Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just looking for a little more variety for the greens in my beardies' diets. They love mustard greens and collard greens, and nibble on turnip greens. I also throw in a tiny touch of red bell pepper, yellow squash and carrot (not enough carrot to worry about the vit. A) because I read that they seem to like color contrast in their salads. So, yeah. Brussels sprouts? Any opinions?

I'm dusting my babies' veggies with a calcium w/D3 supplement every day, and gut loading the crickets with high-quality cricket food (Fluker's "Orange Cube" with a side of moistened Bearded Dragon food from Zilla) and offering the beardies a bowl of the packaged Bearded Dragon food from Zilla. They also have a nice full-spectrum light that's on at least twelve hours a day, usually longer (need to invest in a timer!). My question is, with all of that is it necessary to dust the crickets as well? I ask because the way I keep them makes it tricky to dust...it's possible, but a royal pain. They seem to be growing rather well, I've had them for less than a month and they've both shed and seem to be about to shed again. I'm also using Calcium Carbonate sand, which I've been assured through multiple sources to be safe and actually beneficial as it's just the calcium supplement that hasn't been ground as fine (really easy clean up, too! dries up poo and scattered veggies nicely!).

So what say you? with lots of calcium, is dusting crickets daily necassary? Thanks!

If you feed crickets daily to your dragons then you can get away with dusting 1-2 times a week. You should also use a multi-vitamin once a week. Herptivite seems to be a popular choice with breeders and hobbyists alike. As long as your gut-loading then you should be fine.

Curious....what type of enclosure do you have the crickets in that makes it difficult to dust?

One of those "KricketKeepers" that are just plastic critter carriers with tubes. It's great for keeping and preventing escapes (while they're still on small crickets), but a horror with dusting if you wish to prevent massive flour-like dust scattering to the four winds all over your carpet and drapes and furniture and clothes and. Yuck. Plus I always overestimate how much to use, and then it gets everywhere in the beardies' house and. Yuck. Again. I use Reptivite with D3. Thanks!

Get rid of the calcium sand. It may be coarse calcium carbonate but it doesn't break down at all in the stomach, and tends to clump and cause impaction.

As for dusting the crickets, just use the tubes to shake the crickets into a ziplock bag that has a pinch of calcium powder and/or multivatmin powder inside. Close the ziplock bag and shake to dust the crickets, then dump the crickets into a bowl for your dragon to eat.
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PHLdyPayne

The point of dusting with calcium is to get a better CAH ratio. Calcium to Phosphorus. The right salad is already high in Calcium, see the link below for best choices, so forget about dusting the salad. Dust all live food with calcium, no phosphorus or vitamin A except for once a week that you dust with a multi vitamin. My opinion is that Rep Cal products are best for dragons. I put the crix into a juice pitcher and then sprinkle and swirl them until they are covered.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

I second the opinion to ditch the calcium sand. The particle size is much larger than calcium dust and boosts chances for toxicity. Plus it's pretty expensive.

I'm still wondering about these. I've checked the Beautiful Dragons list, but didn't see them. So...Brussels Sprouts? Any opinions?

Tough find to get any good info on the web on this. I'd probably stay clear of them. It's not recommended to feed green cabbage to dragons and sprouts are like mini-cabbages.

I wouldn't feed brussels sprouts every day, but occasionally, it won't hurt. Josh

Brussel sprouts are on the beautiful dragons nutrition list under 'sprouts'

It should be fed rarely... High vit. C (8%), goitrogens which are not good for dragons. Pretty good for guinea pigs though..
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PHLdyPayne

Hah! I thought "sprouts" meant alfalfa or bean sprouts (like you find on nice salad bars...mmm...sprouts)! Thanks again.