I was just wondering so I couls save a little money on the crickets for 2 baby bearded dragons not just because of that there are some crickets that get into my house
2006-10-06 11:02:10 · 13 answers · asked by ~*dis girl*~ 2 in Pets ➔ Reptiles
ABSOLUTLY NOT!!!
Even though it is a less expensive way to give your beardie crickets, you need to get then from a pet store or online (they ship very well and is usually a little cheaper)
Pet store bought or breeder crickets are bred "clean", meaning that they are free from the diseases and toxins that could harm your pet.
They are also fed a specific diet to maintain high nutrition levels for your pet's consumption.
Outdoor crickets have "impurities" and toxins in them that they aquire from outdoor living as well as they are not as vitamin-rich. An outdoor cricket could make your beardie very ill or kill it outright. Most sick beardies won't live through illness and are very expensive to get treatment in case they do.
If you are looking to feed your beardie crickets on a regular basis and want to keep expenses down, you may want to breed your own crickets. I have never done it, but it requires a modest investment for the set up and lots of maintenance to start. The volume of crickets you will get is abundant and will, with some care, self re-populate. You can also sell the crickets you don't need.
But PLEASE - get store bought for your beardie or turn to a cricket breader.
2006-10-06 12:19:41 · answer #1 · answered by zkiwi2004 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no, for 3 main reasons
1 neighbors may use pesticides that can cross poisen your dragons, and just becuse the crickets are moving dont mean there not infected with pesticides, like roaches crickets can develop imunities to pesticides
2 the black crickets have a very hard shell that is not easilly digested by captive reptiles
and 3 scince you have babys the crickets you find outside are going to be too big, beardeds are easilly impacted by food that is too large for them
2006-10-06 12:29:16 · answer #2 · answered by reptileking 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
if they are small crickets then that would be ok. Just ask your neighbors if they use and pesticides in there yards, or if you do, because if a cricket that was exposed to pesticides was eaten by a bearded dragon, the dragon would die. Also do not feed him any lightning bugs(fire flys) because those are toxic to beardies.
2006-10-07 09:42:27 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Very bad idea! Not only is there the threat of pesticides but outdoor crickets carry diseases such as rickets. Store bought crickets are the best and you can also sprinkle a vitamin powder on them, which you can obtain from most pet stores.
2006-10-06 17:10:33 · answer #4 · answered by Sin i 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You can use your yard's crickets and bugs if you are sure there are no pesticides they could have gotten on them. It is better if you go hiking in the woods far from people's homes and from crops and orchards where pesticides are applied. Those creepy crawlies will be fat and healthy and provide a good variety. Often if you pull apart a good rotten log you'll find all sorts of immature beetle pupae that don't have any hard parts at all.
2006-10-06 13:15:56 · answer #5 · answered by twistedmouse 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It might be ok but feeding stuff from the outside might give them stomititis, a stomache infection which infects baby bearded dragons because mine died for un known reasons, i would probably get them from a petshop just to be safe!
2006-10-06 16:04:33 · answer #6 · answered by turtlelytiger 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
YES i feed my water dragon wild crickets,worms and grasshoppers all the time
2006-10-06 13:49:05 · answer #7 · answered by inkslinger00743 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If it's right size.
Pesticide will immobilized the crickets almost right away, so if it's jumping around when you catch it, it's harmless.
You can also bread your own crickets.
2006-10-06 12:01:25 · answer #8 · answered by wonderwoman 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
catch all different types of bugs that hang at your porch light and feed it to them they love it.
i hope your giving vitamins cause crickets have no nutritional value
2006-10-06 11:59:58 · answer #9 · answered by ma 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
no, if any of one around you uses pesticides
and it gets on the crikets, it could kill the berded dragon
its better to buy them from a store :)
2006-10-06 11:09:44 · answer #10 · answered by Lori 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋