roaches?

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CooperDragon

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Better in which respect? For the dragon it's just a different feeder for the most part. The advantage of roaches is that you can start a self sustaining colony. That and they don't smell and make noise like crickets do. They take longer to get started though.
 

lynne2062

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Thanks Cooper, I've ordered roaches from amazon and a breeder kit..... This is really gonna gross out my boyfriend....LOL!
 

Pushkin

Juvie Member
Get ready for some giants! I had no idea how large they got! I'm thinking of using the babies, but maybe giving the adults away - they freak me out!
 

Brezzy99

Sub-Adult Member
:lol: My son takes care of the breeding bin. The adults are larger than I expected and yes they are creepy!
 

mudskipper

Juvie Member
A cricket bin smells like rotten feet and dead things in just a few days. I have a 2-gallon bin of dubia roaches that I haven't cleaned for 6 months that smell like oranges. Dubias are a lot cleaner and won't eat one another.

Crickets jump and make noises. Dubias can't climb out of a plastic bin and make no sound.

Crickets are also more expensive to buy because it's more complicated to breed them on your own so you always have to buy them. Dubias are really easy. Just order 100 medium dubias and wait a couple of months till they have babies. Once their babies are mid-sized, you can start feeding and you will never have to buy insects ever again. I don't feed female adults. You also only need a couple males so feed the rest. I feed them high quality dog food and fish food with half oranges for fluid.
 

lynne2062

Member
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have you ever had some escape? thats a worry for me....And my boy friend is not thrilled about roaches in the house..
 

Taterbug

BD.org Addict
lynne2062":3fawz4zn said:
Is feeding roaches to an adult dragon better than crickets?

I wouldn't say it's better, variety is really the most ideal. That said, many of is find roaches are a good easy to maintain feeder. Each insect has different things to offer, so even if you mostly feed from your roach colony mixing in crickets, silkworms, bsfl and other feeders is great :)

I've had a few "escape" mostly due to me dropping them, they only turn up dead in our house. :silent:
 

Soulwind

Sub-Adult Member
lynne2062":2q7zp8i2 said:
have you ever had some escape? thats a worry for me....And my boy friend is not thrilled about roaches in the house..

I have had escapes with my colony.

1) I dropped the "feeder bin" once while it was open.

2) My cat got into the back room and knocked out the mesh cover giving them
a ramp up from the egg crates to freedom.

In case #1, I got them all pretty easily as I was right there. I know I did miss a few as I found a couple of dead nymphs about 3 days later.

In case #2, I didn't notice for a couple of days (until I went into the back room to check on the buggies and give them more chow). I had adult males EVERYWHERE in the back room. Strangely it was only the adult males that made a run for it, the nymphs and females stayed in the bin.

Fortunately, well over 90% of the adult males escapee's were already dead or so near death as to not matter. I did find a few that lived long enough to get out into the main house, but died shortly thereafter.

Dubia are a tropical species, so unless your house has a tropical environment, they really can't live very well. They also need a good source of food and moisture, so if your house is clean, that's another strike against them. Also, they are a very slow growing species. It takes upwards of 6 months to go from baby to breeder, and the odds of enough surviving long enough to actually establish a "free" colony is very low.

You are much more likely to get an infestation of escaped crickets than escaped Dubia.
 
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