# Where do people get their live feeder insects from?



## Laefiren (Apr 17, 2022)

I'm looking into bulk buying insects as my tree frogs are very avid eaters right now as babies. I've found a couple of places online but I would love to know what other people use and trust.


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## Harpo (Apr 17, 2022)

biosupplies

These guys.


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## Sdaji (Apr 18, 2022)

Breed your own. It's obviously cheaper and if you get good at it you'll spend less time on it than it takes to go to the shop and buy them.


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## Laefiren (Apr 18, 2022)

Sdaji said:


> Breed your own. It's obviously cheaper and if you get good at it you'll spend less time on it than it takes to go to the shop and buy them.


I’d like to eventually. But currently we do not have room for a set up like that. Unless I can put it in the shed but I don’t think that would be all that hygienic. But in future it’s definitely something I would like to look into.


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## Sdaji (Apr 19, 2022)

A colony of woodies sufficient to feed a fair number of tree frogs would take up little more space than the tubs you'll be buying your insects in. About 15-20 years ago when I was very limited on space I kept a collection of over 100 lizards plus a few frogs, carnivorous insects and other critters fed using insect colonies which took up a total of about 50 litres, and I had enough leftovers that I used to sell them and make money on the side. Back then I was using 9 litre Quadrant containers for my woody colonies and maintained about five at a time.

Maintenance was approximately 10 minutes per week other than cleaning out the colonies once or twice per year (literally less time than it would take to go buy them) and the cost was around $2 per week, mostly in carrots (it may be closer to $5 these days, but that's enough to feed over a hundred animals). The excess I sold was several hundred dollars per year, plus I used to supply a couple of friends for free.

They're super productive, easy, cheap, take up almost no space (comparable to the tubs you buy from the store anyway), I never understood why anyone bought them, and was always boggled at how much people would pay me for them. Before I realised I could sell them for $100/kg I literally used to freeze the excess and put them on the compost heap. I must have put over a grand worth into the garden before making that realisation, haha!


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## Laefiren (Apr 19, 2022)

Sdaji said:


> A colony of woodies sufficient to feed a fair number of tree frogs would take up little more space than the tubs you'll be buying your insects in. About 15-20 years ago when I was very limited on space I kept a collection of over 100 lizards plus a few frogs, carnivorous insects and other critters fed using insect colonies which took up a total of about 50 litres, and I had enough leftovers that I used to sell them and make money on the side. Back then I was using 9 litre Quadrant containers for my woody colonies and maintained about five at a time.
> 
> Maintenance was approximately 10 minutes per week other than cleaning out the colonies once or twice per year (literally less time than it would take to go buy them) and the cost was around $2 per week, mostly in carrots (it may be closer to $5 these days, but that's enough to feed over a hundred animals). The excess I sold was several hundred dollars per year, plus I used to supply a couple of friends for free.
> 
> They're super productive, easy, cheap, take up almost no space (comparable to the tubs you buy from the store anyway), I never understood why anyone bought them, and was always boggled at how much people would pay me for them. Before I realised I could sell them for $100/kg I literally used to freeze the excess and put them on the compost heap. I must have put over a grand worth into the garden before making that realisation, haha!


Huh damn. I’m currently keeping woodies in a fish tank with Vaseline around the rim. The crickets are in one of those Exoterra containers with the pull out tubes. Considering how much they eat it would definitely be cheaper to do my own colony. Personally I prefer the crickets over woodies though.


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## Tinky (Apr 19, 2022)

I used these guys when I had Dragons. 








Tiny crickets to your door: shop live food at frogs.org.au


Tiny crickets just three days old (2.5mm), direct to your door Australia wide. Raised only on human grade foods. Buy our live foods, SAVE FROGS, its that simple!



frogs.org.au


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## dragonlover1 (Apr 19, 2022)

As I have more than 20 adult dragons from 7 species (plus babies when it's the season ) I breed my own woodies and superworms. I won't breed crickets as they are too noisy and smelly so I buy them from biosupplies. I am a self employed truckie so don't have lots of free time.


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## Laefiren (Apr 19, 2022)

dragonlover1 said:


> As I have more than 20 adult dragons from 7 species (plus babies when it's the season ) I breed my own woodies and superworms. I won't breed crickets as they are too noisy and smelly so I buy them from biosupplies. I am a self employed truckie so don't have lots of free time.


Did you know that crickets are actually losing the ability to produce that sound they’re known for. The ones who do make the noise are getting eaten by other animals so the ones who can’t because they have different shaped wings are surviving more. I just don’t like woodies because they’re escape artists. I’ve tried my frogs on fly larvae and things before and they’re not a fan (possibly because they don’t move as much and they seem to really enjoy chasing their food)


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## Susannah (Apr 19, 2022)

I'm keen to learn to breed woodies, but unfortunately I've not been able to even buy any for 6 months (COVID related? Or just Perth? so it's hard to even get a few to get my own colony going. I hate crickets - they stink and they're noisy. I've been breeding silkworms and it's a bit hit and miss given they're quite seasonal. I had a HUGE amount last season and put the eggs in the fridge, then bringing out 30 or so at a time to try to give myself enough to feed my two frogs. I still need to supplement with bought crickets and it's getting expensive and annoying to the point where I'm considering giving up the frogs. 

Any more tips on breeding woodies?? (And given they're the ONE thing I used to be terrified of, I'm finding this oddly exciting! Ha!)


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## Laefiren (Apr 19, 2022)

Susannah said:


> I'm keen to learn to breed woodies, but unfortunately I've not been able to even buy any for 6 months (COVID related? Or just Perth? so it's hard to even get a few to get my own colony going. I hate crickets - they stink and they're noisy. I've been breeding silkworms and it's a bit hit and miss given they're quite seasonal. I had a HUGE amount last season and put the eggs in the fridge, then bringing out 30 or so at a time to try to give myself enough to feed my two frogs. I still need to supplement with bought crickets and it's getting expensive and annoying to the point where I'm considering giving up the frogs.
> 
> Any more tips on breeding woodies?? (And given they're the ONE thing I used to be terrified of, I'm finding this oddly exciting! Ha!)


Please tell me how you got over it. The skittering noise they make and the smell I just can’t. And they’re so FAST. My frogs are so fussy they pretty much so far have only eaten woodies or crickets. They spit other things out or ignore them.


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## Sugar (Apr 19, 2022)

I brought a product called “fluon” and painted the walls in a 50 litre snap lock tub.
Used a soldering iron to melt air holes
And I cut a section of the lid off and replaced it with fine leaf guard mesh for your gutters on your roof, using the soldering iron again I melted the mesh into the lid and that holds it in place.
I used coco fibre as substrate.
Then I purchased 2-3 large woodie containers from the pet shop, dumped them in there.
I spray inside the container lightly once a week and throw diced carrots in there once or twice a week depending on how much time I have.
And that’s about it.

Also on a side note I was speaking to the guy from the pet shop, he told me the facility of peices I think that’s how you spell it, the supplier of the woodies and crickets caught fire and the woodies section burnt down. Hence why it’s so hard to get ahold of any these days.
I happened to find 1 container on the weekend at pet barn in my area, and I brought it just to top up the colony a bit.

Also woodies are pretty hardy and resilient, 
I neglected them for a few weeks due to not having any spare time etc… when I checked them they were still going strong.
That fluon product I purchased from pet wave if I remember correctly, and you have to re apply it every couple of months, so it’s a good idea to have a back up container to switch them into while you clean and re-coat. 
but vasoline is a viable alternative. I personally think it’s a bit messy though and only use it as a last resort if I don’t have time to re-coat the tub.


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## Susannah (Apr 19, 2022)

Laefiren said:


> Please tell me how you got over it. The skittering noise they make and the smell I just can’t. And they’re so FAST. My frogs are so fussy they pretty much so far have only eaten woodies or crickets. They spit other things out or ignore them.


The smell of crickets and woodies are about the same. It's just the crickets JUMP and I've lost so many in the house, then they will chirp all &$#@ night and I end up resorting to spray to kill them so I can sleep. Given all my reptiles and fish, that isn't something I want to do very often. So, woodies are a lesser of evils. Plus they just live so long...and my life is all about compromising for an easy life right now! 



Sugar said:


> I brought a product called “fluon” and painted the walls in a 50 litre snap lock tub.
> Used a soldering iron to melt air holes
> And I cut a section of the lid off and replaced it with fine leaf guard mesh for your gutters on your roof, using the soldering iron again I melted the mesh into the lid and that holds it in place.
> I used coco fibre as substrate.
> ...


That's an amazing set up! So you just melt the mesh into the lid? I have a soldering iron and substrate, so all I need are the bins and mesh. I always wondered about how to keep the little guys in - my insect containers all have mesh, but still those tiny woodies escape. I'll find myself some fluon!

So there is an Aussie wide shortage of woodies? Or just WA? I've asked the petshop folks, but they have no idea. I'll see if I can get some from somewhere. Would it matter if I started with wild ones?!!


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## dragonlover1 (Apr 19, 2022)

Susannah said:


> I'm keen to learn to breed woodies, but unfortunately I've not been able to even buy any for 6 months (COVID related? Or just Perth? so it's hard to even get a few to get my own colony going. I hate crickets - they stink and they're noisy. I've been breeding silkworms and it's a bit hit and miss given they're quite seasonal. I had a HUGE amount last season and put the eggs in the fridge, then bringing out 30 or so at a time to try to give myself enough to feed my two frogs. I still need to supplement with bought crickets and it's getting expensive and annoying to the point where I'm considering giving up the frogs.
> 
> Any more tips on breeding woodies?? (And given they're the ONE thing I used to be terrified of, I'm finding this oddly exciting! Ha!)


a friend of mine who runs Briansworms.com usually sells the best woodies but he recently had a hernia op. so he isn't currently selling any . Contact him and he might be able to help you out with a small number. Woodies are easy to keep, I have mine in a 50l tub, fluon around the top for 50mm or so. Cut a section out of the lid and replace with metal fly screen not plastic as they can chew through it . Egg cartons on their side so the frass (woodie poop) falls down. Dry dog biscuits or any other dry scraps plus a little bit of wet food (carrots, apple cores,pumpkin peels etc.) Be careful not to give too much wet food as it kills them. But basically once you set them up you will have them for life. One tip; have a spare tub and swap them over now and then into the clean tub otherwise they build up a huge pile of frass. Brian also sells fluon



Sugar said:


> I brought a product called “fluon” and painted the walls in a 50 litre snap lock tub.
> Used a soldering iron to melt air holes
> And I cut a section of the lid off and replaced it with fine leaf guard mesh for your gutters on your roof, using the soldering iron again I melted the mesh into the lid and that holds it in place.
> I used coco fibre as substrate.
> ...


you pretty much have it nailed down, a couple of tips though;
you don't need air holes if you have the mesh in the lid, babies can escape through the holes
You don't need substrate
put some egg cartons on their side so the frass falls down
don't spray them, too much moisture kills them, yes carrots, apple cores ,pumpkin peels etc. are good, just not too much. dry food like dog biscuits are great, stale bread can do too


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## Sugar (Apr 20, 2022)

dragonlover1 said:


> you pretty much have it nailed down, a couple of tips though;
> you don't need air holes if you have the mesh in the lid, babies can escape through the holes
> You don't need substrate
> put some egg cartons on their side so the frass falls down
> don't spray them, too much moisture kills them, yes carrots, apple cores ,pumpkin peels etc. are good, just not too much. dry food like dog biscuits are great, stale bread can do too


Thanks for the heads up!
I originally set it up for crickets and the mesh was an after thought to make it work for the woodies.



Susannah said:


> The smell of crickets and woodies are about the same. It's just the crickets JUMP and I've lost so many in the house, then they will chirp all &$#@ night and I end up resorting to spray to kill them so I can sleep. Given all my reptiles and fish, that isn't something I want to do very often. So, woodies are a lesser of evils. Plus they just live so long...and my life is all about compromising for an easy life right now!
> 
> 
> That's an amazing set up! So you just melt the mesh into the lid? I have a soldering iron and substrate, so all I need are the bins and mesh. I always wondered about how to keep the little guys in - my insect containers all have mesh, but still those tiny woodies escape. I'll find myself some fluon!
> ...


Yeah just melt the mesh into the lid, make sure it’s the metal mesh like dragonlover said.
I use the same tub set up for crickets just without the fluon and the mesh lid.
I’m in NSW and we have a shortage over here also so I’m assuming it’s Australia wide.
There would definitely be some smaller bug breeders somewhere that would sell them though so just have a look around I’m sure you will find some.


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## dragonlover1 (Apr 20, 2022)

Sugar said:


> Yeah just melt the mesh into the lid, make sure it’s the metal mesh like dragonlover said.
> I use the same tub set up for crickets just without the fluon and the mesh lid.
> I’m in NSW and we have a shortage over here also so I’m assuming it’s Australia wide.
> There would definitely be some smaller bug breeders somewhere that would sell them though so just have a look around I’m sure you will find some.


there has been a shortage for some time, 1 big breeder had a fire which destroyed the entire setup. Brian has had trouble getting in enough supplies to keep his customers happy since his facility also burnt down . In NSW you could try biosupplies.net.au I buy my crickets from them and they advertise woodies


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## Sdaji (Apr 20, 2022)

Supply shortages are just another reason to breed your own!


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## dragonlover1 (Apr 20, 2022)

Sdaji said:


> Supply shortages are just another reason to breed your own!


breed your own and you never run out


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Apr 20, 2022)

I've bred all my own feeders since 2012, woodies, crickets, silkworms, compost worms, black soldier fly larvae, cherry shrimp and redclaw crays.


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## Sugar (Apr 20, 2022)

Crickets take so long to grow out to the size I need, I would need like 5 colonies going at once to sustain my lizards, that’s why I breed meal worms and woodies also so I can vary their diet and give the crickets time to grow.
A few pointers on breeding crickets would be handy if anyone has any?


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## Sdaji (Apr 21, 2022)

Sugar said:


> A few pointers on breeding crickets would be handy if anyone has any?



After working on small scale cricket colonies and large scale commercial cricket colonies and having them escape and call noisily and being problematic in so many ways, as of many years ago my method of breeding crickets was to not bother. Nutritionally, dusted woodies are all your insectivores need, and if you want variety there are plenty of easier options such as Soldier Flies, Mealworms, Superworms, and I'd even go for locusts rather than crickets. I used to have fairly large scale stick insect colonies and I'd use those for some of the larger lizards. There are various insects you can culture if you want to, and crickets are overrated. I might consider doing crickets on a large scale but would probably never do it on a small scale, it's just too much work and hassle, they die at the drop of a hat, while other insects thrive on close to zero time/effort.


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## Sugar (Apr 21, 2022)

Sdaji said:


> After working on small scale cricket colonies and large scale commercial cricket colonies and having them escape and call noisily and being problematic in so many ways, as of many years ago my method of breeding crickets was to not bother. Nutritionally, dusted woodies are all your insectivores need, and if you want variety there are plenty of easier options such as Soldier Flies, Mealworms, Superworms, and I'd even go for locusts rather than crickets. I used to have fairly large scale stick insect colonies and I'd use those for some of the larger lizards. There are various insects you can culture if you want to, and crickets are overrated. I might consider doing crickets on a large scale but would probably never do it on a small scale, it's just too much work and hassle, they die at the drop of a hat, while other insects thrive on close to zero time/effort.


Any idea where I can get locusts from ?


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## dragonlover1 (Apr 21, 2022)

Sugar said:


> Any idea where I can get locusts from ?


locusts are just grasshoppers but under plague conditions


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## Sugar (Apr 21, 2022)

Is it possible to start a colony of feeder insects from wild caught specimens?
Or would they transfer any parasites or bad stuff to their offspring?


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## Laefiren (Apr 22, 2022)

Sugar said:


> Is it possible to start a colony of feeder insects from wild caught specimens?
> Or would they transfer any parasites or bad stuff to their offspring?


I believe I read somewhere that was more directed at snails that you could but that it would take several generations before you could use them as feeders. So it would be simpler to get a starter colony.

My frogs have so far been rather fussy about what they will eat. If it doesn’t have legs and run around like a maniac they won’t eat it. They also seem to prefer crickets to woodies but perhaps the woodies are a little large for them currently. There’s been some good advice in this thread and I will look into some of the other insects mentioned… and also possibly into woodies but by gods am I not keeping them in the house. Any tips on catching them?


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## Sdaji (Apr 22, 2022)

dragonlover1 said:


> locusts are just grasshoppers but under plague conditions



There are thousands of species of grasshoppers and locusts. Locusts are a type of grasshopper and yes, generally they're called locusts when in their plague phase, but only a few species of grasshoppers have this capability, and in this context, these are the species we call locusts, the ones which do have the capability of becoming locusts. The vast majority of species of grasshopper are useless as feed insects.

Yes, if you find the right species you can collect them and culture them, but you might have trouble - I sure as heck would have no hope in the area I'm currently in, though sometimes I do see them and I can remember about 10 years ago when a locust swarm did come through this area (it may be more than 10 years before it happens again and it wouldn't be at this time of year).

If you do culture wild insects they'll be rid of parasites etc after one generation.

Honestly, in terms of pragmatism, I'd just stick to woodies, they're extremely easy, low maintenance, cheap and all you need. Fun as they can be, anything else is pretty much just for the fun of it.


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## WifeWontLetMe (May 4, 2022)

Sdaji said:


> Breed your own. It's obviously cheaper and if you get good at it you'll spend less time on it than it takes to go to the shop and buy them.


What are the best sites you can recommend for breeding feeder insects?


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## Auguriim (May 5, 2022)

I ordered my feeders off of Reptile Realm.


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## Sdaji (May 5, 2022)

WifeWontLetMe said:


> What are the best sites you can recommend for breeding feeder insects?


On top of a reptile enclosure where it's warm, whatever corner of the house suits you...


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## bianca jones (May 6, 2022)

I use bio supplies, really good speedy delivery and good price


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## Susannah (May 6, 2022)

I'm two weeks into my Woodie farm - question time! How do you pick out the big ones!?!? they're so fast! I've done the melted mesh into the top for air...only did one tub, but might set up a second. Australia Post lost my Fluon, but they seem to be staying put nicely with a very high-sided tub and thick barrier of Vaseline. 

They're much easier than the silkworms to keep alive. Dog food and a chopped up carrot are keeping them happy. I'm also using the water-saving crystals like for water


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## Flaviemys purvisi (May 7, 2022)

Susannah said:


> I'm two weeks into my Woodie farm - question time! How do you pick out the big ones!?!? they're so fast! I've done the melted mesh into the top for air...only did one tub, but might set up a second. Australia Post lost my Fluon, but they seem to be staying put nicely with a very high-sided tub and thick barrier of Vaseline.
> 
> They're much easier than the silkworms to keep alive. Dog food and a chopped up carrot are keeping them happy. I'm also using the water-saving crystals like for water


Hey, this is how I keep my woodies. I started this colony in 2012 with a pack of 30 woodies from Brian's Worms. Now 10 years on and the colony lives outdoors in my back yard in a repurposed 240 litre wheelie bin. This colony thrives in full exposure to the elements, 40°C in summer, up to -10°C in winter... rain hail and shine and they keep on keeping on. Probably one of the most important assets I have here for keeping my herps.
I feed them all manner of kitchen scraps (except meat). They get stale bread, apple cores, orange, banana, carrot, potato peels, celery tops, lettuce leaves, egg shells, tomato ends, pineapple skins, zucchini, cucumber, scraps, popcorn, rice cakes, old cereal, dog kibbles, watermelon, rockmelon skins, old grapes, and the list goes on... a good varied diet = healthy nutritious feeders.


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## Friller2009 (May 7, 2022)

Flaviemys purvisi said:


> Hey, this is how I keep my woodies. I started this colony in 2012 with a pack of 30 woodies from Brian's Worms. Now 10 years on and the colony lives outdoors in my back yard in a repurposed 240 litre wheelie bin. This colony thrives in full exposure to the elements, 40°C in summer, up to -10°C in winter... rain hail and shine and they keep on keeping on. Probably one of the most important assets I have here for keeping my herps.
> I feed them all manner of kitchen scraps (except meat). They get stale bread, apple cores, orange, banana, carrot, potato peels, celery tops, lettuce leaves, egg shells, tomato ends, pineapple skins, zucchini, cucumber, scraps, popcorn, rice cakes, old cereal, dog kibbles, watermelon, rockmelon skins, old grapes, and the list goes on... a good varied diet = healthy nutritious feeders.



Think I’ve found my new favourite youtube channel! I recently set up a small Woodie colony in one of those 9L tubs and I’ve found that toilet paper tubes stapled at one end work a treat. Didn’t realise they could get that low!


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## Flaviemys purvisi (May 7, 2022)

Another short video taken in the midst of the breeding season... this will give you an idea of the scale at which they can reproduce. This season of plenty coincides perfectly every year with the hatching of all my turtle eggs when I need hundreds of teeny tiny baby woodies on hand.


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## Herpetology (May 7, 2022)

i have a little colony getting started, started with "100" adults which quickly turned to about 40 or 50 for one reason or another, but after 2-3 months ive started noticing lots of babies hiding in the trays


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## Sdaji (May 8, 2022)

Friller2009 said:


> Think I’ve found my new favourite youtube channel! I recently set up a small Woodie colony in one of those 9L tubs and I’ve found that toilet paper tubes stapled at one end work a treat. Didn’t realise they could get that low!



Just use egg cartons. You can use pretty much whatever you want, but anything touched dozens of times by people who just went #2 and haven't yet washed their hands is something I'd prefer to go straight to the garbage bin, stapling is a hassle and a one-ended tube is going to be a hassle for harvesting. You do you though. 

I used to feed mine meat. They were fantastic for preparing skulls or skeletons. Let a colony get hungry and they'd strip something like a cat skull down to clean bone within an hour or two. I never went out of my way to give them meat but they did well on it when I did give it to them. I wouldn't want to give them more than they would consume within a few hours though, just because the meat will foul.


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## Ryan-James (May 8, 2022)

I keep and breed a variety of frogs and can't always breed enough food to keep up with them all the time, usually the dwarf tree frogs get all the pinheads before they get a chance to grow on. I used to buy 3-4000 pinheads at a time through Livefoods Unlimited but they had a disease go through their colonies recently. 
Currently I go through crazy critters, good guys and reasonable prices and always seem to get way more than what I ordered. https://www.crazycritters.com.au/?g...1CBWUZHdgNTk7y5mg-8eEhOfz42M_lHsaAtPaEALw_wcB


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## dragonlover1 (Jun 12, 2022)

Herpetology said:


> i have a little colony getting started, started with "100" adults which quickly turned to about 40 or 50 for one reason or another, but after 2-3 months ive started noticing lots of babies hiding in the trays


you will find that the shop sold you a lot of old woodies near the end of life, if they have wings they are old. Also many people feed them too much wet food,which will kill them. better to keep the wet food to a minimum for better longevity


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## Herpetology (Jun 12, 2022)

dragonlover1 said:


> you will find that the shop sold you a lot of old woodies near the end of life, if they have wings they are old. Also many people feed them too much wet food,which will kill them. better to keep the wet food to a minimum for better longevity


yup i started using old carrots from the crickets + rodent cubes and they started booming, there were so many little ones --- now I have to ask how do people sort them out? I was going to do the bucket method where u sort of sift them through, but just after others' ideas


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Jun 12, 2022)

Herpetology said:


> yup i started using old carrots from the crickets + rodent cubes and they started booming, there were so many little ones --- now I have to ask how do people sort them out? I was going to do the bucket method where u sort of sift them through, but just after others' ideas


Personally I don't "sort them out" I just feed my turtles on alternating days... adult woodies with wings for my ELN's and purvisi on one day, half grown wingless woodies for my smaller sub adult Macleays on another day and teeny tiny baby woodies for my babies every other day... so each day I open my woody bin I'm only after a certain size and that makes getting the ones I want easy, just open my egg cartons and select the ones I want my grabbing them with my feeding tongs. Especially easy this time of year when the colony is down into the lower single digits, they are extrememy slow moving lol.


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## dragonlover1 (Jun 12, 2022)

Flaviemys purvisi said:


> Personally I don't "sort them out" I just feed my turtles on alternating days... adult woodies with wings for my ELN's and purvisi on one day, half grown wingless woodies for my smaller sub adult Macleays on another day and teeny tiny baby woodies for my babies every other day... so each day I open my woody bin I'm only after a certain size and that makes getting the ones I want easy, just open my egg cartons and select the ones I want my grabbing them with my feeding tongs. Especially easy this time of year when the colony is down into the lower single digits, they are extrememy slow moving lol.


It's too time consuming to pick them out with tongs, I have over 20 adult dragons of various sizes plus babies at certain times so the 3 bucket method is the best (for me anyway)


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Jun 12, 2022)

dragonlover1 said:


> It's too time consuming to pick them out with tongs, I have over 20 adult dragons of various sizes plus babies at certain times so the 3 bucket method is the best (for me anyway)


Dunno how you do it but I can feed 2 dozen turtles on any given day in 10-15 mins with my method. For me having 3 buckets would just create more work and take more time.


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## dragonlover1 (Jun 12, 2022)

Flaviemys purvisi said:


> Dunno how you do it but I can feed 2 dozen turtles on any given day in 10-15 mins with my method. For me having 3 buckets would just create more work and take more time.


it's easy, the 3 buckets pour into each other, with different size holes getting smaller as they go down. So big bugs stay in the top bucket, medium stay in the middle and small bugs go down to the bottom. Then just feed them to the appropriate sized critters


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## Herpetology (Jun 13, 2022)

dragonlover1 said:


> It's too time consuming to pick them out with tongs, I have over 20 adult dragons of various sizes plus babies at certain times so the 3 bucket method is the best (for me anyway)


Do u mind me asking what drillbit sizes u used? Looking for adult + small/medium + teeny tiny

for me too we are feeding too many animals on different sized woodies, putting all the woodies together and feeding out from same container would take a day in itself


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## dragonlover1 (Jun 13, 2022)

Herpetology said:


> Do u mind me asking what drillbit sizes u used? Looking for adult + small/medium + teeny tiny
> 
> for me too we are feeding too many animals on different sized woodies, putting all the woodies together and feeding out from same container would take a day in itself


I used 23/64" in the top bucket but I found some of the large woodies could wriggle through so I'd suggest 5/16" and the next bucket I used 3/16" which is perfect to let the little ones through.
And my buckets are 5 litre not the big 20 litre ones


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## Herpetology (Jul 14, 2022)

success. Babies and lots of them (there’s about 15 more sheets of egg tray underneath packed with babies), I think increasing temp in room helped.

how long is their growth from nymph to adult? And how long is their “gestation “


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Jul 16, 2022)

Herpetology said:


> success. Babies and lots of them (there’s about 15 more sheets of egg tray underneath packed with babies), I think increasing temp in room helped.
> 
> how long is their growth from nymph to adult? And how long is their “gestation “
> View attachment 333793


G'day mate, the incubation period of the brood sac is 36 days and an average of 33 eggs will be carried by a mature female who will have up to 6 breeding cycles in her lifetime. Woodies are falsely Ovoviviparous. The female extrudes the ootheca from its brood sac but does not deposit it. Young emerge from the ootheca while it is still carried by the mother, eat their embryonic membranes and the ootheca, and cling to the mother for approximately an hour before departing. Woodies, unlike crickets are not cannibalistic, adults will not molest newly emerged young or freshly moulted juveniles.
Males take approx 72 days and 7 moults to reach adulthood and live for 365 days whereas females take 85 days and 8 moults to reach adulthood and live for 344 days.


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## Dustf0rlunch (Jul 18, 2022)

Sugar said:


> Crickets take so long to grow out to the size I need, I would need like 5 colonies going at once to sustain my lizards, that’s why I breed meal worms and woodies also so I can vary their diet and give the crickets time to grow.
> A few pointers on breeding crickets would be handy if anyone has any?


I recently tried breeding my own crickets, which I found very easy, so was excited to be able to produce my own. I was really surprised though at how long they took to grow. The first couple of weeks they seemed to grow really fast, but then it's like they stalled. For a couple of months they just didn't grow at all. They stayed around the 'extra small' size you get from Pisces. I ended up just feeding them all to my geckoes and abandoning the breeding operation. 

It's weird too, because when I buy the 'small' Pisces brand crickets, they grow into bloody adults in no time.


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## dragonlover1 (Jul 19, 2022)

Flaviemys purvisi said:


> Woodies, unlike crickets are not cannibalistic, adults will not molest newly emerged young or freshly moulted juveniles.


Hey Kev, a care sheet I read years ago said woodies were cannibalistic and to use drinking straws to shelter the babies from the adults so I have done this ever since


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Jul 19, 2022)

dragonlover1 said:


> Hey Kev, a care sheet I read years ago said woodies were cannibalistic and to use drinking straws to shelter the babies from the adults so I have done this ever since


Woodies aren't canniballistic at all.


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## Herpetology (Jul 20, 2022)

Flaviemys purvisi said:


> Woodies aren't canniballistic at all.


Is it weird that all my die off are adults? I imagine this is from biosupplies sending woodies from their oldest colonies at their use by date 

I found half the carrot I gave them had been eaten overnight, but lots of die off, mainly adults, a few larger medium sized…

my setup has rodent cubes + 1 or 2 slices of wet carrot/sweet potato… I was thinking of using insect booster powder instead of the cubes… the cubes are oven dried and quite hard, definitely not something you can crush with your foot, so don’t know how the woodies go with this…
Thoughts?


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Jul 20, 2022)

Herpetology said:


> Is it weird that all my die off are adults? I imagine this is from biosupplies sending woodies from their oldest colonies at their use by date
> 
> I found half the carrot I gave them had been eaten overnight, but lots of die off, mainly adults, a few larger medium sized…
> 
> ...


Use straight up cheap dry dog kibbles.


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## Sugar (Jul 20, 2022)

Dustf0rlunch said:


> I recently tried breeding my own crickets, which I found very easy, so was excited to be able to produce my own. I was really surprised though at how long they took to grow. The first couple of weeks they seemed to grow really fast, but then it's like they stalled. For a couple of months they just didn't grow at all. They stayed around the 'extra small' size you get from Pisces. I ended up just feeding them all to my geckoes and abandoning the breeding operation.
> 
> It's weird too, because when I buy the 'small' Pisces brand crickets, they grow into bloody adults in no time.


Yeah that’s the same observations I made, 
It seems like they feed them growth hormones haha, ( I’m sure they don’t) 
But it seems like it.


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## dragonlover1 (Jul 20, 2022)

Herpetology said:


> Is it weird that all my die off are adults? I imagine this is from biosupplies sending woodies from their oldest colonies at their use by date
> 
> I found half the carrot I gave them had been eaten overnight, but lots of die off, mainly adults, a few larger medium sized…
> 
> ...


once the woodies grow wings they are near the end of life, also cut the amount of wet feed you give them. Too much wet food kills them quickly.
I stopped using dog biscuits on the advice of Brian who is a professional woodie breeder because dog biscuits have too much protein for beardies. I now use pollard as my feed powder.
If you are worried about getting too many old woodies, buy extra medium and grow them up to the size you need


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Jul 20, 2022)

dragonlover1 said:


> once the woodies grow wings they are near the end of life, also cut the amount of wet feed you give them. Too much wet food kills them quickly.
> I stopped using dog biscuits on the advice of Brian who is a professional woodie breeder because dog biscuits have too much protein for beardies. I now use pollard as my feed powder.
> If you are worried about getting too many old woodies, buy extra medium and grow them up to the size you need


Hehe "professional woodie breeder" that made me chuckle.. you know what credentials you need to breed roaches?? 3/5 of FA... I have known Brian for a long time back from the AFT days, he used to keep a few ELN turtles. Brian has a new strain of woodies that are particularly soft and die easily... he had to modify his husbandry drastically to curb his substantial losses he was having. I got my original 30 woodies from Brian, pre 2012 and they are of the old original strain, hence why my colony today craps all over his... he's told me several times that I'm "so lucky" to still have the original old strain as the "new woodies" are far inferior and less hardy/resilient by comparison. Mine are all outside in single figure weather now down to zero degrees daily and still breeding... you won't get that with the new post 2012 woodies.


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## Herpetology (Jul 25, 2022)

So instead of getting dog kibble, since I already have a buttload of the rodent cubes, I found a way to get it crushed to a decently fine powder and sprayed it so it went soft and then let it dry for a little bit…

I have more babies than I had before, probably a thousand Atleast… they definitely prefer the small piece of old dried out carrot (vs fresh cut), they were munching on it, holes everywhere… progress!

Sorry if I missed it in previous post, but do they only breed after adult hood? Or can they have babies before their winged stage ?


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## Japho (Jul 25, 2022)

Given Silkworm Chow and heating exist... why is it that silkworms aren't available year-round?


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## Dustf0rlunch (Jul 26, 2022)

Sugar said:


> Yeah that’s the same observations I made,
> It seems like they feed them growth hormones haha, ( I’m sure they don’t)
> But it seems like it.


Glad I'm not the only one! I found it strange, as from what I have read, they're only supposed to have something like a 6 week life cycle. Mine were older than that and still extra small!


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