homemade roach chow? recipe?

[scalesandtales]

How do the roach breeders make there chow? I want to make some at home, but I don't know of any recipe. I remember seeing a thread about it, but I can't find it.

 

[Little D]

I grind up some dry cat food and oat meal and mix it together. I always have a big container full of this mixture and just refill the roach dish as they need it. They seem to love it because I have to refill the dish every day. Just make sure you also give them other stuff as well. Like I always keep carrots in there and once in a while I give them apple pieces and oranges. Must work cause the colony is growing good!! Good luck!

 

[scalesandtales]

I grind up some dry cat food and oat meal and mix it together. I always have a big container full of this mixture and just refill the roach dish as they need it. They seem to love it because I have to refill the dish every day. Just make sure you also give them other stuff as well. Like I always keep carrots in there and once in a while I give them apple pieces and oranges. Must work cause the colony is growing good!! Good luck!

Thanks =) I tried using orange and they loved it. I also put in some pre made roach chow with dry cat food, but I didn't grind it up.

 

[diggerdrake]

roaches will eat just about anything you give them. cat and/or dog food doesn't need to be crushed as they will do enough damage to it on their own. make sure they get plenty of protein. the better cat and dog foods are a bit higher than the cheap stuff. leftover veggies from your beardie salads are great such as the stalk from bok choy.

 

[scalesandtales]

Chicken is protein can I just give them some plain cooked chicken?

 

[diggerdrake]

I would stick with dry food and veggies. you need to make sure that the veggies get replaced every couple of days to you don't get mold growing. mold will kill off the roaches fast. as far as cooked chicken... I haven't tried it. I typically stick to many of the care sheets there are and the recommendations made here by the many well versed members. mainly a newbie myself but I stick with what is tried and true for the husbandry of our lizards, roaches and superworms

 

[scalesandtales]

They don't seem hungry,ever. I cought 2 eating last night but that is all I have seen. I have all the food they say to have and my temp is 86. What am I doigwrong?

 

[diggerdrake]

when you look in on them their instinct is to hide. a small colony will seem to take forever to eat what you give them. as the numbers get up then you will see food disappear faster. not knowing how many you have, as long as they seem to be thriving well then there is no worries. keep the moisture available in the way of veggies and water crystals and plenty of food and they should do fine. and the best thing is..... read and read some more and you will learn much just from this board and look into care sheets for them. keep the conditions right and you will soon have a thriving colony.

 

[Ihaggerty1313]

Stay away from chicken feed. If you get grain mites in your colony you will lose the colony quickly.

Some people get a little over the top and make this outrageous recipe from every mineral under the sun.... No need to do that. It's a waste of time and money. Your already dusting w/ Calcium and once or twice a week w/ a multivitamin hopefully so that'll take care of that. What you want to do is load them up on High Protien and low fat foods. The above mentioned will do just fine. Find your mixture, put it in a spare blender and grind away!

-Ian

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

I use a mix of wheat bran, blended oats, milk bone, a tiny bit of table sugar, some baby cereal, some blended roach food from bestroach, and some soy protein from trader joes.

They seem to love it better then just the plain ol roach food.

 

[RioReptiles]

I've tried several dog foods and now use the Wellness brand in the black bag, it has the highest protein of any dog food I've ever seen 35%. I mix it with powdered milk, kelp tablets, special K or grape nut flakes, organic oats and fish food. The crickets love it too.

They don't seem hungry,ever. I cought 2 eating last night but that is all I have seen. I have all the food they say to have and my temp is 86. What am I doigwrong?

I had my roach colony 2 months at that temp and nothing happened until I used an under tank heater. I thought I wouldn't need one in Florida but about a month after I got it I started seeing babies. Now I fill the food dish twice a day and add a hand full of fresh fruit and veggies every night. I think the temps need to be well over 90º or 95ºF. And I cover it with a blanket for insulation and to keep the humidity in.

 

[Ihaggerty1313]

Ferret food... That's what I forgot to mention. It's like 50% protein. I have not used it but I think I may in the near future.

-Ian

 

[clear]

It depends on which roach species you have. Posticus, Hissers both need a higher protein than dubia, lateralis, craniifer, discoids and your other roaches.

Dog food, Cat food, and other various dry pet foods grinded together works great for my colonies that dont need high protein.