General Roach Qs

[Ethelia]

Well baby Miso has finally started to eat bugs willingly. HUZZAH!
She will ONLY eat from a brown bowl I just bought her (i tried clear bowls, silver bowls, tub feeding) and at the moment she is enjoying pheonixworms, the occational mealworms, and baby roaches.
Worms in the dish she will go up and pick out a few at a time, but if I put roaches down POW they are gone in the blink of an eye.

I fed her the last of my roaches this morning, which was probably about 20 smalls.
My first question is how many to feed a 4 month old (she is the size of a 2 month old due to her refusal of protien)?
OR is it the same old "however many she wants" twice a day?

I have been told that under no circumstances am I to have a roach colony (bloody spoil sport), so at the moment I can get 200 for £10 ($15) or 500 for £20 ($30ish).
Is this going to be financially viable in your eyes or do you think it will be a large expense?
I love my babies but I am a law student, so I must be realistic.

Im favouring roaches at the moment because they move so fast in the bowl and attract her attention.
I was wondering if there are any other feeders like this you could recommend? (they have to stay in the magic bowl unfortunatly, and i understand crickets can climb?)

Thanks in advance!
Holly

 

[Ethelia]

Also.

Dubia roaches are the roaches advertised on these forums, however I have come across a breeder of Blatta Lateralis roach also known as the "turkistan roach" who claims they are also recommended for bearded dragons and that they have a slightly softer shell than Dubias.

Anyone have any input about these kind of roaches?

Holly

 

[sunkist]

There are some on the board that have fed those roaches so that is fine. Most do dubia because they are easier to bread.

Those prices don't seem bad at all to me. I would still do some phoenix worms though to ensure she's getting her calcium in. For little Miso I would feed her what she will eat for now and then slowly back off on her protein. In other words let her catch up on her eating and once she's gained some weight back then ration them out a bit more.

I know all my guys love their roaches but I have a large EWWWWWWWW factor going on for me.

 

[Fallencomrade2008]

Those prices seem good to me also. If it was me i would get the larger quanity of roaches and i would feed them dandylions to "gut load" them with good calcium. I would also order up pheonix worms as they are basically the same price as petco's freakin crix. They are also high in calcium. The varaity in there meals is important. once she starts to fatten up to the normal size you should try to get her to have one meal of live protein and the other of veggies.

 

[MissT]

It is my understanding, Holly, that until they reach approx 12 months old, you should feed twice per day, as much as they want in a 10 min period. At least, this is what I did with Kazi-man. As soon as he reached 12 months, I cut him back to 1 feeding per day - still as much as he wants in 10 min. He always favoured salad tho so I didnt really need to worry about him becoming overweight. He now, although I still allow him as much as he wants, is actually very 'adult' in his behaviour and is eating approximately 30 - 40superworms per week and 1 -2 salads per day - this might mean he doesnt eat protein for 2 days then makes up for it the next, or he might just eat 2 or 3 on one day and 10 the next. As long as by about 18 months you have her on a good feeding schedule, it doesnt matter too much for the time being how much you feed her and I would stick with the old 'as many as she wants'...... someone please correct me if I'm wrong....