Yes… she’s small. But you know what they say, “Good things come in small packages”. And she’s more than good, she’s GREAT!
We purchased Maddie at a reptile show over three years ago. The second we saw her among her siblings we knew we had to take her home with us. Her coloring and the diamond shape pattern running down her back made her stand out from all the others. Little did we know, Maddie was no ordinary healthy bearded dragon and that she’d be the inspiration behind Dubia Dust.
No Ordinary Bearded Dragon
As months passed with Maddie, we noticed that she wasn’t getting any bigger. Typical bearded dragons grow exponentially. At seven months, their size should be 12-19 inches, but Maddie was still only 6 inches from nose to tail! We also noticed that her back legs weren’t functioning normally. They moved but not with the authority a young juvenile bearded dragon should have. Maddie was never a veggie eater. All she wanted to eat was dubia roaches and worms which just isn’t enough nutrition for a growing beardie. As you can imagine, we started to get pretty concerned about her health.
Time to Visit a Reptile Veterinarian
We decided to take Maddie to a reptile veterinarian in our area to see what the issue might be. The vet ran multiple tests on her and she tested positive for the Adenovirus. Typical symptoms of Bearded Dragons with Adenovirus are:
- Weight loss
- Diarrhea
- Weakness / Lethargy / Depression
- Failure to thrive
Now things started to make sense. The weakness in her back legs and failure to thrive are the two main symptoms Maddie had. The vet explained that bearded dragons who are diagnosed with this disease at such an early age can only expect to live till two years old or less. Obviously, my daughter and I were pretty upset to hear that news. It meant we only had one more year with Maddie.
What Can We Do to Help Maddie?
Since Maddie was still a juvenile, she wasn’t eating any greens. I mean… SHE REFUSED to eat any veggies. We tried every tip we could find but nothing worked. So we had to come up with a way to supplement her feeder insect diet with something that will boost her nutritional intake. Shopping around for a supplement that we thought would help her was fruitless. We found nothing! After a little brainstorming, we came up with an awesome idea! MICROGREENS!
What Are Microgreens and Why Is This the Solution?
Microgreens are 10-day old vegetables that contain up to 40x more nutrients than their adult counterparts. There have been numerous clinical studies to back up that claim. We own and operate a microgreens company Long Island Microgreens. Our core business is selling microgreens to health-conscious people, health food stores, and restaurants. We thought… since microgreens are so small and packed with nutrients why not feed them to Maddie? This has to be the solution we were looking for, right? Nope… Maddie wouldn’t eat the fresh vegetables even though they are micro-sized! Now, what should we do?
I got it… dehydrate the microgreens to create a nutritional dust to sprinkle on her feeders! So we did some research and purchased a dehydrator with a very low-temperature setting. The lower the temperature of the dehydration process, the more nutrients are retained in the end product. We grew a blend of microgreens that we’d normally feed a bearded dragon. 10 days later, we popped them into the dehydrator set at 95 degrees which is lower than the recommended temperature to dehydrate vegetables. The dehydration process took a while because of the low temp setting but we wanted this dust to be packed with nutrients so we patiently waited.
Will Maddie Eat Feeders With This Dust?
We grabbed Maddie’s feeder bowl and added 15 Dubia Roaches. We sprinkled the dust onto the dubias and made sure they were well coated. We put the bowl in front of Maddie and waited for her to see it.
Will Maddie eat the feeders? Drum roll, please… Boom! She devoured every single one in a matter of minutes! Success! We kept feeding Maddie feeder insects sprinkled with this dust and noticed her energy perked up and colors became more vibrant. As weeks, then months went by, we can tell it was making a very positive impact on her overall health and wellbeing. We’ve been feeding Maddie insects with this dust for almost 2 1/2 years and she’s still going strong at the age of 3, even though the veterinarian said she would only live for two years or less. We honestly believe that this dust has prolonged her life!
How Can We Help Other Reptiles?
Since we were able to help Maddie, why not offer this to every reptile owner who wants the best nutrition for their pets? Dubia Dust was born! You might be asking yourself, why would they call it Dubia Dust if it’s for all feeder insects. Well… Dubias are Maddie’s favorite insect so the name is a tribute to our little girl who beat the odds. Also, we felt it sounds cool. 🙂
Why Choose Dubia Dust Over Other Reptile Supplements?
The answer is simple. Our parent company, Long Island Microgreens, uses a Pure Growing Method to grow microgreens. What does that mean?
1. No Fertilizers
Most microgreens farms use chemical-based fertilizers to enhance plant growth and speed up the process. We don’t use any chemicals at all. Mother nature created enough nutrients in each seed to cover the first 20 days of growth! So why do other farms use chemical additives?
2. No Pesticides
With our PURE growing method in a climate-controlled environment, we don’t need to add any harmful chemical-based pesticides to keep the bugs away.
3. 6x Filtered Water
We never use tap water on our farm. Our 6 Stage Advanced Water Filtration process removes 98-100% of the contaminants typically found in residential water supplies. These contaminants are bad for your reptile so we remove them.
4. Non-GMO Seeds
We only use Certified Non-GMO Seeds. Laboratory created, Genetically Modified Seeds, have no place on our farm, let alone in your pets life. Every seed is also sanitized to make sure they’re germ-free.
5. Hydroponically Grown
We chose to grow our microgreens hydroponically for several reasons. It’s the cleanest growing method that provides a sterile environment for plant production. Plus, vitamin and mineral content can be 50% higher in hydroponically grown plants!
How Can You Purchase Dubia Dust?
Very simple! You can mosey on over to our Dubia Dust Shop, select the option you want to purchase, checkout and pay. We process orders on a daily basis so your order should ship within 1-2 business days. All orders are shipped by US Postal Service First Class Mail. You’ll receive an email confirmation once your item ships.
If you have any questions regarding Dubia Dust, please feel free to reach out to us via our contact form. We wish you and your reptiles all the best!
