Some hours ago I had the most interesting and disturbing conversation with a pet shop clerk.
We went back to the shop where we bought Pog to buy some more crickets and found a "new" employe we never met. After a few minutes we found out that he is the person often referred by his shop colleagues as the "reptile expert".
We spent an hour talking, he is very knowledgeable about reptiles and like I said, it was very interesting (and instructional) but very disturbing.
Some highlights:
- "I never feed crickets from the store to my reptiles, unless is a REAL emergency. They are never fed. I don't trust these crickets and do not breed them";
- "You should breed your own insects. These (ones sold in stores) are very low quality after a billion generations bred in captivity and quite commonly carry diseases that kill all of them [crickets] while they wait to be sold.";
- "Fruit flies (I believe it was drosophila but I'm not sure) are one of the best staples for baby Bearded Dragons, much better than crickets for their nutritional content";
- "Madagascar roaches are a much better staple food for Bearded Dragons [juveniles and adults] than crickets also for their nutritional content";
- "Don't feed crickets every day to your Bearded Dragon. This will lead to obesity and anxiety. In the wild, they eat a lot when they can and rest for a couple/few days";
- "I would not buy any reptile from this store" ... "and I have never sold an iguana to a customer. Even those who know what they are getting into, I sent them elsewhere where I know there are better animals";
- "All animal imports are creepy! Some species are almost plagues in their countries so they are dispatched in the lowest possible conditions. You'd be better off seeking a private breeder or a sensible shop."

Some other advice was very good for someone seeking a good vet like myself, he said: "don't take your Bearded Dragon to the vet just to get his poop checked. Collect it yourself and send to a lab for analysis. Vets, even those that see reptiles, are not specialists (there are only a handful of those in Portugal) and they don't even understand the lab results. They just charge you for being the middleman."

I felt like watching one episode of Michael Moore's "The Awful Truth" =)

So what do you think about his food and feeding advice and also his views on insects? Worth considering?

Thanks =)

__________________
Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

Possibly a little paranoid, and it sounds like he has experience with the lowest common denominator, frankly.
Some of it has truth in it of course.

Pet store crickets often aren't fed, it's true. They do often carry diseases, particularly if the store buys from a less reputeable supplier. But ordering crickets directly online from a reputeable company will generally get you healthy bugs that you can breed successfully yourself. You certainly can't go collecting wild Acheta domestica. <G> Wild insects can carry parasites, something to be aware of. I would personally like to get my hands on some wild black crickets and breed them. They're more aggressive and bitey than the domestica, though, and that bite can actually hurt. They're also a bit larger, fully grown, which is a bonus for feeding Leopard Geckos.

Does anyone advocate feeding adult Bearded Dragons crickets every day? I wouldn't...I don't feed any adult lizard every day. Every other day is fine, sometimes even for babies--I've found that most of the time, they simply will NOT eat every day. My adult water dragon ate earthworms, mice, zophobas, and occasional hissers, with some greens (I could never get him to eat much greenery). He was HUGE....not obese, but astoundingly large for the species, over a foot STV, brilliant colors...he ate approximately every 3 or 4 days. The mice seem to be a big meal, and pack in a lot of nutrition--most of the animals I've had on insects alone get hungry every other day, only occasionally every 3 days. I let them decide--if they watch me when I come in the room, they're hungry. If I drop in an insect and they're interested, then they get a full meal. The day after I feed them, they're virtually never interested. The hatchlings sometimes will eat every day when they're doing the growth-spurt thing. I've tried leaving food for the babies every day, but the mealies just crawl around in the bowl, and sometimes escape....no point to it. They simply won't eat every day all the time. They seem to have a better appetite for me if I don't leave food there at all times--feed when they're actually hungry, and they eat more and grow faster.

I'll believe the fellow about the nutritional content of hissing roaches if he can produce a nutritional breakdown of them. Otherwise, he's just guessing! I have some lobsters, but they are a hassle, and I'm actually going to switch to crickets. Hissers breed fairly slowly, actually...the main problem with them is they have VERY hard shells, very thick chitin. (Very prickly legs, lol).
I don't think I agree with feeding drosophilia to any but newly hatched Bearded Dragons...can you imagine how many fruit flies, even giants, it would take to fill a baby Bearded Dragon?
1/4 inch crickets and mealworms ought to be just fine, so long as they're supplemented and gutloaded well. If it ain't broke, you don't need to fix it.

Imported animals ARE a tremendous risk as a purchase. MOST of them will NOT survive--even with medical care. You have to realize that whenever you purchase an import, and you have to be prepared for it. That animal is going to need intensive care from the moment you get it home, and you won't know for at least 6 months whether or not you're going to succeed with it....unless it dies in the meantime. Some imports will bounce back from their ordeal, fill out, eat well, and adapt and become healthy. Some of them will die within a few weeks to a few months, after never eating or drinking well, never putting on much if any weight, and remaining listless.
A few will struggle for months, eating and drinking, putting on a little weight but not enough, never looking quite healthy...until they eventually die, often unexpectedly since you really thought they were rallying.

If you are seriously breeding these animals, and you want to add an import to your gene pool because you feel that your animals are becoming too inbred, then there's a reason to get an import. If you want to work with breeding a species that isn't commonly bred in captivity, you have a reason to get imports.

If you want a pet, and/or don't have the resources to isolate and coddle a sick animal, you do NOT want an import, and you have no valid reason to get one. A captive-bred animal will be MUCH cheaper for you, and make a far better investment.

WC native species are often in better shape than imports, but still have many of the same problems.

Any pet store that is NOT very highly informed on how to care for reptiles can make a simple, common mistake that will ensure any animal you purchase from them is a risk. They do not sterilize their cages between shipments, and often they don't even replace bark bedding. They merely spot-clean. So, imports carrying parasites are housed in a cage, and the CB animals that get it next will be infected.
Buying from a pet store is risk.

WW, thanks for your reply. I'm not sure but I believe his experience is largely based on geckos and snakes.

Here in Portugal the scenario is not the same as in the US or UK. There are no breeders with "breeding capabilities" high enough just to fill the reptile demand for a single shop. All reptiles here are imported. Some are CB and come from large breeders abroad (Germany, France, Spain) and some are WC and come from their own countries like anoles, geckos vittatus, etc.
One of my biggest frustrations is that I cannot get any hypo, tang, albino, etc Leopard Geckos except regular and jungle. Crested or gargoyles don't exist at all in the commercial circuit and I haven't yet found a single owner, let alone breeders!!

He does sound a bit paranoid but he's a voice from within the "system". Imagine if you work on a pet store and conditions were so bad that you advice everyone to not buy there or anywhere else around because it's basically the same! =) It's unbelievable!

About madagascar roaches. I thought along those lines. Hissers, even if the inside is better, the outside is/looks very thick.
When I was young, I had several infestations of common roaches in the summer. I remember stepping on them and see them running away after I lift my foot. That shell is really hard to break.

About feeding/eating habits. Contrary to his opinion, I believe I should feed crickets to Pog every day. He's 3 months old! He's growing up! The timed buffet meal (all that he can eat in 5 - 10 minutes) seems pretty good for this stage of his development. I do agree that uncontrolled eating/feeding is not good for any animal. Some end up not eating veggies and their habits are just driven by gluttony.
From everything I've read, a well feed animal with proper nutrition and feeding habits will regulate his own food intake like you describe.

__________________
Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

Ah, yes--everything I said applies to the US. The crickets and the pet stores where you are may be in worse shape.
Everything I said about imports still applies...even if CB animals aren't available.