I would LOVE roachs but...

[ZANESMAMA]

I always put the turkistans in a cereal bowl and Elvis would just eat them out of the bowl. He has very good manners! You could always feed in a separate rubbermaid tub too.

 

[carmallarm]

I had a colony of Lobster Roaches for a while, but they kept trying to climb up the side of the cage. I put a 1" layer of vaseline across the top of the cage, and that seemed to keep them from escaping, but they kinda creeped me out, especially how they hissed when I picked them up with the cricket tongs to feed my Beardie (who absolutely loved them, btw).

The breaking point, though, was how my boyfriend refused to visit my apartment until I got rid of them. I finally gave up, and, man, those things are hard to kill! They were swimming in a bleach-based cleaner for hours, and I finally mixed two household cleaners that you're never supposed to mix because they create chlorine gas (highly poisonous) and poured it into their cage, and sealed the whole mess in a plastic bag. An hour later, a couple of survivor roaches were waving their little antenna up at me from the highest perch in the cage while their buddies floated by legs pointed skywards. It was kind of horiffic and amazing at the same time. No wonder these guys survived for millions of years!

I would totally consider getting another colony now, especially Dubias or those reddish ones that were previously mentioned, especially since they don't climb, and I know how good they are for my Beardies. The difficult part now will be how to get the boyfriend used to the idea... I think I'll try the "new kind of beetle feeder" technique. It might work, or it might not. He's very perceptive, and he doesn't really care how much I spend on feeders for my lizards because they're my pets, and he doesn't mind them, but he's not about to get involved in their care.

The difficult part is that he's still traumatized by an event he witnessed in NYC a couple of years ago. He tells me that after he saw traffic on a sidewalk stop for a line of water bugs (overgrown city roaches), he never ever wants those kinds of bugs in the house. I have my work cut out for me, but I think it's time to give the "beetles" another go.

 

[andy65]

Well, my parents are not AS freaked out by them. I got 500 superworms and they are kind of making the roaches look like dogs! My mom was creeped out by the worms. I have use all worms up 1st. I think they should last a year, if they live that long.

 

[carmallarm]

haha. If you keep them that long, you'll have to take them out of the 'fridge and give them food to eat and apple to drink and then they'll start breeding and then you'll have more superworms!! See how your mom deals with that! :lol:

 

[MAJ]

I was reading somewhere on here that a guys wife wouldnt let him have roaches, so he told her they were beetles (b/c they dont look like regular roaches) and she was fine with that. (sorry, I cant recall who it was that was saying that)

So if all else fails, maybe you can get some "beetles" :wink:

Works great until a friend/relative comes over and goes "Hey cool-- COCKROACHES!" when they watch the reptile feeding. Thankfully, everybody in the house knew they were roaches. It did, however, make me glad I didn't go with the "beetle" strategy.

 

[ArchiesFamily]

if the Turkistans are so fast are they hard to get to feed and does the beardie have trouble catching them?

We had Turks. Did NOT like them. Icky, smelly, and rocket feet (as TheRoachGuy says). We had trouble with them escaping from the feeding bowl and hiding in the log bridge and setting up residence in the hollow basking rock. We took the rock out and hosed the Turks into a plastic garbage bag. They swam in there for a whole day before finally dying. Those guys are survivors!!!

As to their speed they were too fast for Vijah. I think that is because there were too many hiding places for them in our current viv. My son (who did all the roach feeding) would put them in a mason jar with a lid and put them in the freezer for 30 minutes or so to slow them down a bit before we discovered using a dog bowl to feed from.

When we switched 100% over to Dubia son put the last of the Turks into another mason jar with lid and put them down into a drawer. Wednesday (TWO weeks later) we pulled them out and they are happy as clams in there. We put them in a ziploc bag and sent son out to stomp them.

 

[carmallarm]

k, so I finally made the switch to Dubias. All I have to say is "where have you been all my life??" I've kept Bearded Dragons for over 4 years, and fed them primarily mealworms, crickets, and phoenix worms once I discovered wormman.com. I tried Lobster Roaches briefly a year or so ago, and they moved too quickly and climbed, which freaked both my boyfriend and me out, so that was it for a while for roaches. However, I'd been reading up on them a lot lately, and this particular thread finally made up my mind.

I received 250 Dubias on Friday last week from bestroach.com, which, by the way, has fantastic customer service and very competitive pricing. Even though I placed my order on Tuesday afternoon, my order arrived on Friday the same week. I also forgot to add a heat pack to my order, which they added for me free of charge. The roaches arrived in fantastic health with none dead upon arrival. I was so happy with the service that I ordered another 500 to help boost the colony, as most of the ones that I got are mid-sized nymphs. I realize that they're expensive, but I want to be able to feed off some to my adult dragons now. I also have baby dragons expected in December, and don't have months to build up my own colony from only a few adults.

I managed to get over the boyfriend's aversion to roaches by likening Dubias to ladybugs when I told him how much they're not like the NYC roaches. "They're cute and round and waddle when they walk, plus they can't fly or climb or breed outside their cage." I think the thing that helped him accept them a little more was watching the dragons attacking the roaches during feeding time. They make nice, satisfying crunching sounds as they're being eaten. :twisted:

This is how I feed the lizards: I shake off the pieces of egg carton into the plastic jar that the roaches were shipped in, and put the container in my Beardies' cages. Once I have the lizards' attention, I tip the container over at a 30 degree angle and the Beardies actually climb inside in their eagerness to get all the roaches, which just kinda hang out in the bottom of the container, waggling their little legs and waiting to get eaten. Even the ones that sneak out under the dragons' bellies are easy to catch. I am never going back to smelly, loud, cannibalistic, disease-carrying, jumpy crickets! Hooray for Dubias!!!

 

[clear]

You can try Eublaberus Posticus....when nymphs they look nothing like a roach. In fact, they are very attractive...with a deep ruby color and a chunky body. You can barely see their legs. Once they mature, they get wings and start to take the shape of a roach. They are still very colorful however, and that can offset the creepiness a little bit. I personally think they are an amazing insect. Strong defense odor however, which makes handling them often a bad idea (like anyone would play with a roach ).

Strong is not the word for it! The word for it is inappropriate word removed.

 

[Digby_Rigby]

Orange heads also have very high requirements for protein otherwise they will eat each other, especially when molting the rest will start eating the soft freshly molted one. Lobster roches are a pain to deal with. Run far away from anyone who wants to sell you either species as feeders. There are several species available now thatare far easier to maintain and deal with without compromising the quality of the feeder. We speak on this from our experience as the acknowledged originator and leader of bulk roach sales in the USA and from feedback from clients.

Digby Rigby [email protected]

 

[carmallarm]

We speak on this from our experience as the acknowledged originator and leader of bulk roach sales in the USA and from feedback from clients.

Digby Rigby [email protected]

What's your website?

 

[Digby_Rigby]

I sent you a private message

Digby Rigby [email protected]

 

[dawnki]

[ Invalid URL Removed / p= t=85894 f= ]

Just a word of WARNING

 

[patrickb]

[Works great until a friend/relative comes over and goes "Hey cool-- COCKROACHES!" when they watch the reptile feeding. Thankfully, everybody in the house knew they were roaches. It did, however, make me glad I didn't go with the "beetle" strategy.

This is the reason I think calling them beetles isn't always a good thing. Some people would react adversely to finding out all of a sudden those cute little beetles are really roaches.

And I second dawnki's warning as well, read that thread linked there.

 

[carmallarm]

http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=85894

Just a word of WARNING

And I second dawnki's warning as well, read that thread linked there.

Thanks for looking out for me! I stand warned.

 

[dawnki]

inappropriate comments removed by moderator