TeddyLC
Member
I have a five month old beardie who loves dubias - they're his favourite food. However, I know that they eat fewer roaches and more greens as they get older, and he's just one beardie, so I was wondering if a roach colony is worth it for him. I've spent several hours reading into what goes into starting and maintaining a roach colony, and that seems fine (plus, A+ way of getting rid of scrap veggies, yay!). I just happen to have extra 10gal Rubbermaid tub sitting in storage from my last move, I've always got piles of egg cartons because I shred them for my guinea pig, and I eat mostly vegetarian at home so I've always got fruit and veggie scraps to spare.
My problem is, the colonies I've seen - once they get going - are pretty big, and definitely well beyond what my one beardie would eat. My local pet shop already has plenty of roach supply so I doubt they'd be inclined to take more. Selling them online and shipping them to other beardie owners isn't feasible, as my work schedule is such that the post office is closed by the time I get off work and it's too far for me to get there and back on a lunch break. I don't want to wind up with hundreds more roaches than I actually need come 6mo or a year, and I'm pretty sure my significant other would kill me in my sleep if I got another dragon just because I had too many roaches. :roll: Obviously I don't want to dump them outside (even if they wouldn't survive - I'm in the PNW, so it's too wet and cold for them), but roaches at the store or online are so expensive! I can afford it, of course - wouldn't have gotten him if I couldn't - but naturally, I'd rather not have to pay that much every week if I can avoid it, especially in the winter when the weather is deplorable. He doesn't really like crickets, so I can't just use crickets as a staple and supplement his diet with roaches. =\
I know that you can slow down their reproduction by keeping them in a cooler environment, but I'm not sure how cool is cool enough and how cool would kill them. I also tend to lead a super busy lifestyle and I have a terrible sense of smell (allergies and sinuses, yay!), so while I spend time with my beardie every day, I'm a little worried if I'll be able to tend to the roaches adequately - I don't think I'd notice that some are dead, for instance, because I wouldn't pick up on the sweet/vinegary smell. I don't have a car, so regularly driving out to drop them off with a herp vet isn't plausible, either (not that I know of one - I looked up a few in my area, but the information seems out of date, as they're not listed under the staff directories for the clinics they're listed under).
Thoughts? Advice? Is it probably just not for me, given my lifestyle and my fella's age, or would it still be a good route to go? I wish I'd started a colony before getting the lizard so it'd be up and running now when he wants roaches all the time, but at this point he'll probably be closer to 9mo by the time the colony is producing young, and then I'd have to wait for those ickle ones to get big enough to be worth feeding, and if I can't get the environment right it may take even longer to produce young feeders...
My problem is, the colonies I've seen - once they get going - are pretty big, and definitely well beyond what my one beardie would eat. My local pet shop already has plenty of roach supply so I doubt they'd be inclined to take more. Selling them online and shipping them to other beardie owners isn't feasible, as my work schedule is such that the post office is closed by the time I get off work and it's too far for me to get there and back on a lunch break. I don't want to wind up with hundreds more roaches than I actually need come 6mo or a year, and I'm pretty sure my significant other would kill me in my sleep if I got another dragon just because I had too many roaches. :roll: Obviously I don't want to dump them outside (even if they wouldn't survive - I'm in the PNW, so it's too wet and cold for them), but roaches at the store or online are so expensive! I can afford it, of course - wouldn't have gotten him if I couldn't - but naturally, I'd rather not have to pay that much every week if I can avoid it, especially in the winter when the weather is deplorable. He doesn't really like crickets, so I can't just use crickets as a staple and supplement his diet with roaches. =\
I know that you can slow down their reproduction by keeping them in a cooler environment, but I'm not sure how cool is cool enough and how cool would kill them. I also tend to lead a super busy lifestyle and I have a terrible sense of smell (allergies and sinuses, yay!), so while I spend time with my beardie every day, I'm a little worried if I'll be able to tend to the roaches adequately - I don't think I'd notice that some are dead, for instance, because I wouldn't pick up on the sweet/vinegary smell. I don't have a car, so regularly driving out to drop them off with a herp vet isn't plausible, either (not that I know of one - I looked up a few in my area, but the information seems out of date, as they're not listed under the staff directories for the clinics they're listed under).
Thoughts? Advice? Is it probably just not for me, given my lifestyle and my fella's age, or would it still be a good route to go? I wish I'd started a colony before getting the lizard so it'd be up and running now when he wants roaches all the time, but at this point he'll probably be closer to 9mo by the time the colony is producing young, and then I'd have to wait for those ickle ones to get big enough to be worth feeding, and if I can't get the environment right it may take even longer to produce young feeders...