Am I doing good now?

[Daeyang]

ALRIGHT!
I want to make sure now that everything is in order.
55 Gallon tank Long (I believe, may be bigger but for sure not smaller.)
Basking spot ranges from the temperature outside. On cold days it'll be 80 and on normal 65˚F outside, it'll be about 100 or so.
Other side of the terrarium will usually stick to about 75˚.
Substrate is all newspaper; I removed all the sand below and now it's only newspaper.
Superworms is usually the daily food source, but I'm going back to crickets.
She will not eat any vegtables which bothers me a great deal. She is about 1 years old.. and the only veggies/fruits she'll eat are rasberries. If not, she leaves everything else in the plate..
So I need some help on that one; I've tried EVERYTHING, putting mealworms in the veggies so she'll eat through, but no luck.. she just eats the once she sees and walks away.. :/
Any feedback is greatly appreciated; and if you'd like pictures; I can post as many as you guys would like

 

[ThDude]

my little guy does not like veggies either, but he eats them every once in a while. if your beardie needs veggie he will eat them, its smart enough to not let itself die from lack of proper eatting.

you can also gut load your crickets with the veggies you want your guy to be eating and then when he eats the crickets he will in turn be eating the veggies

 

[Daeyang]

Good idea!! but I hate bugs so I just throw in the crickets I buy from the pet store..

 

[ThDude]

if you have a spare ten gallon or any tank around use that. i buy crickets online in mass numbers as it is cheeper that way, but you have to feed them and take care of them just like you would your lizard.

i would segest buying at least 100 or so from the pet store and keeping them in a tank and gut loading them and feed them yourself with veggies and proper cricket feed and water crystals.

they normally sell everything you need to care for crickets in the pet stores. im waiting on an order of 500 more crickets to come tomorrow by mail, they should last me all month for only $25. thats around 5 cent a cricket VS. 10 or ever 15 cent a cricket in pet stores.

 

[SouthernDissolution]

500 lasts you a month? 1000 in 1/2" lasts me barely a week feeding one dragon! I suggest Dubia though, little expensive but worth it in the long run. And if your dragon is a year old to make her eat greens, cut out insects all together for a couple days, wgile offering fresh greens everyday. Dont worry, she wont starve...if she doesnt eat greens for 3 or 4 days of not eating insects, give her a few, then go back to what I said. If she starts losing weight, then pump her back up and do it again, but it takes weeks if not months for these guys to drop in size. Best of luck.

 

[SouthernDissolution]

And as far as your basking temps, you need to really try to stabilize them more. But yes youre doing good lol

 

[Daeyang]

Then how do i get the crickets out of the tank?? I can't pick em up!! That'd be so gross!!!

 

[SouthernDissolution]

Use egg crate and get a deep deli style cup, that way you have crix on the egg crates, shake them off into the cup, pour to the dragon

 

[SouthernDissolution]

Trust me, Im deathly afraid of spiders but I held a mexican redknee a couple days ago, best way to get over something is exposure

 

[Daeyang]

Alright cool! Thanks a lot!

 

[Aleena]

Then how do i get the crickets out of the tank?? I can't pick em up!! That'd be so gross!!!

You could also try the inside cardboard part of a paper towel roll, or toilet paper roll. They are like bees to honey in dark places, they'll climb in and hang out there. That way you don't have to actually touch the crickets or worry about them crawling off the egg crate onto your hand. Take a baggie and dump what you need into the baggie. Do it real fast and none will escape the tube. That's what I do, I'm squeamish about crickets too.

One time we bought a box of 3/4 inch ones and my daughter left the box OPEN that was a disaster. I was trying to rescue the ones I could and my husband was just squishing them, the whole family got in on the cricket smashing/catching game for quite some time, then we swept our losses out the door. Fun times!

 

[SouthernDissolution]

LOL just a heads up, if you are gonna keep large amounts of crix, I would suggest an 18 gallon + tote instead of a 10 gallon aquarium...been there, tried that, too much cannibalism...lol ill post pics of my cricket and Dubia setup later.

 

[ThDude]

LOL just a heads up, if you are gonna keep large amounts of crix, I would suggest an 18 gallon + tote instead of a 10 gallon aquarium...been there, tried that, too much cannibalism...lol ill post pics of my cricket and Dubia setup later.

i use a 20gallon my self, though a 10 would work for keeping 100 or so for short time frames.

my dragon is still a baby, only 3 months old so he does not eat buy like 100 or so crickets in a week. maybe 120.

 

[Aleena]

LOL just a heads up, if you are gonna keep large amounts of crix, I would suggest an 18 gallon + tote instead of a 10 gallon aquarium...been there, tried that, too much cannibalism...lol ill post pics of my cricket and Dubia setup later.

I order them by the thousand per week right now and have no problems... course the constant and quick decrease in numbers might be why.

 

[Pat B]

If I order crickets in bulk....can I keep them outside? Don't really want them in my house and buying them from PS is expensive. I have a 20 gal tank I could use and I am assuming I would feed them cricket food or that jelly stuff??

 

[SouthernDissolution]

If temps permit, then sure as long as theyre not in the rain and stuff

 

[Aleena]

If I order crickets in bulk....can I keep them outside? Don't really want them in my house and buying them from PS is expensive. I have a 20 gal tank I could use and I am assuming I would feed them cricket food or that jelly stuff??

However, Pat you have to keep in mind that if ants find them they'll wipe out your entire colony of crickets.

 

[Pat B]

ok.....didn't know that....I will be glad when Spike can eat more food and not just crickets. He doesn't really like greens.....I feed him those in the morning when he is really hungry and not too fussy what he eats!

 

[Germ]

However, Pat you have to keep in mind that if ants find them they'll wipe out your entire colony of crickets.

I didn't know that, thanks for the info, that is interesting, devastating for the crix, but interesting.

 

[Aleena]

I didn't know that, thanks for the info, that is interesting, devastating for the crix, but interesting.

Coming from FL you're warned at pet stores not to keep your crickets outside anyway because the ants will wipe out a colony. Guess I should verify that before I post it... it did come from the evil PET STORE dun dun dun dun....