Turks are all Grown up now!

[palomino]

I bought 1K -3K hatchling turkistan roaches at the beginning of January when I first got my beardie and as of this week it looks like they are almost all grown up! I am seeing a lot of huge females and a lot of males with wings. I could start harvesting the males but I don't want to disturb the colony before I get my first babies. I haven't seen any egg sacks yet but I keep checking for them (I have had some adults for about 3 weeks now). I can't wait so I can get off of these stupid crix which i spent $20 on last week and all arrived dead (my fault for not checking the weather). Either way, I am getting impatient for these things to start out. Sometimes I wish that I hadn't been so greedy and bought 200 or so adults than 1,000 + babies. Oh well.

Does anyone know generally how much longer it should take for me to see babies? I have the temps in the high 80's in the hot spot, I have tow ashtrays filled with water crystals. Each morning I put a wad of paper towels on the cool side and put water crystals on those and I feed Betta Food, dog food, cat food, shrimp pellets, and "rejected greens" from my beardie's salad prep.

 

[patrickb]

It's somewhere between 4-5 weeks generally before you will see the oothecae from the females after they matured. So another week or two and you should start seeing them, then expect about a month before they begin hatching. You could safely start culling out males now. Reducing their population by around 2/3rds. If you are worried though, just wait til you see the oothecae and then start removing males. Turks are breeding monsters. I can't seem to keep my male population under control lately! lol Remember each female only needs to mate a couple of times in their lifespan, so once they have mated, the males are of little use. By the time your current females and new ones are ready to mate again, you will have more adult males already.

 

[palomino]

I think I will start culling them as soon as my cricket bin is freed up! I just peeked into my bin and guess what I saw hanging out from the bum of one of my females??!! An egg sack! I am so excited that I can see the end in sight for not using crickets. It's a glorious day. I still can't believe how quickly they grew even though it did seem like forever. And I have already started feeding the turks to my dragon and he loves them! I will drop in a few with the crix and he will dive right after the turks and will only eat the crix when he sees that there aren't any more turks forthcoming.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Roaches are a wonderful feeder aren't they ? I have Lobs, turks and dubias ! I also help along the breeding cycle by placing half an orange a week in the bins. Oranges act like a roach Viagra, so they get busier faster !
Janie.

 

[palomino]

Roaches are a wonderful feeder aren't they ? I have Lobs, turks and dubias ! I also help along the breeding cycle by placing half an orange a week in the bins. Oranges act like a roach Viagra, so they get busier faster !
Janie.

I have heard that and will be getting some oranges soon. For awhile I was entertaining the idea of making water crystals out of orange juice but decided that the risk of mold was too great.

Do you guys spray your bins? What I do is I have two ashtrays filled w/water crystals that sit on the warm side and then every day, sometimes twice daily, I place a wet paper towel on the cool side and spill water crystals on that. I do not have any problems with molting.

 

[fresnowitte]

Congratulations sounds like your colony is coming along well.

These guys once they get going you won't have to worry about disturbing any of the eggs cases. They reproduce to the point of being hard to keep up with. Personally I'm feeding 9 beardies and fed my clutches off of these last year. An yes these are great feeders if you have several critters to feed roaches to.

I agree with Patrick you need to remove some of your males.
You don't want to mist your Turk's enclosure it will only create mold. :bleick:
I'd just stick to the water crystals.

 

[palomino]

As always, great advice. Thanks everyone. Once I get rid of the 30 or so large crix I will start harvesting the males.