Roaches? Or no.

[darwin08]

I have an 8 inch dragon, not to sure of the age. Is it ok for me to start breeding and feeding roaches? And if so, can someone give me an over view of where to buy from, what to breed them in, heating for them, where to get those card board egg crates (hehe) what they eat, ventilation?

 

[RioReptiles]

theroachguy.com..... he's got kits and a good deal going right now.... but you should have started 5 months ago.

Get some extra adults and keep them warm with an under tank heater and it shoudln't take as long! Good Luck!

You'll be sooooo happy!

 

[augsburg1530]

Spike has been raised on roaches since he was 2 months old and loves them! Go to http://www.theroachguy.com for all the info you need on dubia roaches and how to breed them. After you study up on his stuff, you can buy your starter set from him too. Plus he is a really nice guy who will gladly answer all your emails and pm's. Also don't be afraid to ask questions on this forum. Lots of us here love and raise dubia and most of us are nice about answering questions. But first go to theroachguy.com and do some research reading his site and checking out his info and photo's, then ask clarifying questions here. Get started raising dubia as soon as you can, you will be glad you did!

Eric

 

[Ihaggerty1313]

I'll take the other half of the question. Roaches can be fed to literally any lizard at any age. Put it to you this way. I've seen people who breed small species of gecko's raise roaches just for the newborn roaches to feed their freshly hatched lizards. A Beardie is a moderate sized lizard that can plow down roaches straight out of the egg. All you have to do is get the right size for the ol' boy.

BTW Eric,

I checked out the Roach Guy's site and it's full of great info. As a matter of fact I buy from a bunch of different breeders to strengthen my bloodlines and I think I'll be getting some from the Roach Guy myself when I do my ordering next year. Thanks for the link.

-Ian

 

[darwin08]

Yeah I have been researching and I am just trying to convince my mom to let me get them. How long would it take if I bought 150 mixed and used an under tank heater for them to start breeding?

 

[Ihaggerty1313]

Yeah I have been researching and I am just trying to convince my mom to let me get them. How long would it take if I bought 150 mixed and used an under tank heater for them to start breeding?

Heh, see your mom hasn't got by the whole "roach" thing.

Well to answer your question I would first get a plastic tub. Reason being that it will sustain heat and humidity a whole lot better. That means that your little guys would propagate a whole heck of a lot faster than under less than optimum conditions. BTW if you choose to go this route get an over the counter heat pad at Walgreens or something w/ a shut off. Do not attach UTH to the platic tub, it can become a fire hazard.

If you get 150 of them I'd say within a year you'd be up and running and able to feed out of the colony w/o devastating it. The only other way to get more roaches quicker is to start w/ more. Patience is the key to getting a good, healthy colony going.

-Ian

 

[WAFisherman]

Yeah I have been researching and I am just trying to convince my mom to let me get them. How long would it take if I bought 150 mixed and used an under tank heater for them to start breeding?

Heh, see your mom hasn't got by the whole "roach" thing.

Well to answer your question I would first get a plastic tub. Reason being that it will sustain heat and humidity a whole lot better. That means that your little guys would propagate a whole heck of a lot faster than under less than optimum conditions. BTW if you choose to go this route get an over the counter heat pad at Walgreens or something w/ a shut off. Do not attach UTH to the platic tub, it can become a fire hazard.

If you get 150 of them I'd say within a year you'd be up and running and able to feed out of the colony w/o devastating it. The only other way to get more roaches quicker is to start w/ more. Patience is the key to getting a good, healthy colony going.

-Ian

The heat pads with auto shut off seem to be a problem... They shut-off automatically after an hour, right? How is that useful or how to get around that?? I can't seem to find any of the old fashioned kind that just stay warm 24\7.

If you go with UTH on the plastic bin (i'm considering this), you can avoid sticking it right on the tub as the instructions tell you to do. I'm planning to put mine between some layers of repti carpet or other pad and then have slats of wood to prop up the tub to allow the heat pad to 'breath'. Then I'll use a rehostat to turn the approx 115 degree pad down to more like 95.

Oh, and be sure to put a screen section in the lid of the bin for some air curculation. I tried getting away with a bunch of holes put in the lid via soldering iron, but that wasn't enough and I started getting too much condensation and some mold. I quickly cut a hole and added the mesh screen and that made a huge difference.

 

[bigmac1]

i have been using a reptile heating pad for my dubia colony for a month directly on the rubbermaid container and have not seen any problems with it burning, i use a piece of wood underneath the heat mat and it has been working great. i only use one of the small heat pads and it does not go any higher than 93 degrees so i dont think that will melt the container, but i can see how it can be a fire hazard but i has been working so far and the dubias are producing quickly.

 

[patrickb]

Yeah I have been researching and I am just trying to convince my mom to let me get them. How long would it take if I bought 150 mixed and used an under tank heater for them to start breeding?

It would probably be about 8-9 months before you would be able to feed from the colony for a single beardie. This is just a rough guess really and everything depends on the particular roaches you get, the temps, food sources etc... Too many variables to just say it will happen when. For example, you buy the 150 mixed and one or two turn into mature females within the first week. It could be a month or two later before any of the younger ones mature, so you would only have a couple of breeding females outputting at that point. Then again, you could get 10-15 mature females in that mix and be producing a lot more. With optimal results, it would be 6-7 months, but plan on the longer time frame.

Also, the issue with the UTH many people are bringing up shouldn't really be as big of a concern. They do not get hot enough to melt plastic and should be perfectly safe to heat your colony. They are designed to run 24/7 so not a huge fire hazard risk either. If you do decide to use a human heating pad, find one that doesn't have the automatic shutoff. You want it to stay on all the time.

 

[augsburg1530]

I use a human style heating pad on my breeder tote with low, medium and high settings, it works like a charm.

I also use an under tank heater from zoo med for my feeder tote and it works great too. Plastic becomes soft at a little over 500 degrees and burns at over 1100 degrees. There is no way a human heat pad or uth that is in proper working condition will ever cause a tote to catch fire.

It gets cold in the spare room where my roaches are, and I find the human type heater does a better job of heating my breeder tote than the uth.

Hope that helps,

Eric

 

[LittleRob]

Roaches!!!! And ditto to what Eric said.

 

[citrusdragon]

Roaches!!!Roaches!!!Roaches!!!Roaches!!!Roaches!!!Roaches!!!Roaches!!!Roaches!!!Roaches!!!Roaches!!!

see, and I only started with a couple

Merry Christmas

Jeff

 

[bigmac1]

wow it seems roaches have become very popular, and i cant blame any of you i love them as much as anyone here especially dubias.

 

[Ihaggerty1313]

I may be wrong on this because I haven't used a Zoo Med UTH in quite a while but I do believe on the back of the packaging they do warn against applying it directly onto plastic. Probably just to cover their butts on a lawsuit in the case of a freak accident. Hey if it's working for ya than keep doing it.

Good Luck!
-Ian

 

[bigmac1]

it has been working for me but i do believe that a human heaing pad is not meant to be used for what a lot of us use it for and i does warn us about fire hazards and stuff but it works too, i looked for a human heating pad but cant find one without the auto shut off.