I can get ROACHES!

[andy65]

my mom finely caved and is letting me get a roach colony set up for out guy! My dad will not know I am getting them,Mother orders, we are going to tell him I got more super worm, then IF he needs to know then I will tell him.

If any one remembers this http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=91067 post about how I wanted roaches, but the 'Rents would not let me. I am looking to get dubia. They seem easy and nice to raise.

Well now that my super worm supply is getting low, my mom said today to look into get a colony set for our "bug".

I have just a few questions.
1) what is the best way to heat the tote?
2) who should I buy them from?
3) how long will it take till I can feed of them?
4) how many should I get? I only have one Beardy, he is about 4, ex-breeder and about 15" and 369grams. I took his weight just a few minuets ago.

 

[scalesandtales]

If you have a 10 gallon tank you can use that or get a rubbermaid bin and cut the top of and glue a screen to it. Use a heating pad and place it underneath. You can get one at walmart for like $15. TheRoachGuy is the best of the best and I have a deal worked out with him to help my rescued beardies. He has the best prices and is extremly customer friendly and will answer all of your questions. He is the one to buy from.
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=99012 <--------- read what he is doing for me

 

[GlaedrAg]

I have just a few questions.
1) what is the best way to heat the tote? I've heard using under-tank heaters are ok. There are some who use the "human" heating pads you get from pharmacies.

2) who should I buy them from? I'm going to buy from Jason aka "The Roach Guy" in a few weeks.

3) how long will it take till I can feed of them? Depends on how many you start off with. The more the better. A common time-frame I've heard is anywhere from 3 months to 6 months.

4) how many should I get? I only have one Beardy, he is about 4, ex-breeder and about 15" and 369grams. I took his weight just a few minuets ago. I only have one beardie as well, but plan on getting one of Jason's starter kits plus additional roaches. So, that should put me in the neighborhood of 400 roaches to start off with.

 

[Goonie]

Congrats on getting your Mom to cave in and allow you to order roaches for your beardie.
Good luck on keeping a tote of roaches a secret :wink:

 

[scalesandtales]

Tell your dad they are beetles, parents won't know the difference. That is what my mom thinks

 

[Goonie]

Tell your dad they are beetles, parents won't know the difference. That is what my mom thinks

Until she reads this post :lol:

 

[scalesandtales]

haha yea. I told my dad once they were already in the house so he couldn't really do anything. They are in my room next to my bed where they cannot see them. "I just said well I don't really see the big deal... I mean they have been here a little while and you didn't notice them"

 

[blondie098]

Congrats -- this is what we put together -- there are actually 750 dubia in this bin! They are from two different "bloodlines" from two different breeders... We got a little overzealous at first feeding our rescue beardie Xena, and she ate all the medium sized ones (little piggy) -- she would easily eat 5-9 "thumbnail+ size" dubia a day. She loves them.

Now we're building the colony again, and are even doing a test with 1 male / 4 females in our incubator... we're curious to watch the lifecycle. We've got lots of babies, too -- the bin lives in our kitchen for 1/2 the week, then the bathroom 1/2 the week... that way we get decent humidity... If you've got it in your bedroom watch your humidity... if it's too low, they can die trying to shed (molt).

My heebie-jeebie meter still goes wacko trying to handle the adults, mostly the males... they just still freak me out. But the little ones are ok, just WATCH -- when going in to pick out your feeders, sometimes a little one can fall on you, and you've got a stowaway... we are in the habit of rolling up our sleeves now, ... AND checking our arms before leaving the bin! (Xena found a stowaway on hubby's arm and came after it... we didn't know it was there!)

Our bin = blue 29 gallon tall tote from dollarstore ... human heating pad under the egg-crate end of tote, on high 24/7 (make sure you get one that does NOT have an auto-shutoff)... I hot-glue just corners of 2 eggflats so they are easier to separate later... we also alternate the moisture source... water crystals one day, butternut squash shredded the next, etc.

Enjoy, they are a way better feeder! We use superworms & dubia as our main feeders now, with the occasional hornworm:

There are actually hundreds in these egg flats:

 

[ikkie78]

Also check out http://theroachguy.com/...Jason is awesome to deal with and will answer any questions you have and has some great deals on his site that you can order from. He also has a care sheet on his site that shows you what you need to do to keep them going (its really easy). He is a member on here also (TheRoachGuy). I just ordered from him this week and should be getting my roaches this Thursday and can't wait! (Never thought i'd say that! haha!) I bought a 35 gal. Sterilite bin (just like a rubbermaid bin but different name)...I liked them better because they seemed to have a slicker surface on the inside which will eliminate any climbing (they can't really climb anyway but if there is a rough texture I heard the small ones can a little). Then I bought a under tank heater (the 10-20 gal. size) and a rheostat to control the temp. Total for everything was like $35.00 plus what I payed for the roaches which comes with food, water crystals, egg crates, and screen for the top. Feel free to PM me if you want any pics or anything as I'll be setting everything up tonight or tomorrow. I'm not an expert on them by any means but i've been researching a lot since I decided to get them myself so I'll answer what I can for you about setup or what the get and where I found the cheapest prices and stuff like that. Glad to hear you will be able to get them though! I had to let my girlfriend get another bunny for her to say yes to the roaches! haha! Sorry for the long post by the way :wink:

 

[GlaedrAg]

Thanks for those pictures Blondie. I'm planning on starting a colony next week. These threads on Roaches couldn't have started at a better time. I have a Rose Hair Tarantula "Pider" and my beardie "Sherlock". I'm going to like having a self-sustaining food source for them. Plus, my students are going to just "love" our new class pets :lol:

 

[MAJ]

Tell your dad they are beetles, parents won't know the difference. That is what my mom thinks

Until she reads this post :lol:

Or, as happened in my case, someone comes over and while checking out your setup goes "Hey Cool! ROACHES!" within earshot of everyone in the house. Thankfully, it was no secret to anyone.

 

[scalesandtales]

Anyone reading this that is ordering from theroachguy please read this and help me out if you can. viewtopic.php?f=76&t=99012&p=775797#p775797
thanks
Jess

 

[laura_leigh]

Not to take away from any of the other dubia breeders, but I just got a TON of stuff yesterday from BlapticaDubia.com yesterday, and its all great. I got 1000 dubia, 5 lbs food, 8 oz water crystals, feeder bowls for the dubia that they can climb, roach flats (they are flatter than regular egg crates) and Bug Stop (cause I'm skittish about them escaping) Everything for under $250 (he has a 100% overcount special going on right now).... I got my original dubia from Aaron Pauling, and he was GREAT about answering all of my questions that I had before starting out.... Its all in your preference. I just skimmed this forum as well as did a bunch of research online. Most of the breeders will have lots of info for you on their sites as well...

So there's a couple more options for you to look into as well

 

[gregorydragon]

(he has a 100% overcount special going on right now

WHOA!!! :shock: :shock:
That's crazy! So that's basically a "buy one get one free" on the roaches.

 

[Ihaggerty1313]

Yeah I've ordered from BlapticaDubia.com before and got a great order cheap as well. I'm sure I'll say this again and again. It's important to juice up your colony at least once a year w/ Dubia from different bloodlines. I've bought from pretty much everyone in the states over the years and sometimes I can get some shipped in to me via friends from Europe. I think all the roach dealers here will tell you that it's pretty important to be getting new blood regularly to keep your bloodline from collapsing.

-Ian