How do you guys manage food for your Beardies?

[Mikoh4792]

If I am going to only keep one or two beardies, would it make sense to breed my own crickets? I will most likely buy them as juveniles. How do you guys manage food? Do you go to the store every day or so to buy crickets or breed your own when only keeping one or two animals that are omnivores?

[Evolieno]

Hopefully someone with a little but more experience will chime in... However, I only have one juvie Beardie at the moment. Got him about a month ago, and heard from several fellow Beardie owners that getting a roach colony would be the best way to go. I didn't want to have to go to the pet store several times a week, wanted to have the "never-ending supply" of food for my guy, and wanted to save some money in the long run. Chomper ate about 30 dubia roach nymphs in one day... Probably could've eaten more! You might want to look into roaches, I have heard it takes at least 7 crickets to equal the "meat" & nutrition of one roach. Plus, the roaches don't climb(well, the tiny ones can if you don't take precautions), they don't make noise, don't smell, breed well, are easier to digest, just all around better. If you're okay with crickets, then I would probably just breed them. It will save you a lot of money in the end, and you can always sell/give away if you end up with too many. Or get another reptile to help eat them ;) Plus, with breeding your own insects you can control how they are taken care of and what they are ingesting(that they're healthier than what you'd get at a pet store). Hope this helps a little :)

[Starbuck]

i would also go with roaches over crickets, if you are looking to have an in house colony. Crickets can actually be pretty tricky to breed, and smelly, and loud. The females need a wet place to lay their eggs, while roaches will carry a hardier ootheca around with them.
I have just two cricket eating geckos, and i will get about 4 dozen crixs a week and keep them in a cricket keeper, which works well for me. Beardies are bigger and will likely eat more, but as they get bigger they should start eating more greens over bugs, so maybe you wont go through them as fast?
Good luck.

[Mikoh4792]

i would also go with roaches over crickets, if you are looking to have an in house colony. Crickets can actually be pretty tricky to breed, and smelly, and loud. The females need a wet place to lay their eggs, while roaches will carry a hardier ootheca around with them.
I have just two cricket eating geckos, and i will get about 4 dozen crixs a week and keep them in a cricket keeper, which works well for me. Beardies are bigger and will likely eat more, but as they get bigger they should start eating more greens over bugs, so maybe you wont go through them as fast?
Good luck.

Hopefully someone with a little but more experience will chime in... However, I only have one juvie Beardie at the moment. Got him about a month ago, and heard from several fellow Beardie owners that getting a roach colony would be the best way to go. I didn't want to have to go to the pet store several times a week, wanted to have the "never-ending supply" of food for my guy, and wanted to save some money in the long run. Chomper ate about 30 dubia roach nymphs in one day... Probably could've eaten more! You might want to look into roaches, I have heard it takes at least 7 crickets to equal the "meat" & nutrition of one roach. Plus, the roaches don't climb(well, the tiny ones can if you don't take precautions), they don't make noise, don't smell, breed well, are easier to digest, just all around better. If you're okay with crickets, then I would probably just breed them. It will save you a lot of money in the end, and you can always sell/give away if you end up with too many. Or get another reptile to help eat them ;) Plus, with breeding your own insects you can control how they are taken care of and what they are ingesting(that they're healthier than what you'd get at a pet store). Hope this helps a little :)


It definitely helped, thank you. If I were to breed roaches, how fast does the colony grow? Let's say I buy 2 beardie juvies, and 2 leapord geckos. Would a colony eventually become overwhelming to the point where I would have too many to care for? I wouldn't have anyone to give or sell to.

[Evolieno]

It could become overwhelming, but a female roach lays around 15 nymphs per month. Sometimes more, sometimes less. It depends on how many females you have. It can take a couple months to get it big enough to feed out of, but if you have animals that will always eat them, it could work out fine for you. The person who set my colony up for me didn't put enough nymphs in at the beginning and about 200 were wiped out in less than 2 weeks! An that's just one juvie Beardie! He won't eat anything else- Ive tried lol. Also remember when your Beardie is bigger, you can stil feed off the nymphs so they don't have the chance to reach maturity and breed. If you really have too many, you could always freeze some(to lol them off). But only if you have to. And as mentioned in your other thread- you can also lower the temps so they are not ideal for breeding for a while if you need to, to help control the growth of the colony

[Kimmie]

I was lucky enought to get greens from my work mainly those here https://www.google.com/search?q=hvid+gaal&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47244034,d.d2k&biw=1680&bih=918&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=vu2sUazxOojsO7vEgPgH#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=hvid+k%C3%A5l&oq=hvid+k&gs_l=img.3.2.0l5j0i24l2.3390.8257.0.10886.7.6.1.0. 0.0.105.508.5j1.6.0...0.0...1c.1.15.img.z4iDKwilRp g&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47244034,d.d2k&fp=50a275e3a67236f8&biw=1680&bih=918&facrc=_&imgrc=nSPwNZPzhWV6gM%3A%3BWvftRerOMIls9M%3Bhttp%25 3A%252F%252Fwww.evaslund.dk%252Fuserfiles%252FIMG_ 2920%252520%28300x225%29.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F www.evaslund.dk%252Fnode%252F33%3B300%3B225

(https://www.google.com/search?q=hvid+gaal&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47244034,d.d2k&biw=1680&bih=918&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=vu2sUazxOojsO7vEgPgH#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=hvid+k%C3%A5l&oq=hvid+k&gs_l=img.3.2.0l5j0i24l2.3390.8257.0.10886.7.6.1.0. 0.0.105.508.5j1.6.0...0.0...1c.1.15.img.z4iDKwilRp g&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47244034,d.d2k&fp=50a275e3a67236f8&biw=1680&bih=918&facrc=_&imgrc=nSPwNZPzhWV6gM%3A%3BWvftRerOMIls9M%3Bhttp%25 3A%252F%252Fwww.evaslund.dk%252Fuserfiles%252FIMG_ 2920%252520%28300x225%29.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F www.evaslund.dk%252Fnode%252F33%3B300%3B225)

[Kimmie]

Sorry for the long link, I got the green parts and they loved it :) but about breeding crickets I dont know sorry

[Mikoh4792]

It could become overwhelming, but a female roach lays around 15 nymphs per month. Sometimes more, sometimes less. It depends on how many females you have. It can take a couple months to get it big enough to feed out of, but if you have animals that will always eat them, it could work out fine for you. The person who set my colony up for me didn't put enough nymphs in at the beginning and about 200 were wiped out in less than 2 weeks! An that's just one juvie Beardie! He won't eat anything else- Ive tried lol. Also remember when your Beardie is bigger, you can stil feed off the nymphs so they don't have the chance to reach maturity and breed. If you really have too many, you could always freeze some(to lol them off). But only if you have to. And as mentioned in your other thread- you can also lower the temps so they are not ideal for breeding for a while if you need to, to help control the growth of the colony

Great. How about if I just get a big colony to begin with so I don't have to wait so long for it to build up? Could you give me a number?(As in should I buy 200, 500, 1000..etc to start?)

[Freebody]

I breed my own dubia roaches and just keep them in the cage at all times, they hide under the paper towel and at night they come out and get eaten, I feed them atm the dandy lion greens from the yard, they are super good for them by far the best green you can possibly feed them so while they are growing feed them that and don't even bother changing it up, when the weeds are not growing in the off months im sure ill get some greens from the store, my little beardies are babies still so I I keep food for them 100% of the time. when they are adults im sure I will control the food intake to keep them at a nice healthy weight. GL

[Abby]

I just recently got my first beardie and have been constantly running out to the store to get crickets. I think I'm going to get a cricket keeper and keep a bunch in there at a time, but I'm not going to breed them or anything.

[formica]

agree on the roaches over crickets

I'd also recomend you have 2 seperate colonies, on the off chance that one gets sick, then you wont have to start from scratch if they all die - can happen, shouldnt if you are careful, but mistakes happen

[smy_749]

agree on the roaches over crickets

I'd also recomend you have 2 seperate colonies, on the off chance that one gets sick, then you wont have to start from scratch if they all die - can happen, shouldnt if you are careful, but mistakes happen

This is a good piece of advice.

[franks]

agree on the roaches over crickets

I'd also recomend you have 2 seperate colonies, on the off chance that one gets sick, then you wont have to start from scratch if they all die - can happen, shouldnt if you are careful, but mistakes happen

Absolutely! Great point. I keep three, one as a back up, and one to experiment with. Twice, I have had kills to my main colony, and both times I was able to get through without a problem because of my back-ups.

[smy_749]

I didn't read everything as I trust freebody and starburst probably covered everything....but crickets are absolutely disgusting and annoying as all hell. Do the dubs bro. Theres a page on facebook that auctions off starter colonies and adult females for great prices.

[Mikoh4792]

I didn't read everything as I trust freebody and starburst probably covered everything....but crickets are absolutely disgusting and annoying as all hell. Do the dubs bro. Theres a page on facebook that auctions off starter colonies and adult females for great prices.

Nice, I'll check that out. I think i've already decided to do dubias but I just have to convince the other people living in this house to let me breed them here.

[Abby]

Roaches...as in cockroaches? I'm not one to freak out over bugs and snakes (in fact I love snakes) but I'm not sure I could handle cockroaches to be honest. I think I'll stick with crickets...

[DragonsEye]

Lateralis, while not as large as dubias, race around more and don't try to bury themselves in the substrate nearly as much.

[Amadeus]

Roaches...as in cockroaches? I'm not one to freak out over bugs and snakes (in fact I love snakes) but I'm not sure I could handle cockroaches to be honest. I think I'll stick with crickets...

Roaches are not noisy, not dirty, not smelly, don't jump, and don't bite.

[beardeds4life]

Since I am not a fan of having roaches in my house or crickets (just because I would rather be playing with my animals than taking care of bugs) I choose to go with frozen roaches. Some places sell them pre frozen but from a lot of places I have to freeze them. My dragon will readily eat them and they take no work! Except maybe freezing them and thawing them out.

[formica]

Since I am not a fan of having roaches in my house or crickets (just because I would rather be playing with my animals than taking care of bugs) I choose to go with frozen roaches. Some places sell them pre frozen but from a lot of places I have to freeze them. My dragon will readily eat them and they take no work! Except maybe freezing them and thawing them out.

they are missing out on vital exercise if they dont have prey to chase

[beardeds4life]

Well I do make them chase it with tongs because I agree. I have recently switched to them and still have not found a cheap source but I found that frozen feeders go very well with my animal.