Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I wanted to know if bearded dragons are too costly? I've never had one but I figure in a few months when the big breeders have more in stock that I'll buy some hets and have a pair of these wonderful creatures. But everyones saying that they feed 15 crix a day, and that crix die off in a week? So if I ordered 500 from the criket ranch that they would all die off before I got to feed them to my baby dragons? The cost of crickets and worms seems VERY cheap compared to what I order for my snakes but overtime it looks like feeding bearded dragons is going to cost a lot of money. And what about greens, factor those in and thats alot of money. So I ask how much do you guys spend a week/month on your dragons? Even if its just one or ten dragons you pay for how much is the feeding cost? I don't want to get one and have to give it up because of the cost of feeding... Everything else like caging,lighting,supplements is easy money but feeding might get me.
Thanks for reading.

Very few beardies would be happy with 15 crickets a day.
Baby beardies can and should eat a lot more than that! Our first baby ate an average of 35 crickets a day. We purchased 1000 crickets a month--a size smaller than what he needed. We destroyed any that became too large or if they became 'winged'. We also offered repcal pellets and greens/veggies. We spent about $20 a month total for our baby's food.

We now have 2 adult beardies.
$10 every 6-8 weeks for Repcal pellets (our female loves these!)

$10 a month for silkworm chow--we have our own colony

$5-10 a month on other insects (supers..crickets..)

$5 a month on greens that 'we' do not eat.

This is just a rough estimate. Adults do not need protein every day so they are a bit cheaper to keep.

When we used lots of crickets they were kept in a large/deep rubbermaid container (no lid or it would smell!) Egg crates were used for hides. They were fed veggie scraps and dry cricket chow. Wet papertowels and/or carrots were used for moisture. Veggies were changed out daily. We did not have a problem with 'die off'. They were kept in my dd's bathroom under the counter (not in a cabinet). No real problem with sound or smell.

HTH

personally i feel the cost of feeding my beardys is low compared other pets, cage and lighting will be your biggest cost, with the exception of emergency vet bills

i buy my crix right from the pet store 2 or 3 dozen every other day i load them with something different everytime, fish food extra greens or pellets about 10 dollars a week this cost could be lower buy buying in bulk or raising them but i dont think its worth the hassle

daily i give fresh greens, kale, collard greens, ect with other veggies i already have in the fridge, shaved carrot or sliced tomato things you would normally have anyway. the greens are about 1 dollar a bunch and you get alot i usually toss out most of it when its a week old, just get a different kind each week for variety

also daily i feed some flukers pellets, a 7oz jar was 5 bucks and has lasted me over 4 mounths

now this cost will go up i just got a second dragon when you add in the cost of vitamins and calcium i would say i srend about12 to 13 dollars a week i dont think this is very high, compared to getting 2 double whopper value meals for myself

I have a juvinile-sub adult dragon that once at approximately adult 100 crickets in 20 miutes, before I cut him off. The next day his shed literally burst off of him, Hah!

Anyways crickets like about 7-10 weeks I beleive. The better they are kept, the longer obviously. Healthy foods and ventilation are hte key for that.
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CANADIAN CHAMELEONS

Thanks guys for replying to my questions. It doesn't look THAT costly now that I think about it but $13 a day? Like I said the enclosure,lighting and stuff is not an issue because its a 1 time buy type of thing. I thought lizards were like snakes in that they don't need to eat everyday. Not trying to be cheap or anything as I order hundreds of mice every few months. Anyway thanks for answering my questions.

I noticed something in your post that raised a bit of concern to me...You stated you were going to purchase a pair of "Hets..."

Please keep in mind that Beardie genetics are in no way shape or form like Ball Pythons or Cornsnakes...

The majority of Beardie morphs are line bred variations that each breeder has placed a trade name on dependent upon the color produced.

Marketed Luecs, Clear Nails and Transulucents are the only proven recessive mutations in Beardies (though their has been mention that Clear Nails may be Co Dom).

I found some product sold by bigappleherp that has all the essential nutrients for dragons, and they say it provides them with all they need. Ofcourse I'll supplement the occasional worms/crickets/veggies/dustings but i'll use this as a staple. It seems way more convient than walking to the store every week to buy crickets. Check out the link. Oh yeah and triplemoons thanks for the advice, I did not know that "hypo","pastel","bloodred" were just linebred morphs. LOL thats why there are so many pretty dragons.
"Cube" meals

Anyone?

You're welcome.

As far as the canned/bottled food, not all Dragons will eat it.

It is also not recommended to feed only a commercial diet. It's completely OK to supplement a diet with that type of product, but hatchlings still need appropriatly sized crickets every day and adults need a healthy offering of veggies.