Breeding Insects

[the.badger]

Hey all,

We'll be getting a central beardie hatchie sometime in the next few weeks, so I went to the shop today to buy some calcium and vitamins etc, and while I was there I checked out the price of crix and other prey items. I thought the attendant was yanking my chain when she told me it was $6.50 for a tub of about 15 crickets, $13 for 10 silkworms, $6.50 for a teensy little tub of what looked like sawdust but was apparently mealworms, and I can't remember how much the woodies were because I'd stopped paying attention by then.

I'll be buggered if I'm going to spend like $100 a week on crix for my beardie for the next 10 years.

So I'm just wondering what would be the best insect to breed for a juvie bearded, and how I would go about aquiring and breeding them? I've read that it's not a good idea to feed woodies to hatchies because they're too hard for them to eat.

 

[Dave]

what you heard about woodies is wrong.. I would say woodies are't as bad as crickets..

'WOODIES FOR SALE' on this site.. 40dollars for 1000babies or 67dollars for 1000adults.. either breed the adults or buy the babies..

50L tub
fluron on lid
egg cartons/apple crates
feed veggies
no heat in summer

That's all you need really..

(you can buy 500babies/500adults too..feed the babies while the adults breed)

 

[the.badger]

Thanks Dave94, sounds easy enough.

I'll be sure to post horror stories when I completely stuff it up.

What's fluron?

 

[Dave]

Its like paint, so the woodies can't climb out of the tub (or get close to the top when you open the lid) you could also use vaseline but woodies for sale sells fluron for like 5dollars and it will last a life time (if you only paint one or two tubs)

It's pretty hard to kill these things :lol:

Thanks Dave94, sounds easy enough.

I'll be sure to post horror stories when I completely stuff it up.

What's fluron?

 

[the.badger]

Ahh cool. Thanks again.

 

[PhilK]

My woodies stink to high heaven.. They smell worse than my crickets EVER did.. But god they breed like crazy. Apart from the smell they are easier than crickets in every way. I've given up with my crickets because woodies are sooo much easier. Got mine from Woodies For Sale and the service and price etc was great.

 

[the.badger]

Thanks PhilK.

 

[Dave]

Just on what PhillK said, crickets smell worse then woodies.. Though I get 'allergies' when I open a huge tub of woodies when theres a few thousand in there LOL sneeze like crazy..

 

[mcloughlin2]

Crickets are suppose to be very problematic unless conditions are ideal. I've had woodie breed in the piecies container they are sold in on the other hand!

I did read on this site that woodies release a defensive pheromone or something that can be quite harsh on your breathing, but it only seems to be a problem if you have several thousand adults.

 

[PhilK]

I don't know what's gotten into those that think woodies smell better. My woodie colony REEKS but they are happy as Larry and there are babies everywhere.
My crickets never smelled bad but they are a pain in the backside to breed - they need a laying box, and then you have to incubate the laying box and that takes forever, and then you have to raise the babies and that takes forever blah blah don't bother!

My crickets all died and I have PMd Woodies For Sale for another start-up colony to put it in the cricket tub - that's how good woodies are!

 

[lynfrog]

perhaps your woodie container is too moist/ not enough air circulation? i dont use a lid on the woodies, they do fine and little odour.

 

[gravitation]

I don't breed woodies, but i do breed crickets.
Basically they are going to stink, whatever they are given that you won't be able to remove every single dead one on a daily basis.

My crickets stink, but every now and again i will pick out the dead ones i find with a toothpick. I've got soil in as a substrate to help with decomposition, and in my opinion it really helps.

Don't know much about woodies but with regards to my crickets they also tend to smell because of the vegetables in there, unless i give them fresh veggies every day (which i don't).

I don't feed my beardeds woodies, no particular reason, i always have a good supply of crickets so i haven't bothered, i do think that woodies would be harder for a hatchling to digest because they arn't as soft bodied but i still think it's not going to make much of a difference.

I have heard woodies are much easier to breed, and i would believe this. Crickets don't seem to be as durable and they are quite picky when it comes to conditions to lay their eggs in.

So try woodies. Just remember to only give your hatchling/s the baby woodies and not the breeders for two reasons, you want to keep your largest woodies for breeding and your baby needs one that doesn't exceed the space between it's eyes.

 

[dottyback]

2 words...

Zophobas morio

Not quite as easy as normal mealies but they go without the risk.

 

[dottyback]

I have not tried feeding maggots to beardies yet but as far as live food goes breeding magggots/pupae/flies are the cheapest!

here is a link to some excellent infomation on breeding some insects:
http://www.birdcare.com.au/insects.htm

 

[Reptilian]

just out of curiosity, having them (woodies and crix) breed and having heaps of them... how do you catch them for feeding time and in particular the right size? I would imagine trying to catch say 10 med sized crix or woodies in maybe a thousand would be a bit of a challenge?

Regards...
Ash...

 

[Mrs I]

A tip for cathing the right size ones, put a contianer in there with a hole cut for the size you want to catch place food in container, the bigger ones then cant enter the small hole to get in there.

 

[Reptilian]

aha !!! mrs I with the answer, thanx... I actually was trying to think of a "multilayer" breeder design (sorta like a wormfarm i suppose) so that each tub would contain similar size food..........But i tend to over think things... lol

thanx Mrs I

 

[Jewly]

I have a woodie colony going and it's the best thing I ever did. I was spending a fortune on crickets from the pet shop and when I tried to buy them in bulk over the net, probably 80-90% of them died within 2 days of me receiving them.'

With my woodies, I just keep them in a large plastic tub and I have cut most of the lid out and replaced it with wire fly screen (just melted it into the lid with a soldering iron) and I have them living in my storage cupboard under the stairs to try and minimise the smell.

I just cut the cardboard sheets from apple boxes in half and layer them in the box and I regularly change them. I do a quick clean once a week, a major clean every 2 weeks and then I do a complete box change over every so often and that way I've found the smell isn't so bad.

To feed, I just pick up one of the cardboard pieces and shake it into a smaller tub. My central bearded dragon is happy to just jump straight in and start feeding but I use a tweezer to pick some out for my 2 pygmies cause they prefer to be fed in their enclosure. I find that my big guy won't eat the small ones, so I just wait until he's finished and then I pick those out to give to my little central netted.

Have the colony has really helped with cutting down costs and now I only buy crickets for my geckos.

 

[snocodile]

I breed crix and they are so easy to breed. if i were you i would get crix because i just leave my crix outside with a breeding container in there enclosure and i dont need any heating and hey presto they breed.

 

[raged]

I have started breeding my own crickets now just the same as u snocodile.. Just waiting for them to hatch..