Reptile & Amphibian Forums

what is best feeder roaches for babys beardies and for adults beardies?

Crickets and silkworms. Roaches are way over rated.

I beleive all three of those roach species are good to feed bearded dragons...different ages of roaches will suit different ages of bearded dragons...use the distance between eyes rule to choose the best size of roach to feed dragons.
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PHLdyPayne

all roaches are good for dragons no matter the dragons size as long as you use the typical space between eye method, but for baby dragons i usually feed them small lobsters and latteralis. i also feed them the small dubia as well but they seem to do a bit better with the softer shelled lobsters.

for larger juvies and adults i feed them the dubia roaches. some dubia you will see get a bit on the big size. i try to keep the ones that are huge for breeder roaches. however my dragons rip the roaches apart with no problem.

and i beg to differ with BDLVRs comment up there. to me crickets are worthless as they are 90% water and only 10% meat. why feed a dragon an insect that contains mostly water and chitin when you can feed them a roach which has more meat on their bones? but as in all cases of husbandry and care for dragons people have difference in opinions. but i have seen no problems with roaches and have only had one person tell me they had a problem.

other feeders to try that are great are silkworms, hornworms, pheonix worms for hatchlings, butterworms. stay away from superworms and mealworms they can cause more harm than worth risking.
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Beach Beardies

2.2. bearded dragons
1.1. Sugar Gliders
0.2. Felines *queen athena and missy*

You should sudstantiate your claim. According to BeautifulDragons.com crickets are 70% water not 90% as you say. I highly doubt that the water content of roaches is much less than 70%.

The problem with roaches is that they are higher maintenance than crickets. Also it is difficult or impossible to control their population. All dragons do not relish them as beachbeardies do either. As beachbeardie knows I bought 50 dubia months ago now. Out of 3 dragons only one will really eat them with any regularity. One of mine had a digestion problem with a full size Dubia.

Well, I still have roaches. 100's of them. Just this week I was able to feed out all the full size females in an attempt to terminate the propigation.

I find that I need to maintain the roaches every 2 days where I don't have to do anything for my crickets but every 3 days. The only positive is that with roaches you can have an unending supply without anything but food cost.

Also there is no one good feeder. A good variety of live food is necessary for the good health of dragons. Crickets are only one part of the daily menu I offer my dragons. Even when they are gone I will still have crickets, superworms, and silkworms here full time and I often (50% or better) have butterworms and hornworms.

reason i states 90% water in crickets is from what i read in a study of feeder insects done by a roach breeder who used to sell on kingsnake. unfortunately i lost his web address and he is not currently posted any sales adds on kingsnake. i know beautiful dragons states 70%. all depends on who you want to believe. i choose to take the info from the roach breeder considering the study was done more recently. if i find that site ill post it up here.
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Beach Beardies

2.2. bearded dragons
1.1. Sugar Gliders
0.2. Felines *queen athena and missy*

Crickets have 69.01 % moisture. Found the info on various sites and resources.

www.canadianfeeders.com/faq.html

www.angelfire.com/tx/facehugger/insect.html

www.feederinsects.co.za/feederinsects_crickets.htm

www.chameleonnews.com/year2002/sept2002/nutrition/nutrition_sept_02.html

As you can see, these charts from various sources, show crickets have 69% water...and in fact, most insects fall around the 60-80% water range...Baby crickets are higher in moisture than adults..the last chart shows that. But for the most part, none are anywhere near 90%.

Roaches are less water than crickets, and do have more protein but silkworms fed on mulberry leaves have much much more protein.

In the end, a variety of insects is the best to feed your insect eating lizards. Roaches are a good replacement for crickets but adding some crickets, silkworms, butterworms etc to your dragon's diet gives them higher exposure to healthy nutrients.
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PHLdyPayne

maybe this is why i cant find that breeders site any longer. thanks for correcting the info for me.

i have replaced crickets with roaches in my diets, but i feed various species of roaches, along with silkworms, pheonix worms, hornworms, butterworms, etc. i have cut out superworms and mealworms as i do not feel they are a big nutrional factor plus my dragons dont seem to digest the shell as they should. same situation many people have.*but dont worry theres no fear of superworms eating their way out of my dragons belly LOL*
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Beach Beardies

2.2. bearded dragons
1.1. Sugar Gliders
0.2. Felines *queen athena and missy*