Crickets everyday? (Adult).

[LizzyLizard]

Hello everyone,

How many crickets and how often do you give your adult beardie crickets?
I tried the search but I could only find info about baby's.
I'ts about a 2 year old female, she is 30cm (11.8inch). She won't eat her vegetables, but I still give it to her everyday. I also gutload the insects, and dust them 4 times a week with calcium, and once per week with reptivite. But how many should I give her per day? Considering she doesn't eat her veggies.
I hope that she'll eat her greens when the shedding is over.

Thanks in advance!

 

[LizzyLizard]

I also give her gutloaded locusts sometimes because she absolutely adores them. But I heard that they are not really nutricious without gutloading?

 

[river-7]

Hi; LizzyLizard;Welcome to BDF; Do you give her-her crix; first thing in the morning?? Try putting her salad in first thing in the morning and put a horn worm in the salad as they attach themselves to the salad and if the beardie wants the worm he also gets some of the salad.As far as crix; go feed enough that she will eat in a 15-min; time limit.and if she's shedding she may feel unwell. Try that and others will be on with some more suggestions.I use a cricket cup and my 2-dragons eat out of the cup so I know what their eating and I put the salad in first thing in the morning, and they each get 2-worms every morning and 2-hours later they get their crix;Good luck and I hope it works, pics are always welcomed-river-7

 

[LizzyLizard]

Thanks you very much for your answer. A few days ago I tried how many she would eat and she kept eating them, so I stopped at 14 full sized crickets. Does she really need so many everyday? I stopped because I was afraid that she'd eat more than her stomach can hold.

 

[river-7]

Hi; no they know when to stop eating. and at 11.2 inches she is a little tiny but usually at her age it is 80% salad and 20% protein. But with her shedding she's probably not feeling the best. And some say their beardies won't eat when shedding mine are the opposite they eat twice as much. Every beardie is different. I would just keep feeding her and mine eat about 60-75 1/4 inch crix; each meal. so between 2-of them I buy 2000 crix each week so 25 is not too much in a way and mine are babies.so good luck-river-7

 

[PatsyB]

She is little. Do you have a picture? What are you using for your UVB and what are her temps? Rule of thumb is let them eat what they want in a 15 min period. They usually stop when they are full. Does she eat like this every day? At 2 she could really eat every other day. Sometimes if you with hold bugs for a few days they will eat their salad. I've been told they won't starve themselves so if they aren't getting bugs they will eat whatever is there.

My girl is 2 1/2 years old and she became a picky salad eater when she was around 9 months. Lately I've been dusting her salad with bee pollen and a bit of multivitamin. For some reason when she sees the powder go on to the salad it peaks her interest. She won't eat her salad in front of me but I've walked in on her a few times. Both her and my boy (he's 1 1/2 years old) close their eyes and turn their head when they are done eating. I used to feed them daily but found that they don't always want to eat every day so I try to feed them every other day.

 

[LizzyLizard]

Hey Patsy,

You can read the whole story in this thread: CLICK where you helped me out.
She's so small because of the bad food and no UV when she was young.
I've ordered a 60 cm reptisun 10.0 t5 light which you recommended.
I also ordered a infrared thermometer so I can really sort things out. The temperatures are good in the center, but there's no real cool spot.

I'll pick up some worms tomorow to see if she'll eat the salad with them in there.
And yes she eats like that everyday, I think that she's hungry because insects are the only things she eats,
Veggies should be 80% of her diet, so when she only eats crickets, she will eat a LOT.

I tried not feeding her insects for 3 days. Still didn't touch her salad. I didn't want to starve her any longer because she hasn't got a good youth.
Let's hope it's only because of the shedding.

You are very helpful btw, thanks a lot for that!

 

[PatsyB]

Sorry I didn't realize I gave you so much information. My middle aged Alzhemiers kicks in every once in awhile. Glad you followed my advise.

I tried withholding bugs from Dexter and after about a week I felt guilty and had to give her some. If you are feeding your crickets real well I think she'll be okay especially if she wasn't treated well as a baby/juvenile I think if she wants bugs, give her bugs. She'll eventually want salad.