Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 21 baby beardies a little over 2 months old. Unfortunately, I got extremely attached to the little buggers and am finding it tough to find homes for them that meet my approval. I was just wondering what others have come up with for taking care of so many little ones? I currently find myself spending so much time taking care of them that there is very little time left over for the fun part - playing, cuddling and holding them. It wasn't so bad when they were smaller - I had fewer bins to care for. Now that they are growing so big and starting to show dominance, I find myself seperating them more and more and taking care of more and more bins. Add in taking care of the massive amount of crickets they eat and preparing the massive amounts of "salad" they eat and I am going crazy.

I live in Arizona where it is pretty dry so I like to take them "swimming" 3 or 4 times a week. They love it - especially because I take them outside to swim and they love the sunshine. Taking them swimming in manageable groups however, is a time consuming process. It takes about 4 hours to complete the whole process from start to finish with all the babies. Any tips for swimming time?

I'm not complaining - I love them and will do whatever it takes to properly care for them until safe, loving homes can be found, but if anyone has developed any time saving tricks to make this easier, I would love to hear about it!

Thanks!
Lisa

hehe welcome to the wonderful world of being a reptile addict
first and most obvious suggestion, start a small cricket breeding project if you have somewhere to keep them that is

if not i recomend switching over to mealworms, it is really easy to keep mealworms, and they breed well, plus it helps you compost your kitchen fruit and vegetable waste, and you can use that last half bowlful of cerial in the box for food for them. they also smell alot less than crickets do

for the salad, alot of smaller supermarkets will sell their older vegetables for a much reduced price, you just need to ask

as for the bathing part, you can do it in a bin with larger edges, and a place for them to crawl out and bask
less need for individual supervision,

Thanks for all your suggestions! I wanted to use meal worms but I heard that they were bad for the babies and that I had to wait until they were 6 months old (at least). My adults love them every once in awhile and so do my leopard geckos and day geckos. Right now I am spending over $500 a month on crickets alone! I'll try them.

My husband warned me this would happen! I'm really lucky he's pretty understanding about it!

Lisa

Look into feeder roaches instead of crickets. Not only are they better for them, but they breed faster, and are easier to keep than crickets.
-----
- Mike Fourquet

Cloaca Herpetoculture
www.CloacaHerps.com

I've been wanting to try roaches for a while, but they really creep me out for some reason. Especially when I think of all the escaped crickets I have to deal with in the house! Can I raise the roaches outside? I live in Arizona and, even now, it gets into the mid 90s in the afternoon, so I suspect that it might be too hot for them even in the shade. What do you think?

Thanks for your suggestion though... I really need to do something!

Lisa