Catching live bugs/critters for your reptile's food supply.

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reptalica

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Having just been to visit our reptile vet in Melbourne and take our 3 x Central Netted's for the first time for a general health check and sexing we finally realised what we thought for a while - we have two boys and a girl.

The visit certainly opened up our eyes so far as dietary requirements are concerned highlighting the need to throw a lot more variety into their diet as it was suggested a diet of predominantly crickets and a % of greens is possibly not sufficient.

Hence my thread.

We were told that various outdoor bugs and critters will certainly add to the mix of calcium requirements with the need to rely on dusted crickets.

Those mentioned including your common garden worms, moths, ants, flies, spiders et al, as well as native plants and berries.

I was wondering if any of those on here have their own methods/ideas/devices or home made traps on how to catch these critters that adorn our garden.


Cheers and thanks.

** Just a further note this vet also can test your uv light source and determine whether it is operating efficiently, if at all. Very important for those who keep uv dependant herps. **
 
Funnel into a jar, underneath a light at night used to work well for me.
 
My partners two bearded dragons ate bugs off the lawn outside and died the next day.:(
Use caution
 
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Yeah interesting that. This vet really had no reservations about it. I am always guarded with things like that so hoping those a little more in the know than I can throw some light onto it.

I can't help but come back to how they survive in the wild. I'm guessing less chance of fertiliser / herbicides and the like affecting the specimen.
 
I better add, I was collecting from a semi-rural area were pesticides/insectisides weren't an issue. A butteryfly net through grass used to net a lot of grasshoppers as well.
 
I guess the insects have become resistant to the pesticides that they ingest/come into contact from grass, plants and such. In turn wild animals would have built a resistance to it as well. Captive bred animals wouldn't have been exposed to before.

Have to think about what kind of poisons you've used in your garden yourself too.
 
My partners two bearded dragons ate bugs off the lawn outside and died the next day.:(
Use caution

Do you know 100% that they both died through eating those bugs? Do you know what type of bugs they were?
 
I think this vet IMO sounds more book smart then street smart if you can understand that concept. Dusting crickets ( fed crickets, not empty shells ) and veg is perfectly fine.
 
They were crickets, he saw them eat it. Hard pressed to find another thing at the same time they ate them that could kill perfectly healthy dragons so suddenly.

Do you know 100% that they both died through eating those bugs? Do you know what type of bugs they were?
 
They were crickets, he saw them eat it. Hard pressed to find another thing at the same time they ate them that could kill perfectly healthy dragons so suddenly.

That's the thing with a lot of anecdotal evidence.Bit like the don't feed mealworms unless you crush their heads first as they will eat their way out of the reptiles stomach.

Not implying that crickets weren't the cause but it could of been a coincidence.
 
Thanks for the feedback so far. Just wondering if anyone knows of any traps etc or DIY items that can be made or bought that will help net a few of these critters??
 
I feed my waterdragons flies, moths, bees, cicadas, centipede, worms, spiders, caterpillars, basically anything that wriggles and I can get my hot little hands onto.

I have large nature reserve beside a suburban block, no chemicals are used in the garden or house. We've always had jacky lizards in the reserve and gardens, I figure with the wild bugs, If It's good enough for the wild lizards that are thriving, It's good enough for my EWDs.



I'll take the story about dead beardies with a generous grain of salt.

- - - Updated - - -

Ps, hands are the best trap :)

Or just grab an old takeaway container, an old pair of tongs and go rumaging around in the mulch etc in your garden.

- - - Updated - - -

PPS: regardless of nutritional value, my lizards benefit from getting some more variety in what they chase.
They get excited when I drop something different in the enclosure.
 
I just use the old leave the veranda light on & use a cup & piece of paper method for catching moths & lacewings ect, my 11 yr old daughter uses the same, cup & paper, but goes near a dog poo & gets multiple flies in one go LOL!!
 
you have to be very careful as little critters can have parasites and unwanted bacteria in them which can lead to death
 
When i used to Keep Arachnids, the trap i found the best was to dig a hole in the back yard about the size of a bucket, put a plastic bucket in the hole and get yourself a good size plastic funnel with a nice new slippery surface and a peice of ply slightly bigger than the hole in the ground and put a hole in it just smaller than the outside diameter of the funnel rim, push the funnel securely into the peice of ply so the rim is flat against the ply surface, next get a large coffee jar or bottling jar and place it into the centre of the bucket and place the ply and funnel over the hole with the funnel pointing into the middle of the jar, then cover the ply with sand or dirt and leave it for a day/night or 2 you will be absolutely amazed how much and variety of insects there will be in the trap after just 1 night/day....just pick what you want from it for your animals...........................................Ron
 
I think this vet IMO sounds more book smart then street smart if you can understand that concept. Dusting crickets ( fed crickets, not empty shells ) and veg is perfectly fine.

If it the vet I assume it is he is a very good reptile vet and a lot more than just book smart. Most reptile keepers these days are just lazy as they have the convenience of shops. Before crickets and woodies were readily available what do you think we used to feed our reptiles. Variety is important for reptiles just as it is important for us.
 
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