how many crickets a day?

[dragonfab32]

my lil guy bandit is 7" from nose to the tip of his tail and his crickets are all about 1/2"

 

[Luvthemanimal]

As many as the little guy will eat in a 15 min window is what people will say.

I personally throw in probably more than needed and than once lights go out I go in fishing for crickets.

My beardies sometimes leave them alone for a good 20mins before they chase after them.

There is no set amount to feed. They stop eating when full

 

[dragonfab32]

are u sure?? how much should he eat cuz if id let him he would eat like 30 in one sitting

 

[dragonfab32]

most hes had in one day was 20 and then i just said stop thats enuf reason i ask is he seems to be overweight for his length and my mom keeps complaining about the cost and shes being dumb and doesnt want to order the crickets online cuz you know " they will all just arrive dead because of the cold " well jeez how do u think other ppl do it!?

 

[Luvthemanimal]

They generally do. At least all mine do.

And yes it does get stop d expensive feeding them... Maybe look into breading your own insects or roaches if legal in your area. But to save cost offer more greens and limit to 20 crickets a day. Also what size is your beardie? And what size crickets do you feed?

 

[dragonfab32]

hes 7" from snout to tip of tail and the crickets being fed are about 1/2" give or take a lil he gets about 4-9 peices of collard greens a day all the size of a dime and an occasional treat of waxworms and kale and i would start breeding dubia roaches but im in utah, usa and it gets cold here so breeding dubia outdoors isnt an option and having them in the house will not settle with her although i think she will give in to letting me have roaches before too long because honestly crickets stink and are a pain whereas dubia are almost complete opposites im going to post a thread on where to buy crickets from as well but whats ur input on this?

 

[Josh]

I'd see about going with roaches if you can. They're much easier to keep and you can get a container for them where they won't escape!

 

[dragonfab32]

thats what ive read but trying to convince my mom is tough ive researched the roaches and they really are the perfect feeder insect but she worries about them overpopulating and stuff lol i told her thats why i have fish tanks and thats what i do with dead crickets i find i just grind them to a paste ( gross i know but the fish go nuts) and tadah! a nice high protein treat for the fish its a win win situation for everyone

 

[dragonfab32]

how big should a colony be and how big should the cage be for that many roaches??

 

[Augie]

how big should a colony be and how big should the cage be for that many roaches??

On average a female dubia will have about 30 young a month. It's not exactly that many, and not exactly every month, but that's the average. Find out how many roaches your dragon will eat a day, and multiply that by 30. That should tell you how many females you need. Take that number and divide by 4. That tells you about how many males you need.

I'd recommend at least 40 females and 10 males. Then you would need to wait at least 3 months to let the colony establish (or you could buy 500-1000 nymphs as well so you can start feeding right away, but that is more $$$).

As far as the tub you can start with like an 18 or 30 gallon tub. I think I started with 30 but I can't remember. Make sure you buy one that isn't see-through. You can store it in the closet and show your mom just how out-of-the-way they really are.

Read the care sheet from the post stickies at the top of this forum, don't just take the small advice I have put here, as there are a few more things you need to know!

 

[Augie]

Wow you can't edit posts after five minutes now? Edit on my math:

I would use 25, not 30. So if your dragon eats 20 roaches a day, here is what you would do:
20 roaches x 30 days = 600 roaches a month. 600 roaches per month divided by 25 births per female = 24 females. 24 females divided by four = 6 males. I would still recommend the 40 females and 10 males like I mentioned above, because your dragon's appetite will change. You also won't know how old your adults are, and some could die within the 3 month period (which would suck because it takes roaches about 6 months to mature from nymph to adult).

 

[dragonfab32]

ok and 6 months for them to mature???? holy freackin crap so do u like set aside some to get to adulthood?

 

[dragonfab32]

ill look more into it at the top of the forum but thank you and ps ur lil after comment is pretty funny

 

[Augie]

ok and 6 months for them to mature???? holy freackin crap so do u like set aside some to get to adulthood?

It depends. If you just get adults you will want to wait about 3 months before feeding off your colony. If you get the adults and like 1000 nymphs you can start feeding the nymphs off immediately, and just monitor the size of your colony to ensure you don't over feed.

And thanks for the compliment.

 

[dragonfab32]

well then ok i think i will try it