I'm so lost on insects...

[LithiuMem]

First of all, I haven't brought home my beardie yet, it won't be for a month or so. I want to get everything straightened out first, but everything I'm being told keeps getting mixed up.

My beardie will be young and still needing lots of insects in her diet, but how do I go about it?
I'd much rather get dead crickets and such in bulk, because I don't want her to get nibbled on or anything. I worry abput that a lot. Plus it'd be easier to keep them, I have a small critter keeper and nowhere to put a large rubbermaid container full of them. My only place is my room because otherwise my cats would go nuts. I'm told feeding them live is much better for getting her interested and keeping them nutritious and whatnot, but is it really worth the risk?

What about mealworms? I'm told they're awful since they're mostly shell, but I've also been informed that it's okay if your beardie is hydrated greatly. Then there's superworms, silkworms, hornworms, which I can only get online, and don't appear to come in as much bulk as I'd like (up to 25? Really?). Seeing as beardies are supposed to eat up to 50-60 in a day, waiting for a small amount of insects to come for weeks and weeks on end does not sound like a suitable plan.

Then there's the whole variety deal, which I could work with if I could at least find out which damn feeders I need to begin with.

I don't know, I mean I've already paid for her, but should I even be allowed to get a bearded dragon? If I'm so stuck on this, it doesn't sound like I'll be very fit for raising her. Especially since this is apparently a pet suitable for children.

 

[PatsyB]

Small bearded dragons should eat 3 times a day and can eat up to 20 crickets a meal. Live food provides the best nutrition and hunting live food gives them exercise. Crickets are the easiest live feeder to start with. I keep mine in a fish tank, you can start with a 5 gallon. Petco has $1 a gallon tank sales all the time. I also have a metal mesh top to keep the cats out. You can cover the sides of the tank with paper so your cats don't see them, if that is a concern. Crickets can smell though, so you want to keep their tank pretty clean so they don't smell so bad, especially if you are keeping them in your bedroom. Dubias are a good feeder too and supposedly don't smell.

If you feed your beardie a salad and keep in the tank for the day, the live food with eat the salad before it will bite your beardie. I've never had a cricket bite a beardie. I also have frogs and there are sometimes crickets in their tank for days but in 4 years none of the frogs have been bitten.

Meal worms are mostly hard shell, they are okay to feed as a treat but don't provide much nutrition wise. Better worms would be Phoenix worms, hornworms, calciworms, silk worms, nightcrawler, super worms.

If you can't handle the live bugs then it doesn't make sense to get a bearded dragon. Their natural instinct is to hunt for live food. Most bearded dragons won't eat bugs that aren't moving.

Owning a bearded dragon has been the most rewarding experience. I hate all bugs but quickly got over that when I realized that these guys need them to survive, so I got over it.

 

[Mushuandcricket]

My hats off to you for really thinking it through.Bearded dragons are not for everyone because of the live food. There are other reptiles that are vegetarians ( tortoises , iguanas, etc.) or reptiles that can eat mealworms as a staple diet like (leopard geckos). You might find out feeding live foods isn't so bad and get used to it like Patsy said. Its better either way for the dragon for you to commit or walk away. I really respect you that you are thinking it all and researching the care . Everyone should do this before they purchase any pet and bring it home!!

 

[Canicke]

first - slow down and take a few deep breaths! these guys are FUN. there IS a lot to learn, and they aren't for everyone, but you'll figure out what works best for you. live food is the bestest. specially for the little guys - all that growin they got to do. worms are ok, but many are too large for babies. 50 cricket a day is about par. phoenix worms are good (they're small) Patsy B (above) has good info on keeping crickets. really.

 

[LithiuMem]

Thank you everyone. I can handle live food, I feed crickets to my tarantulas. I'm just not used to such a large quantity. There's no petco around here, only a couple of small pet shops with only either crickets or meal worms, and a small container of around 25-35 is around 6$ each. I might be able to make space for a larger keeper for them, but I've never bred, well... anything before, so it'll be a bit of a struggle. I can manage pretty much everything else on the list of care-taking, I'm just worried about not having enough food for a whole day, much less a week. Beardies are hungry little chaps! How do they find these amounts in the wild?

 

[PatsyB]

I tried to breed crickets once and failed. I got the females to lay their eggs but never got them to hatch. The only thing I was able to breed was hornworms and that was just one lucky time. The temps have to be right. This isn't my cricket tank, it's my super worms but I have a few of these tanks and lids in different sizes.

 

[jewels03]

Have you thought about feeding dubias? I feel they are much easier to stomach than crickets and my beardie LOVES them!

 

[LithiuMem]

Dubias are illegal in Canada, and even then, they would be WAY too big for such a small beardie to stomach.

 

[Mushuandcricket]

They do go through lots of insects as babies. Have you considered getting an adult that might eat more greans?

 

[LithiuMem]

Yes, but there aren't any around in my area. In the one pet shop that has them, they're babies at very high prices.

It's just the quantities I want to know about, that's all. Surely there are owners of bearded dragons that don't have a whole breeding setup for feeders going on, so that's what I want to learn. Is or is there not a way to keep a large amount of crickets at a fair price, or will I have to stock up on the small containers at the pet store for each day, since they appear to eat an entire container's worth? Should I buy the amount online even though most will be dead on arrival? Am I allowed to feed them dead crickets? These are the questions I have.

 

[Mushuandcricket]

Search on you tube breeding crickets or keeping crickets and you will see many videos on the topic.Even if you don't breed you can see how they set up their crickets. I purchased a large plastic container and cut a square out of the top and glued screen in. You can also use an aquarium with a screen mess just make sure the screen is aluminum so they do not eat through it.There are cricket breeders that sell 500-1,000 crickets per order.I have never purchased crickets online so I can't help with the other questions. Hopefully someone can help who buys crickets online.

 

[LithiuMem]

Thank you.

 

[cricket05]

So it looks like from your profile pic, you have your baby beardie now? How is everything going? I was in the same boat as you, going to the pet store about every other day for crickets...what we did was get a large plastic tub and duct taped screen over it, and then cut a square flap and taped the edges of the flap (both sides) so that it lays flat but doesn't stick. With small crickets, they won't be able to jump out. I use the Fluke's complete cricket diet cubes, and put plenty of cardboard in there for the crickets to spread out. Linda's Gone Buggie sells crickets by the 100s, or 1,000 of them. It is definitely more reasonable pricing than smaller quantities at a pet store multiple times a week. My baby beardie started out eating only about 30 crickets a day, and is now up to about 60 to 75, depending on the day. I've had him for 6 weeks. I'm not interested in breeding crickets either, so it is definitely a learning process to figure out quantities, and the best way to keep enough crickets on hand, etc. Good luck! I'd love to hear how it is going!

 

[LithiuMem]

Oh no, that's just from when I met her. I won't bring her home until I have everything sorted out.

Thank you for the advice, this is definitely what I've been wanting to know.
I'm gonna give the bucket idea a try. Does Linda's sell to Canada?