Blatta Lateralis is just as good as dubias?

[muzikfreakah]

Are they just as good? Planning on getting some as alternative to crickets as well for my 5 month old dragons.

 

[clear]

Lateralis is great, they are super fast tho!

 

[fresnowitte]

:wave: Well I have to tell you that most people don't seem to like them mainly because they look similar to the roaches one might find in there home....So I guess they kind of creep people out.
And they are much faster than the Dubia.
Another difference is that the Blatta Lateralis lay egg sacks the Dubias don't, they give live birth.

Personally I have the Blatta Lateralis an I like them so do my beardies.
They were a little creepy at first. :shock:
An according to this chart http://www.feedersinc.com/insect-comparison/ they are higher in moisture and protein, but lower in fat.

Sounded good to me. They are cheep to start, they quick producing, an I have never had an escapee. I got mine in March an I feed 8 beardies off of them, babies, juvies, an adult beardies. It's really nice not to have to spend all that money on feeders anymore. :mrgreen:

 

[muzikfreakah]

:wave: Well I have to tell you that most people don't seem to like them mainly because they look similar to the roaches one might find in there home....So I guess they kind of creep people out.
And they are much faster than the Dubia.
Another difference is that the Blatta Lateralis lay egg sacks the Dubias don't, they give live birth.

Personally I have the Blatta Lateralis an I like them so do my beardies.
They were a little creepy at first. :shock:
An according to this chart http://www.feedersinc.com/insect-comparison/ they are higher in moisture and protein, but lower in fat.

Sounded good to me. They are cheep to start, they quick producing, an I have never had an escapee. I got mine in March an I feed 8 beardies off of them, babies, juvies, an adult beardies. It's really nice not to have to spend all that money on feeders anymore. :mrgreen:

How do you pick them up and put them on you feeder tank? Kinda grosses me out picking up the egg tray and shaking the off, some mite get on my hand, with crickets I don't mind

 

[fresnowitte]

First I use a tall glass tank wrapped in paper bags for darkness rather than a plastic tub.
Because even though some roaches are non climbers they can still climb the plastic
tubs if they become scratched or have any dirt particles on the sides.

To answer your question I use the center cardboards from paper towel rolls.
And a smooth plastic containers like you'd get potatoe salad in at a deli.
I don't touch them either an I am the one that feeds them to my beardies.
Here are a couple of pic's to give you a visual.

 

[fresnowitte]

Oh let me add that if your feeding in a feeder tank you may want to only put in a couple at a time. As your beardie eats them add a couple more so you don't have to try to get them from the feeder tank back into the roach enclosure. :lol: This way if there's only 1 or 2 left in the feeder tank you can just smash them instead of having to freak. Don't worry they produce quickly so you don't have to be concerned about killing a couple once and awhile.

Most of my beardies just climb into the deli container an eat them before I have a chance to dump them. :lol:

 

[palomino]

I have decided to go with the Turks as well. I will be ordering them shortly. Thanks for posting the pics I noticed that they have a nice red coloring so they aren't as creepy as the other roaches I have seen and I don't think that they will creep me out as much as crickets do. I am not a fan of bugs but having horses for all of these years has prepared me well for handling them.

 

[fresnowitte]

The adult females are darker in color no longer as reddish, but they are really not as
creepy as I thought they'd be.

 

[muzikfreakah]

Wow sounds good!

Couple more questions before I go grab some egg laying adults :-D

1.) Do they stink?
2.) What substrate do you use and how do you ensure that the substrate (like cocopeat) doesn't I stick on the roaches and accidentally gets eaten by your dragons?
3.) Is is true that if you dont put substrate they will stink?
4.) We dont have ready made feeder gutloads available here, is it ok to feed them chicken/stag developer, dog food, fresh veggies and fruits instead?
5.) We dont have water gels, can I use this for water:

Thanks guys!

 

[fresnowitte]

1) Very minimal smell if any.

I have a colony in my kitchen an one on the back indoor porch an only if the enclosure is to humid does it put off any smell at all. If it does begin to put off an odor just shake off your egg crates and change them out and try to lower the humidity just a bit. If you need to use a heat source for them like an under the tank heater just make sure your food is at the opposite end this will keep the odor away as well.

2) No substrate for these guys.

3) No

4) Yes

I use a mixture of dry cat and dog food with a variety of cereals and grains as well as unsalted peanuts.
If you have a grocery store that has a bulk food section you can find all of these things for very little out of pocket in comparison to the gut load its way cheaper. And I shred up carrots and other leftover beardies food for them as well. They grow best and will thrive best if given a high protein diet.

5) I wouldn't as they may drowned themselves.

Instead if you don't have water crystal you can use a wet sponge or paper towels. Also by feeding them carrots, other veggies and fruits they can get their moisture.

 

[clear]

Just make sure you don't have rotten food in there!

 

[muzikfreakah]

1) Very minimal smell if any.

I have a colony in my kitchen an one on the back indoor porch an only if the enclosure is to humid does it put off any smell at all. If it does begin to put off an odor just shake off your egg crates and change them out and try to lower the humidity just a bit. If you need to use a heat source for them like an under the tank heater just make sure your food is at the opposite end this will keep the odor away as well.

2) No substrate for these guys.

3) No

4) Yes

I use a mixture of dry cat and dog food with a variety of cereals and grains as well as unsalted peanuts.
If you have a grocery store that has a bulk food section you can find all of these things for very little out of pocket in comparison to the gut load its way cheaper. And I shred up carrots and other leftover beardies food for them as well. They grow best and will thrive best if given a high protein diet.

5) I wouldn't as they may drowned themselves.

Instead if you don't have water crystal you can use a wet sponge or paper towels. Also by feeding them carrots, other veggies and fruits they can get their moisture.

Thank you very much for the quick response

Ok, I heard that you need substrate because this will be the one to absorb their body oils which give out the smell and the pee and the poo?

As for the water dispenser I plan to fill it up with pebbles as that what I do also for my cricket colony, so far constant water, no drowning. Will that be ok?

 

[patrickb]

Ok, I heard that you need substrate because this will be the one to absorb their body oils which give out the smell and the pee and the poo?

As for the water dispenser I plan to fill it up with pebbles as that what I do also for my cricket colony, so far constant water, no drowning. Will that be ok?

Their poo (and pee I guess) is in a solid form and has no odor to it. Use of a substrate just increases the moisture retention and makes cleaning time more difficult. As long as you keep the poo dry, it won't smell. As a matter of fact, you don't need to clean it out like you do with crickets and this poo will become the substrate. As long as you can still see the dead ones, then there is not too much poo. Like Barbara said, they have a minimal smell, definitely no where near as bad as crickets and not really even a bad smell. Keep the dead ones picked out and you probably will only ever notice the smell except when you first open the tote and it is going to knock you off your feet.

Your water system sounds fine, though I would make sure to change the jar and pebbles out weekly to prevent bacteria and mold growth. Keep an alternate set of pebbles washed and ready to go, then you can just swap them out and wash the dirty ones and let em air out for the week until you change it again. If you notice any type of "growth" or slime on the rocks when you do them weekly, you may need to go to a twice a week routine on that part. I haven't used a standing water system like that ever so not certain how long it goes before needing a good cleaning.

Also wanted to add that I think the Lateralis make a great feeder. They definitely do look like the more typical type of roach you are used to seeing so may take some adjustment on your part, but they are well worth it. And as others have mentioned, these guys are fast, very fast. Think Ferrari vs. Oldsmobile if you compared their speed to crickets. But they can't jump and can't climb so escapes are very rare, just a few stupid mistakes usually.

 

[muzikfreakah]

I have my breeders! Feeding them dogfood now and some veggies.

Would you recommend I separate the eggs, so when they hatch I can easily monitor them because I need to feed my beardies .8inch ones now coz they are still youn, it will save me the trouble of sorting them out, then I can just grab a couple of them and leave them with the original colony to grow and replace the current breeders, is that recommended?

 

[fresnowitte]

It's really up to you how you want to maintain your enclosures. Your idea may save you some time, but I just use two of the tall clear plastic containers. Once I have emptied some roaches out of the paper towel rolls I use a second container to help in seperating them just make sure you hold the containers down in the roach enclosure to sort so you don't have any escape. Also the larger roaches will usually hide closer to the bottom of the egg crates the top layers is where I usually see the smaller ones as well as in the paper towel rolls. When I empty the paper towel rolls into the clear plastic container normally there are only one or two larger roaches. I usually have to work at getting the larger roaches out for my adults.