Will Bearded Dragons eat roaches?

[Wicked1z]

Well my family is wierd. I keep T's, My wife keeps several BD's, And my 4 year old son keeps turtals LOL. Anyway I am content to feeding crix to my T's but have had the thought about switching to roaches. Now my dragons on the other hand can never get enough crix, there eating me out of house and home. The adult male that I have eats over a dozen every night plus his greens and still stays hungry. I tried breeding crix for a while but really didint like the smell so didnt get the hang of it. So if they can eat the same as T's I may be able to have it made.

 

[Gigas]

more than likely yes, depends on the individual lizard

 

[Stratusfaction]

Agreed. It also depends on the age of the dragon and it's size as to what size roach it can eat. Be forewarned if you change their diet from crickets to roaches they're likely to never want crickets again!

-David

 

[Michael Jacobi]

Beardies will eat roaches. My adults eat all species, any size that will fit in their mouths. However, it is important to remember that young beadies should not be fed anything wider than their head. It is believed that the use of overly large feeder insects causes hind leg paralysis. Another thing to remember is that beardies are omnivorous and adults are, in fact, primarily herbivorous. Always offer plenty of fresh greens including dandelion greens and flowers, hibiscus flowers, kale, turnip greens, collard greens, mustard greens.

Cheers, Michael

 

[Mushroom Spore]

It is believed that the use of overly large feeder insects causes hind leg paralysis.

I think the word you're looking for is "impaction", and as far as I know it's not just believed, it's a fact. The problem seems to be more commonly caused by the use of sand as a substrate, but I suppose food that's too big to be properly digested could do the same.

Impactions can be fatal.

 

[Michael Jacobi]

I require no assistance with word choice

Yes, impaction is a problem with ingesting sand or other substrate, other non-organic debris, and excessive chitin from insects such as beetle larvae. Yes, it can be fatal.

However, my point had nothing to do with impaction. The use of too large of crickets, for example, is thought by many dragon breeders to cause problems with the hind legs including paralysis. I have bred dragons for almost 10 years and recommend using a large number of insects smaller than their mouth opening than feeding larger prey. This need for a large number of small insects is what makes crickets so prohibitively expensive, and makes the use of small roaches ideal (I highly recommend Blatta lateralis). Raising your own "superworms" [Zophobas] so you have plenty of tiny larvae is also a good idea.

And don't forget plenty of washed dark greens. At any age.

Cheers, Michael

 

[GailC]

My dragons have been raised on lobster roaches and I'm switching out to dubia as soon as the colony is large enough. A dozen crickets a day is too much protein for an adult, they only 5 a day or 30-50 a week. Feed them more greens.