We have grown to a family of 4 bearded dragons (Mom: Corkscrew, Dad: Kilo, Daughter: Lizzie, Son:Ruth) as well as two frilled lizards Shrapnel and Volta that we adopted after visiting the Reptile Show in Sacramento last year!
Ben has begun breeding roaches, much to my dismay... and we now have weekly cricket drop offs at our house (Thank you Arrow Enterprises AKA Karen Bedsaul). Ben even built an outdoor habitat for all the feeder insects to live in... I think we are officially reptile nuts!
Corkscrew and Kilo have come out of brumation healthy and strong... and apparently a bit frisky!
A month of head bopping, a few black beards, arms waving, funky looking push ups and some biting... our normally flat bellied dragon began showing her "lumpy sides". Ben has been feeding her a well varied diet with plenty of protein to ensure healthy eggs and a healthy dragon. She feasts on lots of veggies, "BITES" (Nature's Zone), crickets, meal worms, cockroaches and pinkie mice.
*Certainly, not all dragons need to have all of these foods, no worries, if you dislike feeding roaches or pinky mice, there are plenty of other options for your pet.
Last week she began "showing" and I was able to feel at least twelve. From past experience I knew this meant she was very close to laying and that we could have up to twice that many when she lays. After days of digging and filling her food bowl with substrate (walnut hulls), we got the message, she was ready and it was our turn to make her comfortable.
After filling her habitat with coconut husk yesterday, I woke up this morning to find Corkscrew had laid 19 beautifully healthy eggs and with only one exception. We have set up our hovabator to (ranging from 82-84 degrees) with "Hatchrite" to incubate the eggs. A friend of ours gave us a great container to store the eggs in while inside the hovabator, this new tray keeps the eggs safe from shifting and also allows better air flow. I am excited to see just how many babies we will have this year with this new set up!
Hi there, I am a beardie owner in magalia, we have 2 youngsters a juvenile male, and three females, the females reside in my classroom in oroville. We also share our living room with blue, our 4 foot iguana...
ReplyDeleteHow do fare with the roach breeding?
Best,
Neils
Neils,
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to hear about other teachers with Beardies. They make such great pets for kids and are a great way to introduce them to reptile care!
I have to say, I was originally VERY against the roaches... but after having seen the difference between "keeping" large quantities of roaches and crickets... I would have roaches any day over crickets!! The roaches are easy to care for, VERY clean and don't escape!!! (Contrary to what most of us are concerned about!) They also do not have the ability to reproduce outside of the "perfect environment" you are simulating. So, on the off chance that one escaped (very unlikely) they would not be able to survive or reproduce since they need a climate much different than a typical house temperature.
Things we learned:
-a container inside of another container makes wives much happier and feel less nervous about one escaping
-they need the right temp... so make sure you have a room or location that is warm enough and wont cost you a bundle (on top of our custom beardie cage gave us the "free" heat we needed)
-order them in bulk ahead of time to ensure fast reproduction so that you will always have them on hand for feeding
-have separate containers for your "feeders" and "breeders"
In a couple of months we will be "done" with crickets and on to solely roaches... I am really looking forward to this. The crickets we order (1000 a week) are just gross after a week in a container and are running free from escaping in my house. I never would have believed I was looking forward to roaches... but I am!
Hope this helps! Let me know if I can be of any more help!!
Brandi
We have a similar set up to Rons, I just dont see the quantity and speed of growth I thought, they just dont breed or grow fast enough... I put a screen on the lid and put a dome on that to heat ours.
ReplyDeleteWe order 1k crickets every other week, but could do more. I wonder if I made a shoe box sixe container and took the baby roaches out and put that container in with my male (he has a 100 gal case to his self)if they would grow faster?
The kids love the beardies in the class, they are the center piece of the library.
Best,
Neils
Neils,
ReplyDeleteIt takes roaches about six months to mature, maybe a little more. The higher the heat the better, but no higher than 105. With lower heats, you are right, they just don't reproduce in large amounts. Oranges for some reason, causes them to reproduce faster. Make sure you have enough moisture. What are you using for food and for water? For hydration (water) we are using crystals (similar to silica) that we add water to... this seems to work well. Their "hides" are important too. They like small holes and a room with minimal light. For their "hides" we have tall square egg crates that are stacked almost like a honeycomb... this is working really well. We have 3 females and two males we are using as our breeding pairs this time. Last time, we didn't fair as well. We have learned a lot since the last time we tried this. I think by October, we will be able to tell you how successful we were.
You may also want to try heating from the bottom instead of the top and see if it makes a difference.
Brandi