I keep a large variety of reptiles and I use feeder roaches. Lobsters, dubia, discoids, hissers, b. lateralis.

I see alot of talk on crickets but not much about roaches. Have any of you every tried them ?

Attached Images

	lobster roaches2.jpg (17.7 KB, 2 views)
	DUBIA.jpg (10.8 KB, 2 views)
	mADAGASCAR.jpg (20.9 KB, 2 views)
	RustyReds2_640x480.jpg (31.5 KB, 2 views)

Ive tried them, but I think I killed most of mine off or didn't take care of them right. They are great feeders though.

__________________

What if they escaped!!

I know there are species that can't climb as I have been considering using them. However I'm still figuring out if it's more cost effective or not. Since they are more expensive.
Also I think the chances are slim to none that my wife will let me bring cockroaches into the house intentionally.

__________________
Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

LMAO! I hear you Mike!
I think there would probably be violence at my place.
She loves the animals, tolerates frozen rats in the freezer and several boxes of mealworm cultures, but roaches would probably be the proverbial straw!

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

My wife and I have debated that question for a long time. We are both, not in favor of having roach's in our home, but they do provide a steady supply of food for our 7 Bearded Dragons and basilisk.

We first started with lobster roach's, because of a high meat content. After buying a colony of about 30 roach's it took only a few months before the colony started growing and we began feeding them to the reptiles.

The only problem with the lobster's is that they can climb, bo you need to buy "bug stop" or use Vaseline. Vaseline is way cheaper than bug stop so we opted for the Vaseline.

If you don't want to Vaseline your reptiles home's then you need a feeder tank. We chose to make a feeder tank with vaseline at the top going done a good 4". This and the colonies tank was checked daily and before each feeding.

The Bearded Dragons loved roach's and just couldn't get enough of them. The problem of using Vaseline became a problem in itself and decided to go with a non-climbing roach.

We got them from "Solar Powered Pets" at the Manchester, NH reptile show last April. He called them Blaptica dubia (a.k.a. Guyana orange spotted roach).





A little background on them:

They're non-climbing, bigger, softer shelled which means meatier & slower to catch.

Their found throughout Central and South America including French Guyana. This species ranges in size from 42-50mm. B. dubia is a very popular feeder roach in Europe and has been increasingly popular in the U.S.

Very good breeders, long-lived, calm, and very little odor make this an excellent roach. Another thing I really like about this species is while mature males get full wings, females only have little stubs making them one of the easiest roaches to sex. Also, this roach is very mellow compared to the blaberus species.

Often during cleaning nymphs will play dead and this species is very easy to handle.

These roaches usually reach adulthood in 3-5 months and then will live another 12-24months. Males of this species have wings, but this is a non-climbing\flying species.

My Bearded Dragons love them better than the lobster roach's

For roach's contact "Solar Powered Pets" and tell them bob stano sent you.

Solar Powered Pets - Available

PS

If your wife won't let you have them not to worry. Go ahead and get them anyway. If they escape just buy a small critter collar and leash and tell her it's a new type of guinea pig or new breed of dog you bought just for her.

__________________
Thanks For Reading My Post

bob/stano40

Haha very good.
Thanks for the info. I'll have to consider them a little more seriously.
I would like to have another few pairs of Dwarf monitors but the food bill would be high.
How many does it take to get a good colony going?

__________________
Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

I started with 30 and the colony is in full swing. I give them 1/2 zucchini sliced lengthwise per week and these seem to thrive on it. They'll get squash this week.

__________________
Thanks For Reading My Post

bob/stano40

I'll be picking your brain in the near future on this subject I believe.

__________________
Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

OMG!! God bless all the wives (and husbands, not all men are creepy friendly with the bugs) on supporting it. That's all I have to say. I love creepy-crawlies, and things that go bump in the night, but even I would draw the line at that one!!! I look forward to seeing what you decide upon. Sleep tonight knowing your women love you!!!