Roaches as staple diet?

[Steveokernow]

Hi all,

I'm looking into making the switch from crix to roaches as the main live food for my BDs. I had looked into locusts but it seems roaches may be the way forward........

How large a colony do I need to set up to feed my 5 BDs?

Can they be fed to cresties?

How long will it take for the colony to establish itself?

Which roaches are most suitable?

Any advice on breeding these would be really appreciated, thanks in advance.

Cheers

[fenwoman]

I keep lobster roaches. I initially bought 50 and now have 2 thriving colonies of several hundreds each colony and they breed like crazy. I have them at room temperatures , feed them on pond pellets, plus fruit and veg and spray daily with a mister for them to drink as they are thirsty things. My beardie likes the juvenile ones cos when I put him in the drawer where one colony is, he ignores the very large ones in favour of the juvenile ones. Occasionally I buy a tub of locusts for a change for him and I also breed mealworms which he likes but apart from the odd tub of locusts (about 4 a year) he eats lobster roaches and mealworms along with the usual fruit and salad etc.
I don't know anything about cresties though so can't help with that one.

[madavies65]

Lobster Roaches are good, though they are pretty bloody fast and can climb smooth surfaces so you have to either have a tight fitting lid and Vaseline or you WILL have escapees...

Dubia roaches were my choice, they are slower growing then lobsters but cant climb smooth surfaces and are just as nutritious.

Roach Colony

I made a quick guide on roaches above. They have a low chitin level so their exoskeletons are soft which is great as it doesn't cause impaction. I would always recommend dusting them before feeding however they are very high in protein.

I would say there are suitable for any reptile that can handle them (i.e. do not feed roaches which are bigger than the space between your lizards eyes)

To feed 5 beardies you would need a min of 50 adult females per beardie so around: 250 Adults will give you a thriving colony!

It can take up to 6 months to get a colony of Dubia Set-up as they take that long to become adult. After that period it becomes self sustaining, though if you need out of the tubs while its growing, it will take longer to become settled.

Hope this helps!

[Juzza12]

Most people prefer dubias as they can't climb smooth surfaces, and as madavies said are slower. I found them to be too slow to breed though. I've got lobsters and have vaseline around the tub which stops escapes as long as it's not too dirty, and I have tights stretched over the top just in case. They breed so quick so don't take as long to establish and are a lot cheaper. I have to feed them to my lot with tweezers as unlike dubias they will get out of a ceramic bowl.

[fenwoman]

I have the original lot of lobsters in a drawer which is above the basking lamp of the beardie viv below, which was made by me out of the base of a dresser. I have a smear of vaseline aoud the front and sides of the drawer but none at the rear.The idea is that any which get out of the drawer at the rear, will fall into the viv below so there is a ready supply of roaches dropping into the viv daily. I have a load of orchid bark in the drawer, with some branches and things for them to hide under. I have a small plastic plant pot dish which contains toilet paper, soaked for them to drink. I find them thirsty animals. I spray this daily to keep it moist. Roaches drown easily hence the soaked toilet paper so there is no water to fall into. I have another plant pot dish which holds the pond pellets. I also toss into the drawer anything I've been eating like apple or pear cores, the odd biscuit, bit of cheese sandwich etc as the drawer is next to my chair in the living room. So they thrive on dark, damp warm and breed like crazy. I got so many in the drawer that I split the colony and placed some in an exo terra and I really enjoy watching them. I handle my roaches also so no need for tweezers.