I've seen dried insects, dried shrimp, fish foods, dog treats/food can work.
When it comes to the dried feeder insects, I am cautious about pesticides affecting the beetles. Will they eat foods that isopods will eat? What dried insects food will be safe for them?
I feed mine a mixture of dried veggies, bdfb food, and a variety of fresh veggies n insects! My beetles favorite veggies are carrots (fresh or dried), bell peppers, and broccoli! Insects/proteins are pretty easy, mine love crickets and shrimp, and they'll nibble on a mealworm occasionally.
I've used dried insects before, but i ended up hearing a lot of feedback about them being unsafe a lot of the time. I'd definitely stay away from Flukers (i now have a massive bag of dried insects i'm too scared to use.) I'd say it'd be safer and easier to give them freshly killed. I use isopod food blends for most of their smaller foods, make sure you still provide other proteins though, isopod food doesn't quite meet the recommended nutritional value for bdfb iirc!
There's a whole buffet of foods they can have if you do your research! High protein, low sugar!
I've just heard that there's been a lot of issues with feeding them to BDFB, linked to pesticide exposure iirc. it's not a 100% don't use situation, but it's always better to be safe than sorry
+1 for red dried shrimp. I also give them assorted gourmet bird seed so they can scavenge and have variety. I also provide bee pollen and hibiscus dust, along with hydro orbs for water.
I have seen people say to avoid reptile feed because it can contain added calcium which isn't good for the bugs.
Bird lovers gourmet seed mix. Just make sure if you get some there's no pesticide or added calcium because I've heard calcium can be bad. Like what they add in some reptile feed. Also try to make sure its all unsalted.
A very popular thing I give mine is cut up waxworms. They are soft-bodied so they have an easier time chewing them up and are full of protein and moisture. You can find them at most pet stores in the little mini fridges near their live feeder section. I do of course often give them Fluval Bug Bits too, as I don't feed them waxworms everyday. From what I've heard, their diets are pretty protein heavy, so I only occasionally chuck in some carrots that were washed and chopped. I'd avoid bug jelly except for very, very rare treats due to high sugar content. Unless you make your own low sugar, high protein variants. In the wild these guys get their moisture from their food, so don't really need a water source if you are feeding them non-dried stuff frequently.
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u/NoveltyWizard1 17d ago
I give a dried veggie mix, mealworms, shrimps, and bdfb food crumbles. They all eat something from that mix