# Crickets and my Bearded Dragon



## jessrabb (Jun 4, 2011)

I have just got my frist Bearded dragon and after the ordeal of feeding him he crickets having to take out all his furniture so he can catch them then i spent 2 hours catching the ones he didnt eat

I was wondering wether Bearded Dragons NEED Crickets or wether they can get all the protien they need form worms etc?

Can any help??

Thanks 
Jess


----------



## GeeUK (May 2, 2011)

Only had my beardie a week and I know they can be a pain, but what I did was get a cricket keeper.

They have 4 black tubes that the crickets crawl up. I use only 3 so I can use the cap to put on the end of the tubes when dusting them. If you shake them inside the tube hard for a minute while dusting, it makes them really slow making it easy for your beardie to catch or for you to kill if he leaves them lol.

Alternatively, you can put them in the fridge for 15 minutes.


----------



## jessrabb (Jun 4, 2011)

Thats a good idea i will go and invest in one of those i cant handle cricket catching 3 times a week lol 

Thanks!


----------



## Ophexis (Feb 19, 2010)

jessrabb said:


> Thats a good idea i will go and invest in one of those i cant handle cricket catching 3 times a week lol
> 
> Thanks!


How old is your beardie?
And there are other livefood options available to you, such as locusts and roaches! :2thumb:


----------



## bd-swansea (Nov 21, 2010)

cockroaches are the way to go get yourself a colony and breed your own live food they dont smell they dont make any noise and are better to feed than crickets plus if they escape they just die


----------



## dickvansheepcake (Jul 8, 2009)

bd-swansea said:


> cockroaches are the way to go get yourself a colony and breed your own live food they dont smell they dont make any noise and are better to feed than crickets plus if they escape they just die



They certainly don't just die if they escape! Cockroaches could survive a nuclear holocaust, so having the run of a nice warm house would be absolute luxury for them! I'm always finding turkistan roaches around the house. I also breed dubias but haven't had any escapees that I know of yet.

To the OP, a varied diet is best for beardies. It's advised that they have at least four different types of live food. This doesn't have to include crickets though. Mine get dubia roaches, turkistan roaches, crickets, locusts, meal worms, morio worms, giant african land snail eggs and giant land snail babies. There are also a few other types available such as silk worms and calci worms etc.

It does need to be varied though, so a diet consisting only of worms wouldn't be the best I shouldn't think. 


Jenny


----------



## jessrabb (Jun 4, 2011)

ok cool i will try them i just think it would be easier if i could feed him something a bit slower than crickets 
He is 2 years old so he has veg everyday and live food 3times a week

Jess


----------



## awh (Aug 20, 2008)

there are two solutions
one ...........stick the crickets in the fridge for a few minutes (and i mean a few no more than 5) this will slow them down to long will kill them 

two........buy yourself a rub and place bearded dragon in it with crickets after he has finshed eating put him back in viv then you can either tip those crickets that are left back in the box or down the toilet


----------



## soul_girl (Mar 25, 2009)

Roaches are brilliant they dont smell, dont climb and if left in with the dragon wont nibble on them like crickets do. I bought a batch of roaches cost me £45 and after a few months they have started to breed enough so I can feed both my dragons and the roaches only live off fruit and veg so hardly cost anything to keep.


----------



## Samson87 (Mar 29, 2011)

You may find that your beardie will go off crickets eventually, this will be the time to get a roach colony started, its really easy and there are loads of starter kits going for cheap on here. 

I hated feeding mine crickets as I got sick of finding them in my bedsheets/bedroom :censor: and the smell from the cricket keeper was horrendous.

Mine now eats occassional waxies, and staple diet of roaches/morio worms/locusts, if i put a cricket in his face he would probably turn his nose up at it :lol2: you can get very small locusts too if your beardie is young, and i wouldnt reccomend mealworms.


----------



## DaisyBoo1987 (May 17, 2011)

*Those damn crickets!*

Hi hun. Your beardie indeed needs a variety of live food, so yes crickets should be included. He can also eat roaches, locusts and various worms aswell as veg.

Roaches dont just die if they escape, a warm house is heaven to them so they are not going to give up that easily.

To feed my leopard gecko her crickets I have whats called a cricket keeper (sometimes referred to as a cricket house) they are like a small plastic tank, with a ventilated lid which has an access door and four holes in the side of the lid, through these holes are black tubes (with clear ends) which the crickets love to climb up in, so when feeding time occurs you simply slide out one of the tubes and bang on the end to get them out! simple! Also if the food is due a dusting of vitamins, then pour a little vitamin powder into a sandwhich bag, place the open end of the tube into the bag and 
bang the tube until a satisfying about of crickets tumble out, insert the tube back into the cricket keep and then close the bag and shake so the crickets are coated in the vits. This slows them down so they are easier for you and your beardie to catch and ofcourse provides the doses of vital vitamins reptiles need.

To catch them simply grab them in your hand and drop them back into the cricket keeper via the doored lid, if you dont like touching them try gently grasping them in tissue or failing that use one of the cricket keeper tubes to chase them into and scoop up. Easy! This sounds complecated but Im done in two minutes on a feeding day when removing excess crickets.

I purchased my cricket keeper at www.livefoodsdirect.co.uk I ordered the medium size as the small is a rediculous size for housing food. It cost me about £15 but some places expect to pay up to £22.00.

However when keeping a reptile a cricket keeper is a neccessity!

Good luck with the little buggers lol!: victory:


----------



## thething84 (Apr 26, 2010)

crickets are fine to feed with, its a case of never putting too many in the viv at noe time, drop them close to your beardie so they know they are there. i have a few escape but not many are missed by my beardie.


----------



## dickvansheepcake (Jul 8, 2009)

DaisyBoo1987 said:


> Hi hun. Your beardie indeed needs a variety of live food, so yes crickets should be included. He can also eat roaches, locusts and various worms aswell as veg.
> 
> Roaches dont just die if they escape, a warm house is heaven to them so they are not going to give up that easily.
> 
> ...



Actually, no. They can have a healthy, varied diet without having crickets. It certainly is not essential to include them in their diet. There are many other live foods that are far more nutritious anyway.

Mine hardly ever get crickets now to be honest. They don't really enjoy them and I'd rather feed more nutritious live feeders.


Also, in the years I've been keeping reptiles, not once have I owned or even felt the need to own a cricket keeper!


----------



## Chrisuk33 (Oct 10, 2010)

jessrabb said:


> I have just got my frist Bearded dragon and after the ordeal of feeding him he crickets having to take out all his furniture so he can catch them then i spent 2 hours catching the ones he didnt eat
> 
> I was wondering wether Bearded Dragons NEED Crickets or wether they can get all the protien they need form worms etc?
> 
> ...


 no but its one of the staple food but they dont NEED them lol

if you wanna feed him/her cickets, you can do what i was advised to do.

get a large rub box like a 30L, just before you wanna feed the beardie the crickets, put em in the fridge for 20 mins, the cold slows em down long enough for you to get them out of the tub with tong and then put te crickets in the rub and te put the beardie in the rub.

dont forget to put hols in the rub for breathing and put lid on


----------

