Any roach breeders in Northeast Ohio?! (Dubia/Lobster)

[blondie098]

I am impressed with all the info on the Dubias from this board... we joined to be the best beardie slaves we can be to our guy Crash. Is there anyone in Northeast Ohio (Akron, Tallmadge, Mogadore, Cuyahoga Falls, etc) who has a colony of Dubia? We just ordered some, and should have them by the end of next week, but no one, not even Two Turtles carries them? I am just antzy to let our guy try 'em.

He loves superworms, so we are hoping to be done forever with crix after the colony gets established.

I have one week to get over the heebiejeebies of being a roach lady! :lol:

Is starting w/250 mixed a decent quantity to start a colony? we ordered the higher amount so we could feed some off right away, but we'll be able to pick out the smaller ones, so the adults can "do their thing".

 

[LQDragons]

I'm in SoCal & I can have them to you in a couple days

 

[blondie098]

We'll be receiving ours middle/late next week, I just figured if someone near me had some I could pickup this weekend, he could try them and then I could get more psyched to deal with the creepie crawlies. I am still not completely over my heebie jeebies with the superworms, they like to wrap themselves around my fingers, which creeps me out.

Gawd, if my mom were still alive, she would probably disown me for keeping roaches & worms! :twisted: We ordered a large qty of those, too (superworms) ~ bulk prices will save me quite abit, and our neighbor boy will probably buy them as needed, too for his herps.

Our 10 y.o. daughter is totally jazzed about the Dubias ~ she's gonna help raise our colony. (she wants to try the hissing ones, too, but I don't know if I can deal with something that hisses at me!)

 

[patrickb]

Heh, the best part is the anticipation and the waiting. :lol:

Not sure how squeamish you are, but the roaches may take a bit of adjusting to get used to. Some people love them from the get-go, others have to have them grow on them. Dubia are actually what I would call "cute" which was my reaction when I first got some, and I am freaked out by the typical american cockroachs that like to come indoors especially now that it is getting cool outside. I can guarantee you, your daughter is gonna love them and want to make them pets. One bit of advice though, resist the urge to "play" with the new arrivals if you find them so interesting. They do much better when left alone. If need be, take some smaller nymphs out and setup a mini-colony of them for observal and handling if you or your daughter want more interaction with them. As funny as it sounds, people do become spontaneously attached to these guys. Just watch out for the adult males, those you will definitely have to adjust to.

 

[beardie osk]

Hi Dawn,

I had a colony of Dubia's, and believe it or not, I found the nymphs cute as well. (Never thought I'd say that)

They need to be kept warm for breeding, so I had a tank heating pad on one side, they don't climb, smell, and are very quiet, but they are shy and want to be left alone, so they need hiding places, (egg crates work well), also when feeding, feed the males off first so the females can lay their babies, there is a definate difference between the male and female which is good.

They say it takes 6 mo. for a good colony to be at maximum, but I had to sell mine since I was traveling and folks didn't want to take care of them :shock: I'm sure you know all this, but just wanted to pass it on.

Best wishes on your new adventure,

 

[blondie098]

OMG -- I travel a couple times a year, I didn't even think of someone taking care of the feeders! Well, worst case scenario, I can feed the roaches right before we leave, or maybe take 'em with us... we only travel for a major tradeshow (different city each year) in the late spring, and then if we get hired for training at conferences for what we do (Carbon Monoxide detection / safety / training)

I can just see the headlines now: "Lunatic woman brings bucket of roaches & freaky looking worms to hotel in Pittsburgh/Kansas City" !! :!:

I think I already have a babysitter for my dragon when we have to leave town next time, we will just take his whole setup to my cousin's house. I keep her Maltese puppy when she has week-long church retreats, but I think asking her to look after bugs would put her over the top! Her husband is who would be feeding the bugs to our baby. Crash LOVES watching Katie bounce around the house, I can just hear his thoughts: "Why is that darn white fluffball bouncing around? It's in MY exercise room, with MY humans!"

 

[beardie osk]

The nice thing about Dubia's is all you have to do is make sure they have their drink crystals and food daily, they don't have to be cuddled! :laughhard:

Also Phoenix and butterworms don't have any maintenance needs, one in the fridge, the other in a cool place, that's it!

 

[vickson420]

Topic moved to feeders

 

[patrickb]

OMG -- I travel a couple times a year, I didn't even think of someone taking care of the feeders! Well, worst case scenario, I can feed the roaches right before we leave, or maybe take 'em with us... we only travel for a major tradeshow (different city each year) in the late spring, and then if we get hired for training at conferences for what we do (Carbon Monoxide detection / safety / training)

I wouldn't honestly worry about them. The good thing about roaches is they are near indestructible and won't die off like a lot of other feeders will if neglected. Just make sure to give them plenty of food/water before you leave (not too much food that it will sit and mold) and they will be fine for a week or two easy. They could go for a month easily probably, though I wouldn't want to do it. Roaches are survivors and when food/water isn't present, they seem to scale down their metabolism. That's another thing that helps too, just take any heat sources you have for them away, or move them to a cooler location.

 

[BestRoach]

Water is critical...roaches can go over a month without food (although they will start to eat each other). They will die in a tad over a week without water, with those freshly molted roaches being eaten for moisture.

If you are going away for over a few days, load them up with tons of water crystals. I would also dump at least 3-4 days worth of food in the bin. You may even toss a large carrot in there. The carrot will occupy them for a couple days, buying more time for the water crystals. Chances are, they will have finished the carrot long before mold would be an issue (depending on colony size).