Feeder Breeding for a Friend

[Jay_Bunny]

My friend has one bearded dragon and crickets are a pain for her to buy. With a growing dragon, she goes through quite a few crickets a week. I told her I would help breed some kind of feeder insect for her so she wouldn't have to buy them. She's moving to my area this summer so I figured that in the meantime I could start up some kind of breeding colony.

Question #1: What type of insect would be easiest to breed for a bearded dragon?

Question #2: What is a good set up for this insect?

Question #3: Do they smell or make noise? (I live with my mother in law)

Question #4: How much would it cost to operate this breeding colony?

[Beardedragon]

Well, Breeding crickets is smelly, and alot of people do not like roaches it just depends on if your mother in law would alow that. On good choice is that if its older try to breed super worms, or even better for any age breeder Silkworms.

[STORMS]

We have a colony of lobster roaches for my beardie. I think we started with 40?? or so roaches, and now I'm guessing we have a thousand or more!!! Ours are in a large tub setup (very inexpensive) with a heat mat on a dimmer and a huge sponge affixed to the inside of the lid for humidity. Lots of egg crates. For substrate we use wheat grain (I think? I have to double check when I get home), which we picked up at a local feed store. $30 for 50lbs if I remember correctly. We feed them a mix of left over fruits & veggies and dog food. They reproduce fairly rapidly. Mine don't smell, at least not that I have noticed. Only bad thing with the lobsters is that they can climb the sides of the tub. We put vaseline around the top 4-6 inches of the tub, and haven't had an escapee yet.

Doobie seem to love them

*edit* forgot something... I haven't heard a peep out of them either.

[Jay_Bunny]

Is there anything that can be kept outdoors?

Anything I breed has to be quiet. My mother in law is a very busy person. She works and goes to night school, so when she does sleep, she really needs it. If they don't smell or make noise, I don't even think she'd notice. Is there a kind of roach that does not climb? And where would I get the roaches?

[Beardedragon]

I would not keep any feeders outside even if they can survive the temps. Beardies eat anything including any bugs that craw in with them no matter how big or small. Try Dubia or Discoid roaches, the only problem is that it takes a loonnggg time for them to start breeding enough to feed a beardie every day. Where does she get her crickets from? Its only about $20 shipped for 1000.

[Jay_Bunny]

She doesn't want to buy in bulk just in case she doesn't go through them before they all die. She buys from a store and even around here crickets are around 10c each. How many roaches would a bearded dragon go through in a day?

[Beardedragon]

She doesn't want to buy in bulk just in case she doesn't go through them before they all die. She buys from a store and even around here crickets are around 10c each. How many roaches would a bearded dragon go through in a day?

A baby would go through about 30-50, an adult would go through about 100 a week if that.

[Jay_Bunny]

Then buying in bulk is probably not a good idea seeing as keeping 1000 crickets alive for weeks would be kinda hard.

So where could I get roaches to start up this breeding colony?

[Clear]

Blaptica dubia, You can keep them in any type of smooth enclosure. They cant climb smooth surfaces, dont stink and dont fly.

[Jay_Bunny]

Where can I get them? And would they be a good food for a young tegu? I plan on getting a tegu if my husband and I get our own place.