Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yesterday he seemed very ethnusiastic when I put crickets in his cage. Now he does not respond to them. They are appropriately sized. My first conclusion was that the temps weren't hot enough and he wasn't able to digest his food. The basking temps are at 109, and ambient between 70-85 and he still goes for the mealworms. I don't want to feed him anymore mealworms, but its the only thing he goes for. If the temps are too low he wouldnt go for them either right? He drinks well and basks a lot but doesn't touch veggies too much. I saw him nibble on a carror and thats all.

Any help?

You guys ever use kale? It always worked real well for me. Keep trying different fruits and veggies. You can see my post below. I am a big fan of roaches. Never had any reptile turn them down yet and they are way healthier than crickets and mealworms. Silkworms also work well. You can find both under the feeder classifieds.
James

mealworms are not a good stable for a bearded dragon at all. Nor should they be fed to young dragons. It isn't unusual for a dragon to slow down eating when during shed, if he is in shed. If not, you could offer roaches, silkworms, or butterworms, all of which are much more nutritious for your dragon than mealworms and even crickets.

Kale is high in calcium but also high in either phosperous or oxates (can't recall which off hand) and shouldn't be fed as a stable. Mix it in with better quality greens, like dandelion, collard or mustard greens, endive or escarole. Carrots are good when shredded and added as a topping on his salad, but shouldn't be feed in large quantities as it can cause runny stools.
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PHLdyPayne

Whe Arnie (my 5 year old German x orange) gets fussy, I get him a pinky mouse. It really seems to get him eating well again.
Wayne.

In orde to ensure he was getting his vitamins and calcium (breeder told me he only dusted once a month!) I got 4 mealies and heavily dusted them with calcium. 2 with caclium with Vitd3 and 2 with vitamins. I got the baby mealies that just finished shedding so their exoskeleton was sort of soft. I hope he doesn't get complications with them. I won't feed him anymore

jamestu pushes the roaches,might have something to do with the fact he breeds and sells them. now i'm not saying there's anything wrong with them as feeders but i hate roaches. i have two little girls who were picky eaters and didn't want to eat crickets, so i ordered some silkworms. now they eat like pigs. silkies are easy to deal with just a little more pricey. they are far better nutritionally and no risk of impaction because there's no exoskeleton. midwest herp supply is the most reasonable supplier i've found.

Posted by: boobubba at Fri Apr 1 19:23:31 2005 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

jamestu pushes the roaches,might have something to do with the fact he breeds and sells them. now i'm not saying there's anything wrong with them as feeders but i hate roaches. i have two little girls who were picky eaters and didn't want to eat crickets, so i ordered some silkworms. now they eat like pigs. silkies are easy to deal with just a little more pricey. they are far better nutritionally and no risk of impaction because there's no exoskeleton. midwest herp supply is the most reasonable supplier i've found.

I don't post on these sites to sell roaches. Not everyone in this world is greedy and looking to make money. I truly believe roaches are the best feeder alive. On the arachnoboard there are tons of post about me and my goal is to help people that have never heard or thought of roaches as feeders. I also think its funny when people like you come out a say "I hate roaches". So how did you come to this belief? How does a roach differ from a cricket, mealworm, or any other feeder? Is it just the term that scares you? Being afraid of something is fine, but to say you hate it is pretty strong. Roaches have survived over 360 million years. I was never a bug person until I started needing them as feeders. The more I read (because I do my homework) the more I was fascinated by them. They are the true dinosaurs of our time. I still think using other feeders as treats isn't bad, but I personally like to raise my own feeders. You don't feed your dog something unless you've read the contents. The only way I know where my bugs have been is if I'm raising them. Once again after doing my homework I've found roaches to be the easiest insect to keep, breed, my pets love them, and they are very nutritional. I like most had to overcome the fear, but I got them and eventually they grow on you. If nobody ever bought a roach from me again it wouldn't bother me. I breed roaches for my animals and sell the excess. I started my website because its very hard to find good information on the web. So if you want to talk bad about me, at least know me first. All I've ever done my entire herping life is try and help people and treat them like I would want to be treated. I like most have been taken advantage of, lied to, sold bad animals, but in the end my head can always be held high.
I don't hide behind screen names.
James Tuttle owner www.blaberus.com
P.S. I think silkworms are fine feeders, but as mentioned above there are not as easy (meaning more time, space, requirement, food, etc.). I have tried EVERYTHING and roaches are the easiest feeder to keep and breed for anyone.

One of my animals eating a B. dubia.

relax james!!!!! i wasn't attacking you or your roaches. i personally despise them as i'm sure many people do. i lived in a city rowhome as a child and they were a constant problem. no amount of extermination could get rid of them because they would just go to the next house until it was safe. plus the common household cockroaches are known carriers of disease,i.e. the root of my hatred towards them. i'm sure the different varieties you offer are healthy and pose no threat. also if i was breeding and selling feeders i would recommend them as well. thats just standard business practice, no harm in that. if i offended you then i'm sorry that was not my intent. i was only offering a different point of view!!!!

No problem, I just think they have a bad name for the wrong reasons. Most tropical roaches are nothing like the common PESTS species you are reffering to. Most are much slower and CANNOT survuve normal US conditions without proper caging. I would also like to tell you that many papers have been written about how cockroaches do not tramsmit diseases. The cannot carry diseases like mosquitos or ticks, and many entomologist believe they actually can't even tranfer disease. Anyway, many of the species I keep are no different than holding a rolly polley or mealworm. I do have plenty of fast ones as well, but animals tend to really like the movement. I also am starting colonies of pigmy mice, snail, slugs, firebrats, and many other unique feeders to vary my reptiles diets.
James
1:30 am so grammer my be sloppy