When will the crickets stop?! D:

[valkryja]

Loki is almost six months old now and still eating crickets like a hatchling. He gobbles up tons of them in fifteen minutes, twice a day, and then eats two to three bowls of salad on top of that. I hear that usually around the six month mark they stop eating so many crickets and can rely more on salad... Can I cut his crickets down, perhaps? They're expensive, smell awful, and tend to escape a lot. I found a cricket clinging to my shower curtain this morning and freaked out and I'd really like it if I could buy him a small bag once a day and leave it at that.

Loki's also getting huge and shows no signs of slowing down his growth. Will he always eat crickets like this? D:

 

[beardielover17]

6 months is still too young to cut the bugs down. You can try using various worms or roaches in the diet too.

 

[Pogie]

Yeah they cut down when they feel it is time. P used to gobble up 50-60 daily. Then she started to cut down herself to about 10-20 a day. Shes approx 11-12 months now. She started cutting down at 10 months herself.

 

[staylor]

Piggy cut herself down at about 10.5-11 months

 

[valkryja]

How are superworms? Are they safe to feed to a lizard his age? About how many superworms do they usually eat in one sitting? There's no way I can do roaches, but worms are a possibliity...

 

[beardie_love]

How are superworms? Are they safe to feed to a lizard his age? About how many superworms do they usually eat in one sitting? There's no way I can do roaches, but worms are a possibliity...

You can feed supers when he is at least 16 inches. What I did when my dragons were of size, I'd give them 1-2 first, and see if all passed through. When I see that they're pooping regularly, I started giving them 2 each day. Then wait for poop. I'd increase their worm intake every few weeks. They still would get crickets too. Even today, I don't exceed 5 worms a day. Just want to make sure everything is passing, since my little guys only poop once or twice a week.

 

[valkryja]

Loki poops like twice a day. He's ridiculous. x_x
And darn, it looks like I'll have to stick with crickets for a while then, he's an inch or two shy of 16.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Either that, or a nice roach colony...

 

[valkryja]

My mom has a pathological fear of roaches, probably due to growing up in Jersey City..
No way that's ever going to happen haha

 

[beardielover17]

My mom has a pathological fear of roaches, probably due to growing up in Jersey City..
No way that's ever going to happen haha

lol my husband works in JC

 

[zebraflavencs]

If I can help change that attitude, let me know.. I have often assisted young people, help inform parents of the benefits of Dubia roaches.
Hope this helps.

 

[valkryja]

I'm afraid no amount of reasoning will help change her mind. She doesn't care about the health benefits because she hates reptiles and thinks Loki is scary. She won't even look at him. :'(
...Though to be honest, the little bugger did sort of have a bad first impression when he jumped on her face after I brought him home from the breeder.