ROACHES!! types, housing, breeding

[Guest]

I picked up some dubias yesterday, only 80 for the time being, I wanted to see who would eat them and who wouldn't before going overboard. I'm thinking about starting a colony. I know my beardie would be the main eater. The sav and hedgehog would have some here and there. Not entirely sure about the tegu, it seems like he would need to eat an entire colony... :doh

Anyway, are dubias the best way to go? I've seen that some people to the madagascar hissing roaches. I'd need all sizes for my critters. I've got some spare tanks, heading pads, egg cartons. All sorts of cricket food, water gel stuff.

Any input is welcome and much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Guest]

I guess roaches do very well under the refrigerator.You just need a dog that spills its food and you should be set !

 

[Guest]

lol my dogs would eat anything they saw crawling around. not sure if those are the kind of roaches i want...

 

[Guest]

A friend of mine swears by roaches. He always tells me, "they're odorless, silent, and much more nutritional than crickets!"
Here in Southern California he just keeps them in his garage year-round in big plastic storage bins. Seems like a pretty easy and cheap solution.

 

[Guest]

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[Guest]

Yeah for sure, I had a ton of crickets at one point and the smell was just too much. The roaches seem to be easy, feed em, give em water and let them sit. It's more expensive for the start up but I think in time it will be a lot better and more convenient than the crickets and worms.

 

[Guest]

Alright so tomorrow I'm going to be getting 24 adult females, 16 adult males, 80ish nymphs/babies whatever. With the left overs from yesterday I'll have 140 nymphs. Is that an alright amount to start off with?

 

[Guest]

If it helps any I feed my tegu roaches once a week. Out of 6dragons only 4will eat them. They are pretty much odorless and the dubias seem to take time to build a good colony.

 

[JohnMatthew]

I have a colony of discoids and I have to tell you, roaches are great! Very easy to maintain a colony and you can't smell anything at all unless you basically stick you head in their enclosure and even then it's not a bad smell per say. I started with only 40 mixed nymphs so it took a while for mine to grow up and start breeding but now I'm never in short supply. Now when I clean them out(about twice a year) I usually end up freezing 1000-2000 to keep their numbers in check. Most of my animals that eat them live will eat the f/t roaches just as readily so none are wasted.

Your 24 adult females should give you a good jumpstart on the colony. If you're worried about depleting them faster than they reproduce just feed off nymphs and adult males(long wings) until they start breeding in full force. A lot of people use water crystals but I just like to keep a piece of fruit available to mine for their moisture. I've found that my roaches reproduce more readily when I provide a steady supply of citrus(orange, tangerine, kumquats, etc). Best of luck, they're easily my favorite feeder.

 

[Guest]

What would a colony look like ?Would you keep them in a rubber made ? What kind of interior structure is there ??

 

[Guest]

they can be kept in a rubbermaid container, some people will cut out pices of the lid and replace it with screen to help with air flow. then its packed with some egg cartons. usually there needs to be a heating pad under the container, roaches won't breed under certain temps.

random picture of a colony


and thank you all for the input. i never thought about the f/t, thats pretty neat. ill have to keep that in mind

 

[Guest]

Looks like any one could do that .. I have put off certain reptiles because of having to deal with [the bug cartels ] Now if I could grow my own ????