FINCHforum

I've heard of bag o' bugs and bugs n' berries, but it looks like both are exclusively purchased online and that's something we generally avoid here. I'm looking for something you can possibly find in chain pet stores or specialty bird stores. Does anyone know of anything? I'm also open to alternatives like lizard bug mixes or something similar to that. I definitely don't want to feed live food because I know that some will get away and go right under the carpet.

Any help is appreciated. My CB's have been mating these past few days and I'm trying to do everything on my part to avoid tossed babies.

Thanks

There are many brands, Feast insectivorous, Orlux insect patee, as well as the ones you mentioned. Most pet stores don't carry them that I have seen. That is why online buying is the way to go. You may try asking the store manager to special order you some. When I worked the pet store we would gladly do that for customers... you may have to pay up front so that they know you are serious. But most times where they get their feed will also carry the bug mixtures. Most pet stores don't stock it because it does not move off the shelf. Most pet finch keepers usually don't bother to feed anything more than seed

Many on the forum, including myself, feed dried bloodworms (from the fish department of almost any pet store) to our waxbills and other insectivores. Both my Goldbreast and Society finch love them. Also you can get canned mealworms in the reptile section of Petsmart and some other pet stores. My Goldbreast loves them.

Also, a bird specialty store will almost always have dried eggfood with insects.

My favorite and the birds favorite here is Gammarus Patee

http://www.silversongwest.com/cgi/webda ... ction=form

Guys, I've caved a little and am considering buying live food. What do you usually feed the live bugs in so you don't find them crawling up your wall the next week? That is the only thing that really irks me.

EDIT: I just thought of something new. Could I kill the live mealworms by freezing them (?) and then stick them in the fridge to preserve them? I just called petsmart and it turns out the live stuff is cheaper than the dead ones.

Dominic, I beleive that it was Ursula who posted on this a while back. She gave us the trick to freeze them for about a half hour and then feed. I have discovered though that I prefer to cut them in half after freezing, being as how I did find that not all stop moving after a half hour.

Do you only freeze the portion you are feeding that day? Because I would like to freeze them all to kill them and then keep them in the fridge to preserve them. My family, including myself, would feel very uncomfortable about watching live worms squirm in a container next to the eggs.

Domenic wrote:Do you only freeze the portion you are feeding that day? Because I would like to freeze them all to kill them and then keep them in the fridge to preserve them. My family, including myself, would feel very uncomfortable about watching live worms squirm in a container next to the eggs.

Why, mealworms are a source of exotic dishes in restaurants that specialize in insects.
New Orleans has an insectarium with a specialty restaurant that serves insect dishes and deserts.
I would think they keep them with the eggs.

Domenic are you looking for extra protein? I found a site a while back that has the bugs in like a pellet form, I imagine it can be crushed and added to foods. It is on the other computer, I'll see if I can find it and send it off to you. It was included in a zoo food site.

I would only freeze what you are going to use. When you put the mealies in the fridge they go still and really don't move much until you take them out to warm up and you feed them apples or a potato for a few hours.

If you you keep them up top in the fridge and don't want to see them put them in a white or dark container!

Tip: if using bran flakes grind the flakes to a powder, powder some pellets, wheat germ (they will eat their substrate) then when getting mealies out for a feeding use a mesh strainer, the powder will fall through the strainer and you won't have to pick flakes out of the pile of worms.

John..that sounds oh so yummy...not!!!!

Domenic, our PetSmart can order a large quanity, see if they can get you a larger quanity than the little cup. You can also mail order mealies via a check and bypassing the the online orders.

Well, eggfood is already providing all the protein the CB's need, it's just that I believe they will strongly prefer bugs over eggfood. Right now they eat it but not very often, definitely not often enough to sustain chicks.

I would only freeze what you are going to use.

Is there a reason for this? If I kept the mealies in the freezer permanently would they lose nutritional value? I wouldn't mind keeping them dead in the freezer and defrosting what I need everyday.

-I wanted to post more but my family is rushing me off the computer, I have some more questions for later though!-

I don't know how they would do long term in the freezer. I place a small amount in the freezer and they turned a funny dark color and the birds did not eat them. Mine wouldn't eat them frozen, tried 3 times. I did feed live in a deep dish and only gave a small amount eat time. If they went through those and were looking for more I added a few more. The zebra, owls and shaftail ate the minis completly, the small they left mealie body parts. laying around..yuk.

I took the canned mealworms out of the large can I ordered from FairestFinches, and put in several smaller containers. Froze all but one container, as I only have 2 tiny finches, and only one will eat the mealworms. She doesn't mind the defrosted ones at all.
They are not the minis (she wouldn't eat those). They are about an inch long, and once defrosted I put in the bottom of the cage and she takes them and squeezes them like a tube of toothpaste to get the insides out, and leaves the skin.

The mealworms turn dark when they are dead. Mine don't eat them anymore either when they are dark.

I once tried a can-o-crickets. These are dead, black, nasty looking things, and they smelled terrible. My birds didn't even go near them, and I can't blame them.

Like Cindy said, they don't move when you put them in the fridge. I keep mine in the fridge in a plastic container with oat bran, with small air holes in the lid. Every other week or so I take them out and feed them sliced apples overnight. This way they last for weeks. I never order less than 5000 at a time. If you buy these small cups in the pet store you pay a LOT more per piece!

I freeze them an hour before feeding.

I personally would not feed live food, after doing my research on this website. Take a look, there is a lot of information and it is very helpful!

http://www.gulfcoastfinches.com/home

Thanks for the link Brant! I have actually been using many parts of the Green Day Diet for a little while now. Unfortunately, in order for his diet to be effective you have to include every part of it, which I'm not. So I'm unsure if excluding live food will be okay if I'm also excluding other parts too.