I was thinking about getting a colony of lobster roaches to breed but i'm not sure about a few things...

How they compare nutritionally to other bugs?

Can i use them as a staple?

All the sites i've seen describes them as soft bodied but i have a handful of them and they seem well plated to me and are kinda flat... not appearing very meaty at all and i feed them a lot.

Are there any known problem with reps comsuming their legs? They are a quite hard and spikey.

Could they harm my reps if left in with them?

Would a 300+ breeding colony be enough to feed a leo and a beardie or will i end up swamped with bugs?

How would i go about keeping numbers controlled? Just by feeding the females to my reps?

How much veg etc would a 300+ colony go through per week?

Thanks

I was thinking about doin the same, but I wasn't sure if they'd be too big for leo's or not. I'm sure my ackie would love them tho!

I'd prefer them to crix coz apparently they don't smell and are lovely and quiet

Rickeezee (sp) on here breeds them I think, he'll probably kno, look up his ad in classifieds, generally has all the info on them

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Kate

2.2.2 - Eublepharis macularius0.1.0 - Sceloporus malachiticus 1.1.0 - Varanus acanthurus brachyurus0.0.1 - Tiliqua gigas evanescens 0.4.0 - Felis catus 1.0.0 - Fat, old goldfish
Lots of tropical fish...

Thats who i was thinking of buying off, i just ordered some locust today and it was so tempting to add some roaches into the order

I just read through his post again and it says that they won't much on my reps which is good but nothing specifically about the other things i'd like to know.

If i'm gonna convice my fella i'm going to be able to beck the decision up

I've just started breeding waxworms and they are just in an old coffee jar and he rolls his eyes at me I've got eggs!

I have some breeding atm, they are very low in chitin(hard shell) when compared to crix and locusts.
They make an excellent staple, they are 100% veggie so wont bite your reps if they dont get eaten
To stop them breeding as fast, if you start to get overrun, just chill them out(reduce their temps) ideal breeding temp is 90-95F, I just put a heat mat under the tub and away they go.
They dont eat that much really, I have crushed weetabix in the bottom that they eat and then some greens in a tub, make sure the food doesn't get a bit rotten or mouldy as mould will kill roaches.
Adults will be too big for your leo but the babies will be ok, they are born looking like woodlice and about the same size.
If you do breed them, when you get alot try splitting them up as the population can explode(not literally), but you can always sell some in the classifieds.

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Baby girl born 7-04-08
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Ive got roaches here , i can honestly say my beardies go nuts for them , the male launches himself into the roach tub and eats like a nutter!
i only give them some every now n then while i gt the colony up then they will be their staple food with hoppers as variety

OK nice one, thanks

I was just feeding the handful of lobster roaches that i have and i noticed a sad looking one, hes my fave, the most tame of the bunch (or ill ) and i noticed lots of little specks all over it.

They are pale in colour, look a little like eggs of something and when i scraped them with my nail i'm pretty sure i saw a couple twitch.

Are they some kind of mite or parasite or something? I'm just thinking incase i ever feed them to my rep... i could try and get a pic if it'll help.