hello
i am new here so please tell me if I do anything rong but I havnt seen anything on roaches here
i am a major breeder of roaches with over 20 species breeding and well over 20,000 individuals
they are great food
my cane toad has a faint white/ blue shine on her skin and she feels very very soft to the touch
people say shes like radioactive haha
i feed her roaches that have had bad molts and I feed her blaptica dubia and shelferdella tartara to fill in the rest
i am just wondering why people would bother to set up a breeding colonie of mealies and not roaches?
if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask me by pm or e-mail




Thanks froggy

Not everyone likes roaches. Some keepers choose to raise mealies and supers because they dont have a herp that eats roaches.

btw...welcome to herpcenter.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

Hi Froggy, welcome to HCN! =)

Why meallies, crickets, etc and not roaches? For me it's quite simple! I live in sunny and warm Portugal where a lot of roach species, even the most exotic, would simply flourish. Escape crickets die. Escape meallies eventually die. Escape roachs multiply like gremlins falling into a swimming pool after midnight =)
I don't buy anything with plague potential!

Then there's another stronger reason, my wife. She has some kind of argument but I can't remember anything she says after "Bobbit"

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Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

yes but nutritionally roaches are superior to mealies and crickets

as for rbl I can understand that but I only have escapees of hard to contain species like panchlora nivea and maybe pycnocelus surinamensis
if you kept a specie like periplaneta americana or periplaneta brunea there would be no problems with escapees since they are already there




Thanks froggy

I haven't found any info online that supports that allegation. If you have, please share with us.

I don't know if you only have the cane toad but I have 19 herps in 17 enclosures. Accidents are bound to happen frequently and they do!

As for escapees not being a problem because they are already here, well... that would be true if I had any kind of bugs in my house which I don't =)

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Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

Many herps have been raised very healthily and bred for years without ever having seen a roach!

I have the same situation. My wife endures snakes, lizards, an iguana cage big enough that I could lock HER up in it, mealworm cultures, crickets and frozen rodents in the freezer.
She draws the line at roaches in the house.
And having once lived in a place that was infested with the nasty little buggers I can see her point!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I've been wanting to do roaches for a while. I just never have. They are more nutritionally balanced when looking at Ca:P ratios. However I am no herp dietitian but I do believe that roaches are the best alternative for feeding. I think I've posted this article before FEEDING CAPTIVE INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS:NUTRITIONAL ASPECTS OF INSECTS AS FOOD Written by Joni Brenard of the Michigan State Department of Zoology.

Composition varies greatly based on age and diet. I just don't think roaches are as practical as crickets nor as prolific, but husbandry for roaches has came a long way in a short time.

For me is was getting past the work roach and memories of a trip to Florida and having them climb all over the place. Sean has two breeding pair of hissing cockroaches and some off spring now and has begun feeding them to the herps. As long as he deals with them and they don't get out and I don't have to touch them we are ok. My skin still crawls at the thought, but aren't I a really good mom. LOL

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Colleen

That is part of the problem. My lady used to live in Florida!
And there the roaches also FLY!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!