# Bearded Dragon Alternative Foods



## cssh0599 (Feb 15, 2010)

Hello everyone. having had a leo for a year, we would now like to have a bearded dragon.

I know crickets are the normal staple food, and mealworms are a no no, but does anyone have experience with alternatives such as Dubia Roaches, butter worms, pheonix worms.

Are any of these OK as a staple food, where can they be purchased, how many do the beardies eat at a time / cost involved.

Plan to buy a young beardie, but would prefer if crickets & locusts were additional, and some less mobile/escaping insects could be given as a staple.

Any comments would be great. many thanks


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## Railz (Oct 30, 2010)

beardies love roaches , locusts are more nutrional then crickets but roaches beat them all due to meat content


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## jimmythetramp (Jul 6, 2009)

Lizard Lunch

* - Home Page

these are the main two i use, fantastic service! really quick and excellent quality, cant really say much more, my beardie will do anything for butterworms! goes bonkers for them,

silkworms take him a little while to realise what they are but the second he see's them their is no keeping him away!

also try pochnoda grubs but be warned their nasty little sods and will try and bite you, so you might want to chop the heads of them first
: victory:

edit: i breed my own dubia roaches as all the reps love them, take a little while to get going but if your considering a beardie may want to start a breeding colony to save you money in the long run, your leo may like them to, my leo and fat tail both love them, oh and as for phenix worms only got hold of them once and was unimpressed! half were dead and didn't do anything, search for nutri-grubs same thing just different name, they are wonderful, very wiggly but you'll need to give your beardie a fair few to fill him up on them, but again your leo should love them, the movement of them sets their hunting instinct off!

hope that helps


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## dickvansheepcake (Jul 8, 2009)

Roaches are the best staple feeder in my opinion. They are big and meaty and will basically eat anything so they are a breeze to gut load. It's worth looking into starting a breeding colony of your own to save on costs. I breed Dubia roaches, Turkistan roaches (these are smaller and like to escape a lot!) and I also breed giant african land snails. My dragons like to eat the babies and the eggs. The babies are a great source of calcium because of the shell.

A baby beardie will need to be fed 2 -3 times a day as much as they can eat in around 10-15 minutes. So they get through a hell of a lot of food! If your buying all the live food then I think it costs around £20 a week. Don't quote me on that, I haven't regularly bought live food for well over a year now! Just buy in the odd box of crickets, locusts or morios to add variety.


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## jimmythetramp (Jul 6, 2009)

dickvansheepcake said:


> A baby beardie will need to be fed 2 -3 times a day as much as they can eat in around 10-15 minutes. So they get through a hell of a lot of food! If your buying all the live food then I think it costs around £20 a week. Don't quote me on that, I haven't regularly bought live food for well over a year now! Just buy in the odd box of crickets, locusts or morios to add variety.


agreed! mine was eating about £20 worth of livefood a week but i was feeding locusts as the staple, only used crickets once.... never again! but the roach colony would be the best advice to give to you, and plus you can sell any extra that you dont want/need.


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## cssh0599 (Feb 15, 2010)

Thanks for all the advice. £20 a week sounds like a fair bit of money. So a roach setup sounds like a great idea. Have looked into this today on the Internet and does not seem too hard. But. How long does it take to get it going well enough to start using it to feed my pets. Where do you get your starting roaches from. Thanks


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## dickvansheepcake (Jul 8, 2009)

A dubia colony will take at least a good couple of months to get going. If you look on ebay or the classifieds section on here then you should find some roaches for sale. Or there are specific online shops such as Roach Colony Livefood Shop It takes a little while to get going but is definitely worth it in the end


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## Jeffers3 (May 18, 2010)

I wouldn't advise using anything as a staple. Ring the changes and give a mix of food. Beardies can be gutsy little so-and-sos who will eat and eat and eat. Then, for no apparent reason, they'll become really fussy, then back to normal again. Part of it is brumation, or at least semi-brumation (if the winter lethargy can be called this), but they are notoriously faddy eaters.

Despite this, roaches seem to be a favourite. For mine, morios would be second and adult locusts third (he turns his nose up at anything too small, but adult locusts get his attention!


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## aerofine (Jun 7, 2008)

I feed my beardie crickets as the norm, with locusts every couple of weeks. Plus mealworms, about 3-5 per day. Nver had any issues with digesting them, and he loves them.


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## ..:: F1D0 ::.. (May 13, 2009)

I too mix up my food for my beardie.

I use mainly locusts (i get 3 tubs for a fiver and get about 20 per tub), Morio worms, butterworms, silkworms (when can get hold of em), Roaches every now and then, Wax worms (as a treat obviously), Mealworms (endless supply of these as got my own colony going.

Helio LOVES her Morio's though.

I wish we could get Hornworms in this country as every video i have seen of beardies eating these they go bloody nuts for them.


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## cssh0599 (Feb 15, 2010)

Do you all put roaches in a dish, or do you let the run around for the beardies to chase. Also is it really true the locust dont really escape, anyone tried breeding these?


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## ..:: F1D0 ::.. (May 13, 2009)

cssh0599 said:


> Do you all put roaches in a dish, or do you let the run around for the beardies to chase. Also is it really true the locust dont really escape, anyone tried breeding these?


I wish it was true! Saying that, the only escapes i have had are medium hoppers out of their faunarium their kept in....as much as locusts dont bother me now, when your half asleep at 7 in the morning, going into a spare room to turn a beardies lights on and suddenly getting jumped all over by a bloody locust, i have no shame in saying i scream like a little girl :lol2:

Yes, when i use roaches, i put them in a dish. They are bloody fast and head for dark areas. Locusts i can stand, cock roaches? no thanks :lol2:


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## dickvansheepcake (Jul 8, 2009)

cssh0599 said:


> Do you all put roaches in a dish, or do you let the run around for the beardies to chase. Also is it really true the locust dont really escape, anyone tried breeding these?


I feed my beardies out of their vivs in a large plastic storage box. I don't like the thought of leaving live food in the viv just in case they nibble on the beardie. I can keep track of exactly how much they are eating then too.



..:: F1D0 ::.. said:


> I wish it was true! Saying that, the only escapes i have had are medium hoppers out of their faunarium their kept in....as much as locusts dont bother me now, when your half asleep at 7 in the morning, going into a spare room to turn a beardies lights on and suddenly getting jumped all over by a bloody locust, i have no shame in saying i scream like a little girl :lol2:


You think locusts are bad? I've woken up and found cockroaches on my pillow...now that's horrible! Still didn't scream like a girl though :whistling2: lol


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## snikaz (Dec 27, 2008)

Had both Locust and Roaches escape.

Don't mind Dubia's when they're little, not so brave with the big ones though. And although people say that Locust don't bite..I'm not so sure..so don't like to think any of them get out..but the blighters do.


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## Sollytear (Aug 7, 2008)

Im feeding mealworms mostly atm. I breed my own roaches but im selling the colony (any takes? ). I buy 2 boxes of mealies and 1 locust ever week.


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## eventfulfire (Apr 6, 2009)

..:: F1D0 ::.. said:


> Helio LOVES her Morio's though.
> 
> Can anyone tell me what a morio is?? My beardie will eat literally anything, but Im getting sick of feeding him silly little crickets (I've got a baby ackie to feed too so have to share the smaller food as well as his xl locusts!!)
> 
> ...


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## sambridge15 (Nov 22, 2009)

eventfulfire said:


> ..:: F1D0 ::.. said:
> 
> 
> > Helio LOVES her Morio's though.
> ...


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## dickvansheepcake (Jul 8, 2009)

eventfulfire said:


> ..:: F1D0 ::.. said:
> 
> 
> > Helio LOVES her Morio's though.
> ...


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## mooshu (Mar 24, 2010)

I feed mine any CB insects I can, Black and Banded crickets, Wax worms, Silkworms (silkwormstore.co.uk) dubai roaches and I've got a colony of giant hissers setting up at the moment and will hopefully save a bit of cahs when the colony is established! Silkworms are the best staple, They are very high in calcium and have a enzyme that improves calcium absorption! I have bought the 1000 eggs from that site and was easy to raise and lasted a few weeks and my beardie absolutely loved them!


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