Roaches

[wikidinc528]

So I am still preparing a home for the beardie I want to get. I have met some very well informed people that have them as pets as well as breeders. Several people I have talked to say that roaches are a much better source of protein and are easier (less stressful) to keep than crickets.

So, what is the best type of roach to feed to your beardie, if:

You don't want the colony to reek (I plan to keep it clean and their food/water fresh daily)?
You don't want escaped roaches to breed in your house, or apartment?
You don't want to accidentally kill them (easy keepers)?
You don't want them to grow too big too fast and not be able to feed to a smaller dragon?

I know that either lobster or dubia roaches can climb the sides of a rubbermaid or sterilite container so you have to put vaseline or something as a barrier. But my one friend who raises about four(I think) types of roaches says that the one type he has doesn't/can't climb the sides; I think he said they hiss too, but aren't Madagascars.

Anyway, let me know what has worked best for you so I can try to make a good decision.

Thanks!!!
Jenny

 

[mpbrown2]

I got Dubia roaches about a month and a half ago. They are awesome! They don't climb, or stink, and are very low maintenance. I can't wait for the day that I never order another cricket again!

You don't want the colony to reek (I plan to keep it clean and their food/water fresh daily)?
I have not cleaned the colony of roaches yet and there is no stink when I open there bin. There is a smell to them but it is very little and I actually like the smell... :shock:

I have been feeding crickets for a while now and I can tell you that there is no comparison between them and dubia. I clean the cricket bin out almost every day... and every time I open there container the stench is almost unbearable... I dread to think what it will be like this coming summer...

Once a day I make sure the dubia have food and water and remove anything that will spoil (I add apples, oranges, banana, ect and after around 24 hours I remove what is left) Mold is a no no.
Truthfully I wouldn't worry about cleaning out the bin very much it will just stress out the females and that could make them not produce nymphs as fast.

You don't want escaped roaches to breed in your house, or apartment?
If you read up on the dubia most people feel that the dubia's will not survive long enough in your house to infest it. They do not bread very well at around 70 deg if at all. If away from a constant source of food and water for a period of time they will not survive.

You don't want to accidentally kill them (easy keepers)?
Good thing about dubia is that they love to be neglected :lol:

You don't want them to grow too big too fast and not be able to feed to a smaller dragon?
I don't believe you will have a problem with the dubia growing to fast.. it will be your dragon who will be growing like a weed.

The baby dubia can climb the side of the container but if you put a strip of packing tape around the sides they will not be able to climb out.

 

[wikidinc528]

Hey thanks about the info for the dubia roaches.

You mentioned something about 70 degrees. If my apartment tends to run cool in the winter, which it does, do I need to heat the roaches somehow? I have ordered a proexotics temp gun so I'm not worried about being able to test the temp, just how to warm them. I am imagining an under tank heater would work?

Not to sound juvenile, but do roaches bite? Some bugs freak me out a little and I hope I can handle handling them. How long would it be from the initial time of set-up until I had feeder roaches?

Thanks!

 

[WAFisherman]

I agree with what has been said about dubias. But the nymphs can't climb the sides of my bin. I use the clear plastic kind and the sides are just too smooth, even for the tiny nymphs.

Yes, they need to be kept warm. I've used a small CHE pointed at the side, a normal\human heating pad, etc. Ideally flexwat or reptile heat pad on a t-stat or rehostat\dimmer is what you want. The produce much better when kept warm.

No, the will not bite you.

I prefer to leave mine for a week at a time. Let's them focus on breeding... So once a week I pull them out of the back closet, add fresh water crystals and dry food. I then cull out a weeks worth of larger nymphs (leaving the adults to breed) and an male here and there just to keep the male\female ratio correct. I put this weeks worth of feeders into a smaller critter bin so I can feed out of that each day and leave the main colony alone.

I stopped adding fruits and thicker\juicier veggies (like bell peppers). Yes, they like them, but they rot fast and can lead to mold quickly. Instead, I slip in a hand full of spring salad mix or carrot shavings and the like every other day and they are gone over night.

 

[WAFisherman]

Oh, and as far as handling... even though they do not bite, I still use 10inch tongs...

Temps - I think the 80's are good. CHeck the roach guy's site for more details on care. That's where I got my starter colony.

I didn't to temps right for a month or so. But once I did, they took off pretty good. Took about 3 months before I had nymphs all over the place in the bin. Now it going strong and I''m feeding off the bigger nymphs.

I also keep a small bin of super worms \ king worms handy. The offer a variety for the lizards and if I feel i'm feeding off faster than the colony can support, I simpy feed more supers than dubias for a bit.

 

[wikidinc528]

Any other opinions?

 

[palomino]

I like my Turkistan roaches. They don't smell for the most part...most of the smell comes from the Dog and Cat food I feed them that gets cooked on the heating pad under the bin. They grow super fast and breed like maniacs. I just saw my first batch of little turks today. And my dragon loves them. They move super fast and he enjoys chasing them.

Agreed roaches are the way to go. They have much more manners than the harrassing cricket.

 

[wikidinc528]

Turkish roaches! That's the other type of roach my friend has. I think he mentioned that they hiss, is that true? I believe he said he left his colony alone to replenish and when he checked them later he had 100,000. If they are super fast, is it hard to get them into a container to shake calcium and vitamins on them? If you could tell me a little more about them that would be great.

 

[palomino]

Turkish roaches! That's the other type of roach my friend has. I think he mentioned that they hiss, is that true? I believe he said he left his colony alone to replenish and when he checked them later he had 100,000. If they are super fast, is it hard to get them into a container to shake calcium and vitamins on them? If you could tell me a little more about them that would be great.

Mine have never hissed. The worst thing they do is that they can crawl up your arm really fast and totally creep me out.

I haven't done much harvesting out of my roach colony since it's still developing but I have culled out some males before.

I have two bins. A colony bin and an empty bin. I would just push the two bins really close together and then transfer the roaches to the empty bin (no egg cartons or anything just bare). I then would take a dixie cup and tranfer the females back to the colony bin and leave the males. When I wanted to feed the males I would just take the dixie cup and scoop up the roaches and place them in a child's "sippy cup" filled with either vitamins or calcium powder and swirl them around. The only hard part about this is that they can climb out of the sippy cup super fast so you have to really scoop a lot out at one time.

They eat everything and anything. I just throw whole dog food kibble, left over fish food and stems from my greens and they are good to go. I keep them well hydrated with water crystals and wet paper towels on the sides of the tubs.

They are really shy too. If you turn on the light most of the time they hide which is good because you don't have to see them if you don't want to.

I chose them because of their ability to breed super fast and they were the cheapest roach available. I ordered 1K-3K 2 week old nymph from the Bug Pros for under $30.

My dragon loves them and now refuses to eat many crickets.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Like crickets I tend to use the cardboard roll from paper towels to get my dubias out. My only complaint about dubias isnt really a complaint. They breed slow. I have never had one climb out and cleanup is a snap, no smell. The few escapees I have had tend to stay near the container to stay warm. I just scoop them up and put them back. I heat the bin with a dome light and a red bulb 60 watt in the summer 100 watt in the winter.
Tom

 

[UTreptiles]

I have Madagascar Hissers. They are the ones that hiss as well. These would probably not be the ones you want as they do climb really well. I use a thick layer of petroleum jelly on the sides to prevent escapes. Breeding for these guys is best at a constant 90 degrees. Dubias breed best at 90 to 95 degrees. The Hisser adults are rather large but they produce alot of nymphs much like the other roach types out there and I am able to get the sizes I need out of those. Hissers do tend to live longer than dubias. Dubias life span is about 18 months. Hissers can live up to 24 months and even as long as 36 months. Both reach maturity in about 3 months.

I am starting a colony of Dubia roaches soon just to have a variety.

 

[wikidinc528]

thanks for all the great information! Yeah so far it sounds like a hard decision between the dubia and turkish. However, I know there are others out there, I just need to research more. Thanks again.

 

[fresnowitte]

So, what is the best type of roach to feed to your beardie, if:

You don't want the colony to reek (I plan to keep it clean and their food/water fresh daily)?
You don't want escaped roaches to breed in your house, or apartment?
You don't want to accidentally kill them (easy keepers)?
You don't want them to grow too big too fast and not be able to feed to a smaller dragon?

Hi Jenny!
I have Turks(Blatta Lateralis) which I have been using as feeders for over a year now.

1) They do not stink there may be a slight smell when you first put your nose over the open enclosure, but it is not an odor for-say that will invade your home.

2) I have not had any problems thus far with escapees.....
a) They do not climb smooth surfaces...
b) I use tall glass tanks wrapped in shipping paper or paper bags for darkness. As long as there is no silicone in the corners they won't climb. Many people use plastic totes but I had extra tanks laying around so used them.
You can also use Vaseline around the top of the roach enclosure or wide clear packing tape which will reassure you they won't get out as they are definitely unable to climb it.

3) They are perhaps the easiest feeder to raise (I have been feeding 9 beardies for over a year and have thousands I will never need to spend the kind of money I was before breeding roaches ever again)

4) The adult turks only get to be about 1-1/2 inches and with these guys breeding the way they do there are always multiple sizes. These roaches work wonderfully for people that have many beardies to feed or that breed beardies.

However I only see two things about these turks that might be considered a down fall.
1) They do move rather quickly in comparison to other roaches
2) They do lay egg sacks not live birthing roaches(which I haven't found to be a down fall)

Now I've also heard that many people seem to not like them because of the way the look.
I guess they may look somewhat similar to an American or German cockroach the most widely spread household roaches, but it's only the males. An some would rather have a larger bug so they don't have to feed so many to their beardies. Myself I prefer to feed more smaller size than less larger size. And sense I'm rasiing my own and not having to pay for them it is not a problem to me. I also like the turks as they are the highest on the nutritional value chart. They are higher in protein and moisture and lower in fat.
Here's a link to a comparison chart for some of the feeders/roaches;
http://www.feedersinc.com/insect-comparison/

 

[zebraflavencs]

I personally use Lobsters, Dubias and Turks. I started with a small colony of dubias, and have yet to really feed from this one, instead I supplemented with the turks and the lobsters, because of their fast breeding. Other than the time one of the dogs upset a container, I have had no escapees, and yes, they all came back to settle near the original container, so I just scooped them up and popped them back in. All 3 of my dragons and the two geckos LOVE the roaches !
All in all, I would never even dream of using crickets, roaches are the WAY to go !
Janie.

 

[wikidinc528]

If I am just going to have one bearded dragon, what would be the better roach? I am thinking that maybe dubias are better if the turks and lobster breed really fast. I don't want to have roaches coming out of my ears especially since I know that as beardies get more mature their eating habits shift toward more greens than insects, although I would have a while for that to happen. If, say, I did start a dubia colony, I would probably have to feed my liz crickets until they (the roaches) really started to take off.