Crickets too small and beardie won't eat them?

[dawnflower]

I posted this on another beardie forum but haven't had any luck, so I'll post it here as well.

I've been spending so much on buying crickets at pet stores recently, so I decided to try and order some crickets online because I read that it's slightly cheaper. So I ordered a batch of 100 crickets from flukers farms for my baby beardie, but they ended up being smaller than I thought they would be (They're about half the size of the crickets I normally get for him). I put a few into his tank and he wouldn't even look at them. I thought maybe he wasn't hungry so I tried again a few hours later and still nothing. I did notice that he had started to shed a few parts of his skin, so I thought that maybe he just didn't have an appetite today. But then I put a larger cricket that was dead into his tank and he immediately gobbled it up. He almost never eats any dead insects unless he's hungry enough. So I know he's hungry, but no matter how many times I point the crickets out or shoo them in his direction, he takes absolutely no interest. Does anyone know why this is? Can he not see them? Or does he just not want to eat something so small?
I'm just not sure what to do? I don't want to leave those crickets in his tank overnight because I know that crickets will sometimes attack beardies at night and I obviously don't want that to happen. Should I just keep trying? Should I try to keep these crickets alive until they grow bigger and just buy bigger ones in the meantime? Any advice is appreciated!
Oh, and the package also came with like 10-15 of those weird beetle larvae things, and I was wondering if it was okay to feed him those? I looked it up and have seemed to find mixed answers. Does anyone know for sure?

 

[PatsyB]

Sounds like he's not interested because they are so small. You could try putting them in a small glass bowl that they can't climb out of and see if maybe he will eat them that way. I would get a bigger size cricket for him.

He looks kinda tired. What are you using for lights? What are you measuring your temps with? Are you feeding him salads too and giving him baths?

 

[PatsyB]

Oh and the little beetle larva things are cleaner bugs. They eat the dirt in the bottom of the tank, I wouldn't feed them to your dragon.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Yea ordering online is going to be the cheapest for sure...I kept crickets for 5 years and I used several different places but really stuck to Armstrongcrickets.com now I personally kept to them for their customer service and did 2 day ship even though it cost about the same as the crickets I was ok with it because their quality was great and I always got more than ordered and they were very healthy bugs.

I would try like patsyb said put them in a bowl to see if it peeks the interest more, I know this is going to sound gross but at times I would nip off their very back legs so they couldn't jump out of the bowl. I only fed crickets to my dragon for a short time as I was just feeding off what stock I had from our rescued bird, she ate them and I had them in a tub she would free eat as she wanted.. I switched to dubia's.
Yea I wouldn't feed the cleaner bugs to the dragon..

 

[Kathryn Kinney]

Crickets grow really fast keep them warm with some chow and carrots and potatoes and in 2 weeks they should be bigger. I would get some more crickets in in the mean time.

 

[dawnflower]

Sounds like he's not interested because they are so small. You could try putting them in a small glass bowl that they can't climb out of and see if maybe he will eat them that way. I would get a bigger size cricket for him.

He looks kinda tired. What are you using for lights? What are you measuring your temps with? Are you feeding him salads too and giving him baths?

Thank you for the tips! I've been using a zoo med 75 watt basking light and a zoo med 10.0 uvb bulb. And I just have a petco brand thermometer. I've been thinking about getting a new one that is probably gonna be more accurate. I do give him veggies from time to time but since he's still a baby I know that his diet needs to be primarily insects. As far as baths go, I haven't given him one yet, but I've only had him for a couple weeks. How often should I bathe him?

 

[dawnflower]

Crickets grow really fast keep them warm with some chow and carrots and potatoes and in 2 weeks they should be bigger. I would get some more crickets in in the mean time.

I do have a cricket keeper that I use and I give them food and water whenever they need it. There are also a couple pieces of egg crate in there for them to climb on. But even when I've done that in the past I've ended up with a bunch of dead ones after a couple days. Is there something I can do to prevent that?

 

[Kathryn Kinney]

Were they large crickets? Once they are adults they only live 10 days. By water you mean crystals? They will get moisture from the veggies no need for water just change every few days.

 

[dawnflower]

Were they large crickets? Once they are adults they only live 10 days. By water you mean crystals? They will get moisture from the veggies no need for water just change every few days.

No, they are still pretty small since my bearded is still a baby. And I use water crystals that are full of calcium (stuff bought at the pet store)

 

[JUNGLE JIM]

What size cricket did you order? If he is a baby 8 inches or smaller 1/4 to 3/8 would be about right. 10 inches long he would eat 1/2 inch crickets. The crickets do grow and once I thought mine were too big then I gave those to my leopard geckos.

 

[Hdrydr31]

I do have a cricket keeper that I use and I give them food and water whenever they need it. There are also a couple pieces of egg crate in there for them to climb on. But even when I've done that in the past I've ended up with a bunch of dead ones after a couple days. Is there something I can do to prevent that?

I've found that those cricket keepers don't allow enough ventilation and crickets are very sensitive to humidity..

 

[dawnflower]

What size cricket did you order? If he is a baby 8 inches or smaller 1/4 to 3/8 would be about right. 10 inches long he would eat 1/2 inch crickets. The crickets do grow and once I thought mine were too big then I gave those to my leopard geckos.

He's about 7 inches right now. I ordered 1/4 inch crickets but they ended up being about half that size. So they are wayyyy too tiny. 3/8 sounds closer to what I need but I couldn't find that size when I looked online.

 

[Hdrydr31]

He's about 7 inches right now. I ordered 1/4 inch crickets but they ended up being about half that size. So they are wayyyy too tiny. 3/8 sounds closer to what I need but I couldn't find that size when I looked online.

I always ordered from Armsrongcrickets.com I kept them for 5 years.. they may cost a bit more for shipping 2 day they always had great customer service and the quality of bugs were great!..

 

[JUNGLE JIM]

My two dragons are a little over 8 inches long. I bought 500 crickets off ebay, seller name is buyfeedercrickets. That's all they sell in your choice of sizes. They have 1/4 and 3/8. First time I bought 3/8 and they were fine the first week but they were growing pretty fast and thought they might be too big so held the remainder for my adult leopard geckos.. I bought 1/4 inch this last time and they are perfect bite size for mine. These should be gone before they get too big. I keep my crickets in a clear bin with a white lid, probably is about 20 gallons or so.Poke lots of holes in the top. Whatever greens, carrots and yellow squash the dragons don't eat I give to the crickets the next day. I was going to measure a dead cricket to see how long they were but couldn't find one. Since you have one dragon I suggest you buy 1/4 but from a different supplier. First time I ordered on Sunday and had them by Wednesday. Second time the same but had them Tuesday. Price was $15.99 delivered to my door for 500.

 

[PatsyB]

Thank you for the tips! I've been using a zoo med 75 watt basking light and a zoo med 10.0 uvb bulb. And I just have a petco brand thermometer. I've been thinking about getting a new one that is probably gonna be more accurate. I do give him veggies from time to time but since he's still a baby I know that his diet needs to be primarily insects. As far as baths go, I haven't given him one yet, but I've only had him for a couple weeks. How often should I bathe him?

I would give a bath at least once a week. Water should be warm like a babies bath and just up to their shoulders. You can drip water on the tip of the nose to get him to drink or you can run your fingers through the water to get him to drink. Dry him off real good before you put him back in his tank. The zoomed 10.0 is it a screw in compact like bulb or is it a long tube bulb? The long tube bulb gives better UVB coverage where compact bulbs and coil bulbs only give UVB in one little area of the tank.