Is there anything I can feed my beardie apart from live insects?

Beta Ray Bill

I dont mind feeding him insects at all and niether does anyone in my family

my problem is that that my local pet shop charges 5 euro for a box of half ead crickets

the result being that im buying a box a day for my 2 beardies
I can buy from another petshop where the crickets last a couple of days but that petshop is miles away.

please advise

can they be given meat that we eat like?
I'm told that in the wild that we eat anything they can catch.

Run_to_da_hills

Would you consider breeding your own crickets? someone is doing it and making a quick buck! http://www.iosphere.net/~ajs/breeding.htm Make sure they dont escape, i.e. Have you ever gone camping on the continent :eek:

Our man in Havana

Ok crickets are fed to my guys or locusts every other day only! They get salads as well - are your guys being fed a nice salad? To encourage them to eat the salad you can add a few meal worms.

No they can not be given meat!

Find a better pet shop - my local shop sells a sack of crickets for €15.00 (thats around the same amount of crickets in 4-5 tubs - I keep them in a kricket keeper & feed them & they last for ages & are gutloaded very well.

Beta Ray Bill

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Would you consider breeding your own crickets? someone is doing it and making a quick buck! http://www.iosphere.net/~ajs/breeding.htm Make sure they dont escape, i.e. Have you ever gone camping on the continent :eek:

Although that sounds like a great idea its also a lot of work.

kinda not the road I want to go down. plus i have nowhere to raise the crickets
plus my mother would kill me if they escaped.

200 crickets + 1 angry mother = 1 homeless son

can they not be fed small bits of meat? IE cooked chicken or something?

EDIT: Doh (Read Bond-007's post)

Run_to_da_hills

grahambo wrote: »

Although that sounds like a great idea its also a lot of work.

kinda not the road I want to go down. plus i have nowhere to raise the crickets
plus my mother would kill me if they escaped.

200 crickets + 1 angry mother = 1 homeless son

can they not be fed small bits of meat? IE cooked chicken or something?

I use to breed stick insects and they did escape. my ma thought it was very funny, they were all over the walls and roof, hundreds of them.

Our man in Havana

Not to sound nasty - but in the Australian deserts I doubt a beardie would get hold of cooked chicken!

Beardies are NOT carrion eaters - they are insect & veg eaters.

Beta Ray Bill

ya see my mam would consider that the exact opposite of funny

UN-FUNNY!

I live in raheny. does anyone know GOOD petshops there that sell sacks of crickets? (as per BOND's post)

Thanks
G.

Beta Ray Bill

Bond-007 wrote: »

Not to sound nasty - but in the Australian deserts I doubt a beardie would get hold of cooked chicken!

Beardies are NOT carrion eaters - they are insect & veg eaters.

I take your point.

was just a thought. thats all.
I need to find somewhere close that sells crickets in decent condition.

My fellas like a bit of veg alright, but they cant just survive on that.

Run_to_da_hills

grahambo wrote: »

ya see my mam would consider that the exact opposite of funny

UN-FUNNY!

I live in raheny. does anyone know GOOD petshops there that sell sacks of crickets? (as per BOND's post)

Thanks
G.

If you intend buying "sacks of crickets" why not breed them?

Beta Ray Bill

Breeding them Really is not an option for me. I dont have the time to look after 200+ crickets

I also dont have anywhere where I could keep them. I think I'll just stick with buying them

just need to find a good place where they all are not dead

The Artist

i just thought of something i dont much about beardies but what about potatoes?

The Artist

Feeding


Bearded Dragon eatting Dandelion leaves.


Bearded Dragons are omnivorous, requiring both insects and vegetable food. A typical diet for captive Bearded Dragons includes leafy greens and vegetables, and regular meals of feeder insects.
Popular feeder insects include crickets, roaches, locusts, silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, and phoenix worms[5]. The mealworm has a fairly hard chitin (exoskeleton) and is generally low in the "chitin to meat" ratio, as well as having a poor phosphorous/calcium ratio, making it far less nutritious than other feeder insects[6]. Chitin is hard enough that large amounts of it can cause impaction in the Bearded Dragon's digestion system, and can lead to death, especially in younger and smaller animals. Waxworms, and superworms can be given as a treat, but sparingly as in most cases as they are extremely fatty, and in some cases very addictive, although they can be useful in building-up an undernourished individual. The rule of thumb on feeder insects is that the food fed to the animal must not be larger than the space between the eyes; feeding something larger could make it hard for the animal to swallow the food and can lead to the aforementioned fatal impaction[7].
A significant portion of the Bearded Dragon's diet may consist of leafy greens. Dragons enjoy many types of readily available greens, including: collard greens, Kale(recommended only given on occasion), cabbage, spring greens, escarole, turnip greens, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, dandelion greens, parsley, and carrot tops[8]. It is also recommended that this portion of the Dragon's diet be supplemented with a variety of finely diced fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Feeding a mixture of these plants ensures a wider variety of nutrients, and variations in texture to aid digestion.

Poisonous/Dangerous Foods

Insects caught in the wild are not recommended, due to the increased risk of pesticide exposure and parasites. Fireflies and all other animals with bioluminescence chemicals[9] can be fatal to Bearded Dragons.
Avocado and Rhubarb are lethal to Dragons as well as birds. Some greens, such as iceberg lettuce, are mostly water and can lead to diarrhea or malnutrition. Spinach contains high oxalates which bind to calcium and in large amounts can lead to metabolic bone disease. Kale and cabbage also contain oxalates, but the ability of oxalates to lower calcium absorption is relatively small and definitely does not outweigh the ability of oxalate-containing foods, such as kale and cabbage, to contribute calcium to the meal plan. If a bearded dragon's digestive tract is healthy, and it receives adequate UV light and temperatures, it will get significant benefits - including absorption of calcium - from calcium-rich food plants that also contain oxalic acid.

lightening

OP, Have you a car? How are you buying the things? Are you in town every day?

I don't have a reptile, I have dogs. The food is more or less the same price everywhere when it comes to dogs. I use the guy in Coolock Village and Boardwalk pet store in town. Boardwalk have a delivery thing going on, its not that expensive.

Beta Ray Bill

Guys thanks a mill for the responses

I really appreciate them especially when it comes to my pets

I think I may go with breeding the crickets myself.I suggested it to my mother and she seems ok with it. (especially when i told her we could make a few quid from it!!!.... women....)

Anyway I'll let you know how I get on

Cheers
G.

Jimkel

Hi I wrote a Bearded dragon care sheet for this forum here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055063572&page=4 In which I detailed some important dietary needs of beardys throughout their different life stages. Hope it helps

mackey087

i have a berber skink and all he eats is beef dog food. tried crickets etc but he would not eat them, they sometimes starved before he would eat them. minced beef from shepards pie goes down well also.

Beta Ray Bill

Are you serious?!!

Jimkel

Yeah Skinks and Monitors are prone to obesity, I have a Blue Toungued Skink and he refuses to eat anything other then Pinkies and raw beef, He won't eat a pinkie if there is even a slight fuzz of hair on it! I've really tried to get him to eat some vegetation (Which blue toungues do eat in the wild), Big juicy grubs I've even tried fasting him for a 10 days before offering food, he still refused to eat. He came to me as an adult who had been raised entirely on meat and snails and he just does'nt know any other way, At least I've gotten him to loose some wieght, he was very fat when I got him. Many peopl find it hard to get to grips with feeding ectotherms, saying I am cruel when I skip days between feedings even with adult bearded dragons, and some people understand that this is normal. As someone once said to me when it comes to keeping herps "Forget everything you know about mammals"

mackey087

i've tried snails aswell-he wont go near them. beef dog food is honestly the only thing he will go for. when i tried to add protien or calicum to the food even dog food he will not eat it. i have him for nearly 4 years now. i use a heat mat, and a blu day glow bulb. he is active enough. i used skimcoat plaster to shape the inside of the tank and small twigs for him to climb.

Demonique

Reptile Haven, Fishamble Street

Feeder cockroaches are popular with beardies