Pros & Cons of other feeder roaches?

[Pixall]

I am trying to decide upon a second species of feeder roach to raise(already have B. dubia). Can someone help me out with some info?

 

[WoolyMarmot]

Orange Heads - "bigger Dubias"
Pros: -cannot climb or fly
-they get bigger than dubias
Cons: -They tend to cannibalize if not fed right/well
-They have a defense smell

Discoids: the only difference between orangeheads and these is color which is the reason why they're called "false - death heads"

Turkistan Roaches(Blatta Lateralis)
Pros - cannot climb or fly
- prolific breeders
- fast and active which is great for animals that need the stimulation to eat
Cons: -Ive read stories of these guys being pests at home :shock:.

Lobster Roacheserfect feeders?....not
Pros: -Prolific breeders with a decent size
Cons: - They can climb and fly.It would be a hassle to keep them

Banana Roaches: Pretty
Pros: - Pretty
-Green and pretty
- Pretty again
- I wanna keep one just for the fun of it
- Pretty!
Cons: - They are small and do not breed fast so you will take a huge hit if you feed on them
-the adults fly

Madagascar Hissing Roaches:
Pros: - great for larger lizards
cons: - they do climb
- high chitin

 

[Toasty]

I would highly recommend lats, so far they've been my favorite feeder roach (even compared to dubia), although I'm about to get a colony of orange-heads. I think I'm really going to like them and I know other people that have them do too. They will eat each other's wings if not provided with enough protein, but most people feed their roaches very high protein diets anyway. I have a lobster colony and while they can definitely climb well, I've never seen one even attempt to fly. If you have an *effective* barrier along the top of the tub or tank you're keeping them in, its not a big deal. I've never heard of lats becoming household pests, although I'm sure it would be possible if enough got loose (the same is true for a lot of other species of feeder roaches though). But since they can't climb or fly I'm not really sure how they would be able to escape and infest your house. Banana roaches are pretty cute but they have very specific humidity requirements and can definitely fly. Compared to your other options, probably not the best choice of feeder roach for beardies, and if you want a pretty roach, there are tons of extremely cool species available that can be kept as pets/display. I have a colony of hissers but do not use them as feeders. They're much slower breeders and the chitin to meat ratio is high. They're also just as prolific climbers as lobsters, so you're also going to need a very secure container with a barrier to prevent escape. And depending on what kind of budget you have, some of these are going to be much less expensive to purchase a good-sized starter colony of than others.

 

[Geoff]

I have a colony of Lats out in my garage...

They reproduce quickly and my beardie loves them...

I did have a little bit of a problem when a few escaped awhile back...

When cleaning my garage last week I noticed they must have reproduced.... Luckily, they cannot climb very well so none made it in my house and after a quick round of pesticides on the garage floor they seem to be wiped out.

Starting the colony out was rather easy too, I bought 500 mixed locally and just left them alone for a few weeks. Have feed my beardie off the colony ever since without any sign of the colony shrinking.

 

[Toasty]

I have a colony of Lats out in my garage...

They reproduce quickly and my beardie loves them...

I did have a little bit of a problem when a few escaped awhile back...

When cleaning my garage last week I noticed they must have reproduced.... Luckily, they cannot climb very well so none made it in my house and after a quick round of pesticides on the garage floor they seem to be wiped out.

Starting the colony out was rather easy too, I bought 500 mixed locally and just left them alone for a few weeks. Have feed my beardie off the colony ever since without any sign of the colony shrinking.

Do you know how they escaped? Way back when I had just gotten my dubia colony, I had a little er...incident that could have easily resulted in hundreds of dubia running amok throughout my house, but luckily I was able to contain the "situation" and all was well. But it really made me realize that I couldn't afford to be careless. In my opinion, feeder colonies of any roach species (and many other inverts raised as feeders too), needed to be treated with a lot of care and caution as far as preventing escape. All it takes is a few irresponsible people or accidents to happen for problems to arise that eventually result in it being illegal to own some or most species of feeder roaches--it already is in many places, and roaches really don't need any more bad publicity than they already have.

 

[WoolyMarmot]

@Toasty - why not discoids over orange heads? It will solve your cannibalism dilemma and they do not have a defense smell unlike orange heads. The only problem I see is getting pure non-hybrid blood line of these roaches

The lateralis infests
http://www.geckosunlimited.com/community/feeders-food-nutrition/28511-blatta-lateralis-roaches-infest.html

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/26357-can-blatta-lateralis-infest-home-2.html

Now i understand that the ootheca will not hatch at a low humidity environment like houses but something like having a boiler room, a humid bathroom or living in a humid area in the first place will increase the risk of infestation.

I have to say though, lateralis is the perfect feeder roach. Active like crickets, prolific breeders and healthy like any other roach feeders.

My next colony will be either lateralis or discoids

 

[Toasty]

@Toasty - why not discoids over orange heads? It will solve your cannibalism dilemma and they do not have a defense smell unlike orange heads. The only problem I see is getting pure non-hybrid blood line of these roaches

The lateralis infests
http://www.geckosunlimited.com/community/feeders-food-nutrition/28511-blatta-lateralis-roaches-infest.html

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/26357-can-blatta-lateralis-infest-home-2.html

Now i understand that the ootheca will not hatch at a low humidity environment like houses but something like having a boiler room, a humid bathroom or living in a humid area in the first place will increase the risk of infestation.

I have to say though, lateralis is the perfect feeder roach. Active like crickets, prolific breeders and healthy like any other roach feeders.

My next colony will be either lateralis or discoids

I didn't doubt that lats could infest a house if given the opportunity, but I think many other feeder roaches would be just as capable in certain conditions, hence the care that needs to be taken with all of them to prevent escapes. I think that in many areas of the country, even inside a house, it would be very possible for most of the popular feeder species to be able to reproduce, it just wouldn't be at the very high rate we see when supplemental heat is added and high protein/calorie diets are fed, etc. I see breeding activity and succesful birth/hatching of nymphs in all the species I keep (feeders and pets) even when they're kept at room temp (~78* right now but obviously lower in the winter) and the humidity in the enclosure is the same as in the house (don't have an accurate measurement of exactly what my average humidity inside is but its not any higher than anyone else's in my area). Obviously their reproduction rate in those conditions is far from what you'd want in most feeder colonies, but it still occurs, meaning there is no reason they wouldn't be able to do it outside their bin somewhere in my house just as easily. I bet they'd manage to find spots in the house where its a little warmer and maybe even has a slightly higher humidity level, such as underneath the fridge.

As far as why I, personally, am getting orange heads, is because a friend has an overabundance of them and is giving me a very large amount for free. I didn't really choose one over the other in this case, and since they can both be obtained for pretty much the exact same price, that wouldn't have played a role if I were actually having to buy them. Discoids are very good feeder roaches, but so are orange heads and unless you're messing with them all the time, the defensive odor they can produce isn't too much of an issue, at least not to me and all the people I know who keep them. But along with my feeder colonies of roaches, I also keep a wide variety of inverts as "pets", so I'm probably much more tolerant than the average person, or even the average owner just keeping a feeder colony or two of roaches to feed their reptiles, when it comes to things like that.