you . Endive is most commonly found in the bags of spring mix salad that you can usually find at a grocery store. Just check to see if they have spinach in them as well because some spring mixes will and some won't. You don't have to pick out all the spinach but keeping the amount he eats to a minimum is probably a good idea. As far as the live food goes, I'm starting a roach colony myself soon because of the reported ease

 

[Mellie24]

Thanks ianedward, much appreciated

 

[Mellie24]

What actually is collard green?

 

[ianedward1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collard_greens

 

[Mellie24]

Thanks, why didn't I think of just typing it in a search