Feeding lizards is straightforward but requires making the appropriate decisions in food choices. Your lizard needs good nutrition, like every other reptile or pet. The approach to feeding lizards is different from that of conventional pets like dogs. It’s essential to make a good mix of insect protein sources and greens for a healthy diet.
Lizards can eat freeze-dried crickets and learn to enjoy them. Most lizards enjoy eating freeze-dried crickets, especially when owners mix them with sufficient greens. Intelligently combining veggies with freeze-dried crickets will make your lizard less conscious of consuming crickets.
Generally, lizards eat spiders, fliers, aphids, and other types of protein sources. In some cases, these reptiles also eat plants. However, when you’re putting your lizard on a specific diet, it may be essential to mix both the freeze-dried crickets and plants appropriately to achieve a balanced diet.
Note that when feeding your lizards with freeze-dried crickets, your approach should be different from that of feeding them with canned crickets. For canned crickets, most owners move the crickets around for the lizard to develop the impression of live crickets.
Apart from the freeze-dried cricket, feeding on one live cricket may be convenient for your lizard. However, several crickets will overwhelm the lizard, which may be very dangerous. For this reason, the freeze-dried crickets may be a significant advantage.
There are various ideas that you can adopt for feeding freeze-dried crickets apart from hiding them between vegetables. You can also decide to cut these crickets into small pieces and combine them with other insects to aid their consumption.
Freeze-dried crickets are essential sources of protein for lizards, but it’s imperative to feed them with these insects the right way. Ensure you avoid using bad freeze-dried crickets. Note that freeze-dried crickets only stay fresh for consumption in three years.
Benefits & Downside of Freeze-Dried Crickets
Freeze-dried crickets come in different packages, depending on the brand producing them. For this reason, it’s essential to know the manufacturers of freeze-dried crickets before making a purchase. When searching for freeze-dried crickets, choose one from a reputable brand.
Food choices like freeze-dried crickets are very common and they have been useful for a long period. For this reason, they have significant advantages for owners. Note that some individuals may also regard certain things as disadvantages of feeding your lizards with freeze-dried crickets. Considering both sides, here are the advantages and disadvantages of freeze-dried crickets:
Benefits of Freeze-Dried Crickets
Freeze-dried crickets as a feeding option have their advantages for owners in terms of various factors. In this section, you will see the benefit of consuming crickets based on their availability, uniqueness as meal replacements, and more. Here’s what you need to know:
- They are easy to purchase: Most significant pet stores around the United States and other regions sell freeze-dried crickets for lizards. You can also decide to purchase them from online stores like Amazon. Note that the price may differ, depending on your geographic location.
- They are great meal replacements: Undoubtedly, their certain moments where owners may run out of the major meals for freeze-dried crickets. On these occasions, feeding them with freeze-dried crickets is a great meal replacement technique.
- Great as alternatives for live crickets: One live cricket may be bearable for a lizard, but feeding them with multiple crickets may be significantly overwhelming. In expert opinions, live crickets also don’t have redeeming qualities, making them a bad option for your lizards.
- Awesome meal option: Most lizards love consuming crickets in the freeze-dried form. These reptiles can eat large quantities of the crickets and feel nourished. Note that there are cases where it may appear that your lizard doesn’t want to consume freeze-dried crickets. In such situations, mixing the crickets with their greens will solve the problem.
The Downside of Freeze-Dried Crickets
Freeze-dried crickets are still great meal options for lizards and most other reptiles. However, certain factors make them less beneficial for the lizards. Fortunately, most of the downsides of using freeze-dried crickets are ignorable. Here’s what you need to know about the disadvantages:
- Little nutritional value: Freeze-dried crickets provide a level of protein for your lizards, but they have very little nutritional value. The process of freeze-drying has removed a significant amount of nutritional value from the cricket. Hence, lizards only have fewer nutrients to enjoy.
- Freeze-dried crickets are not gut-loaded: Freeze-dried crickets don’t contain the appropriate proportion of greens that they should possess. Note that some packages may claim that the freeze-dried crickets contain preloaded greens, but that isn’t always the case. For this reason, you may decide to go for packages that are gut-loaded enough.
Note that gut loading is essential for giving lizards enough nutrients, especially when feeding with live feeder insects. Gut loading is a process that mainly occurs to crickets and this allows your lizards to have all the imperative nutrients they need for balanced living.
- Contain a high percentage of exoskeleton: An exoskeleton is an external covering of insects, including those like crickets. With proper observation, it’s obvious that freeze-dried crickets have a high percentage of an exoskeleton. Another name for the exoskeleton is “chitin”, which is difficult for lizards to digest. Note that freeze-dried crickets can also cause impaction risk.
- They lack moisture: Lizards need to consume foods that contain moisture for a significant percentage of water. For this reason, most owners need to feed their lizards with live feeder insects. Dried insects, including crickets, don’t offer any degree of moisture for the lizards.
Will Leopard Gecko Eat Freeze-Dried Crickets?
Leopard geckos may not eat freeze-dried crickets, but they can consume live ones. The significant reason why leopard geckos can’t eat freeze-dried crickets is that they don’t wiggle or move around a position. As a pet owner, it’s advisable to feed your leopard gecko with live crickets and no dried ones. Note that you can still trick your leopard geckos into eating freeze-dried crickets.
The reason for leopard geckos not consuming freeze-dried crickets doesn’t relate to the nutritional value of the insects. Both dried crickets and live ones have closely related nutritional values, making them suitable for other reptiles or lizards apart from the leopard geckos.
Most leopard geckos don’t consume freeze-dried crickets due to their nature, but some owners may be lucky to have less picky reptiles. If your leopard gecko is picky about its food choices, you can decide to use tools like a vibrating food dish. Note that a vibrating food dish helps trick the leopard gecko into eating the freeze-dried crickets because they would start to move.
When trying to feed your leopard gecko, it’s essential to avoid leaving both the insect and the dead freeze-dried cricket in the same vivarium. Some owners may expect leopard geckos to consume the freeze-dried crickets in their vivarium at any time, but that’s typically not the case. Leopard geckos are capable of leaving food untouched for a significant time, especially when it doesn’t interest them.
Will Bearded Dragon Eat Freeze-Dried Crickets?
Bearded dragons will eat freeze-dried crickets when you serve them appropriately. Freeze-dried crickets are great treats for bearded dragons, but it’s not advisable to give them the treat as a daily source of food. Your bearded dragon needs a consistent source of moisture and overall nutrition, so it’s imperative to avoid feeding them with freeze-dried cricket always.
Note that freeze-dried crickets don’t live, so it’s essential to mix them with other kinds of food like veggies for proper nutrition. In some cases, there’s a tendency that your bearded dragon decides not to eat the freeze-dried crickets, so ensure that you always include meal varieties.
As a pet owner of a bearded dragon, you can decide on your dried cricket. Note that breeding your crickets and making your freeze-dried crickets may require certain essential steps. Start by gut loading a significant number of crickets and after doing that, keep them in a freezer.
When the crickets are frozen, they are well-preserved. If you need to use them at any time, ensure that the frozen insects fall to room temperature before feeding them to your crickets. When the crickets are at room temperature, they are more suitable than the conventional freeze-dried crickets from the store.
Live Crickets vs. Dead Crickets vs. Freeze-Dried Crickets
Live crickets are edible insects for bearded dragons and other types of reptiles. There are various benefits of feeding your pet dragon with live crickets, instead of the conventional freeze-dried or dead ones. One of the major advantages of eating live crickets is the moisture content of the insects.
For live crickets, they can be gut-loaded for a significant nutritional value. Loaded crickets are essential for providing your lizards with the nutrients they need for daily activities. Compared to dead crickets and the freeze-dried ones, the live crickets are easier to digest and they excite the natural hunting instincts of lizards or bearded dragons.
In some scenarios, live crickets may also be an unadvisable meal option. Live crickets may have pinworms, which may transfer to the bearded dragons. Note that the live crickets may also bite your lizards, which is dangerous for their overall well-being.
Another significant downside of the live crickets are their capability to escape and breed in the house. Crickets smell bad and it’s also difficult for individuals to handle.
Overall, live crickets are great meal options, especially for moisture and easy digestion. Dead crickets on the other hand are not appealing to lizards, especially the leopard geckos because they aren’t mobile.
Lastly, the freeze-dried crickets are great for bearded dragons because you can store them for a long time and they will remain edible. However, always ensure you review the expiry date of the freeze-dried product you purchase.
How to Get Pet Lizards to Eat Them
Pet lizards can eat freeze-dried crickets when the owner takes the necessary steps in feeding them. There are different methods or approaches to making your lizards eat freeze-dried crickets. You can try all of these techniques below to see which works best for your lizard:
- Mix them with their veggies: When it comes to feeding your lizards, most of these reptiles don’t like consuming freeze-dried insects. For this reason, there may be a need to mix them with veggies and fruits.
With the combination of crickets and veggies, there’s a lower probability of your pet lizard rejecting the meal. Note that you should consider the daily proportion of fruit and veggies before applying this technique in their feeding.
- Make them mobile: Try to make the freeze-dried crickets mobile by moving them with a soft plastic or using a vibrating food dish. Note that it’s unadvisable to use your hands to avoid injuries.
Other Freeze-Dried Insects for Lizards
Apart from crickets, several other freeze-dried insects are suitable for lizards. It’s advisable to draw out a meal plan that includes the different types of freeze-dried insects to keep them nourished and active.
Here are some other freeze-dried insects for lizards:
- Mealworms: The freeze-dried mealworms are also very available in online stores. They contain protein, fats, and fiber. Using the mealworms for lizards provides your pet with all the necessary nutrients for development and growth. Note that dried mealworms don’t contain moisture, so it’s unadvisable to frequently feed your lizards with that meal option.
- Grasshoppers: Grasshoppers are natural prey for various reptiles, including lizards. Freeze-dried grasshoppers are high sources of protein and other crucial amino acids. Using freeze-dried grasshoppers serve as a great alternative to help in diversifying your lizard’s diet. Proper feeding with grasshoppers reduces the tendency of life-threatening diseases.
Crickets, mealworms, and grasshoppers are the commonest types of insects for feeding lizards. You should consider mixing the freeze-dried mealworms and grasshoppers with plants or veggies. Note that you shouldn’t make your lizards consume freeze-dried crickets, mealworms, and grasshoppers every time. You should consider adopting live options in some conditions for hydration.
Conclusion
Freeze-dried crickets are great meal options for both bearded dragons and most lizards. If your lizards aren’t eating dried crickets, you should consider mixing them with vegetables and fruits or using vibrating food plates.
Note that freeze-dried insects, including crickets, mealworms, and grasshoppers shouldn’t be a daily meal routine for your pet lizard. Consider including live crickets and other food types that encourage hydration.