Monthly cost?

[Nixiemaiden]

Alright well a few of you have mentioned roaches being the better option. Is there too much of a shell casing on the dubais? I read somewhere roaches have more shell than nutritional value, obviously this could be wrong and depends on the roach. And those who mentioned crickets mostly said smelly and noisy, so maybe I will get them and let my wife get annoyed to ease her into getting roaches. the only roach mentioned was the dubia, is this the best breed/type of roach?

Dubias have a higher ratio of meat to shell. The shell has less chitin in it than the exoskeleton of a cricket which makes it easier to digest.

From my research, I think that dubias are the best. They can't climb or fly, they aren't super skittish, and they hardly have any odor. Also I think they breed faster than most of the other feeder roaches. They also seem very readily available if you live in an area where they are legal to keep.

I'm thinking about moving just so I can have a colony haha.

 

[Dementeddogz]

No the roaches have more meat to shell ratio then crickets. Their nutritional content is off the charts compared to crickets.


Crickets are noisy, smell, and have a tendency to get out no matter how carefully you are I managed to switch over to roaches with out too many problems from the wife. They stay in a bin out of the way.

 

[MissT]

Dubiaare the most commonly kept roaches. They don't fly, jump or climb whereas most of the others do. They are also relativy slow movers in comparison to the likes of the turkistans. I forgot about my roaches for a week when one of my dragons passed away recently but they are all happy enough (despite the beginnings of a mold problem- I think I remembered about them just in time). Iv only had them for about 5 weeks but I must have over 1000 nymphs now. As yet, i can't feed them off as I need them to grow a little but once a week, I do feed off some of the excess males. That alone has already cut my monthly feeder bill by a reasonable amount. Oddly, it was my husband who stopped me from doing it all along but he seems fine with it now (he doesn't realise that I have lost around 10-15 nymphs and they are currently loose in our house lol!)

 

[Dementeddogz]

I managed to leave the lid off one night when i switch containers and drilled a new hole for the thermostat, 3 or 4 males managed to get out but they didnt make it far were belly up on the floor. They breed like crazy under the right conditions but if they get out dont tend to last too long. They cant get out of the reptile room which is an added bit of security

 

[Elliot2012]

Im assuming the last two posters have your own colonies? Without breeding them yourself, do you have any suggestions on where to go to get them? Also, how big of a nymph would you give a juevy and how many on average? Sorry for all the questions, I think its better to do all your research prior to getting your Beardie.

 

[Dementeddogz]

Yes I breed my own, definitely saves money and extremely easy to maintain. My colony just got a nice boost here recently Ive been debating on trying to breed supers just to see how it goes.


As far as getting them goes, some smaller local pet stores have them but can cost a bit more, or even craigslist on occasion. Its definitely cheaper to order online though. You can find quite a few people selling in the for sale forums on this site. The person i originally bought from is no longer around but theres several others. Fauna is another good place to look, just need to shop around for a deal, will definitely pay off. Juves would get smaller dubias (under 1/2" depending on size) and can put away quite a few. If youre just looking to get them as feeders and not breeding you can find a pack of 1000 "smalls" fairly cheap