# Self sufficient - Livefood post......



## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

Ok, just wondered, who on here breed what?

I have cresties and beardies and now have a collony or locusts, 2 collonies of roaches and a mealworm farm.

I am going to start breeding waxworms and silkworms soon and growing dandelions on my windowsills.

Who else is self sufficient feeding their pets??


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## phoenixwoof (Aug 23, 2007)

I breed my own livefood to feed my ackies, beardies, rankins,barkings, leo, cresties, gargs and mossys...oh and my aph!
currently got 4 lobster colonies, 4 dubia colonies, 1 discoid colony, mealworm colony, waxworm colony and gals breeding to feed the ackies. I also have beardie salad mix growing in the greenhouse!
i am planning when i get back from my holidays to have a bash at locusts next - its all Wohics fault!!! any tips?


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## indie85 (Nov 22, 2009)

I just have a small dubia roach colony and the starts of a mealworm farm.

Have considered breeding locusts, but dont have the space at mo


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## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

I have dubais, lobsters, hissers and bean weevils:2thumb:


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## swift_wraith (Jan 4, 2009)

Small dubai colong and small mealworm colony. Not self sufficient yet but getting closer every day.


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

Well i started with 100 5th locusts, they grew into adults after about 5 weeks (found feeding more greens sped this up) and after another 3 weeks were breeding, couple of weeks on started laying, we take a laypot out into a converted faunarium every 7-10 days, have 2 in there atm and their on their 3rd pot - first started hatching today.


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## jaf2212 (May 10, 2008)

I now have 2 roach collony's on the way, just got to wait for them to grow


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

jaf2212 said:


> I now have 2 roach collony's on the way, just got to wait for them to grow


Keep the temps and humidity up and those turks wont take long to explode :2thumb:

Put together your gutloading formula yet? :whistling2:


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## shep1979 (Feb 24, 2008)

we breed 18 species of roaches most collonys are in the 1000's, we have 3 species of locust that we breed with great results about 1000 locust of all different sizes at any one time, also breed brown and black crickets mainly for micro crix, other feeder we breed are bean weavils,fruit flys, we gave up breeding mealworms as they are more hassle than wot its worth so just buy in 1kg a week, next to try is the waxworms, think thats about it all lol


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## jaf2212 (May 10, 2008)

Gemstone Dragons said:


> Keep the temps and humidity up and those turks wont take long to explode :2thumb:
> 
> Put together your gutloading formula yet? :whistling2:


Yep, got the mix put together and feeding them loads


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## xautomaticflowersx (Sep 7, 2009)

I'm nowhere near self-sufficient unfortunately... since I don't have the space/stomach to breed and cull my own rats for my snakes. Plus I have a herbivore (desert iguana) who eats a huge variety of fresh veg and fruits!
However, I've just bought 100 adult roaches from somebody on here to start up a yummy colony for all my insectivores. I also grow cress, mustard, rocket (wild and domesticated), dandelions, vetch and a few other weeds. Shelled Warriors sell loads of awesome seeds for herbivores and omnivores like beardies and rankins.
If I could have a big raised veg patch I'd love to grow more... like greens, peas, berries and winter squashes. Would be very cool, only I don't really have that much space in my garden and the bed would have to be really really high to stop my dog peeing up the plants! :bash: One of the only downsides of having a male dog! He pees up absolutely anything and if it was once alive it'll soon be dead!:lol2:


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## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

shep1979 said:


> we breed 18 species of roaches most collonys are in the 1000's, we have 3 species of locust that we breed with great results about 1000 locust of all different sizes at any one time, also breed brown and black crickets mainly for micro crix, other feeder we breed are bean weavils,fruit flys, we gave up breeding mealworms as they are more hassle than wot its worth so just buy in 1kg a week, next to try is the waxworms, think thats about it all lol


oooo what species you have?

I have cuban burrowing roaches, domino roaches, turkstians, deathheads, lobsters, duabis and hissers


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

I should be good to go on my own in a few weeks my turk population is exploding plus the dubs will be out of control in a few months. I get all my home grown greens for free from the garden.



bosshogg said:


> oooo what species you have?
> 
> I have cuban burrowing roaches, domino roaches, turkstians, deathheads, lobsters, duabis and hissers


Hey if I get some domino roaches can I put them in with my turks and dubs I think they look pretty cool.


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## trw (Mar 2, 2009)

im not quite self sufficient, but i only have to buy about 1 box of mealworms every 6 months, and i have just started trying to breed crickets. i put in a box of compost and within 10 mins i saw the first female laying.


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## shep1979 (Feb 24, 2008)

i have lobster,tuskan,dubia,banana,cuban burrowing,death head,doimo,dwarf hissers 2 sp ,flordia,headlight, and some others i cant remember of the top of my head


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

Wow impressive!

I have Waxies in the post now and Tropical Woodlice will be next :2thumb:


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## Chaika (Jun 5, 2009)

I keep dubia, mealworms and fruitflies as feeders but still occasionally buy some crickets or locusts for a bit of variety. Also have a European woodlouse colony but more as cleaners rather than feeders.


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## HarlowExotics (Apr 4, 2010)

I've started up some mealworms and locusts, over the next few weeks will be doing waxies, crickets and a few other bits as well, have just bought some new racking and boxes for them all today as it happens


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

Chaika said:


> I keep dubia, mealworms and fruitflies as feeders but still occasionally buy some crickets or locusts for a bit of variety. Also have a European woodlouse colony but more as cleaners rather than feeders.


Yes i am ordering 250 tropical woodlice as cleaners but will put half into a breeding tub, their high in calcium so ideal for baby beardies we thought - IF they will eat them that is!


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

I've only got the colony of Turks going, lots of ootheca but no babies as of yet. Any idea how long they take to hatch?
I don't want to feed any off, I'd be too scared of them not breeding.
Any ideas what else I could breed? I've got a fair few lizards to feed and crickets are costing £££


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

Well i tried mealies but they take ages and are cheap enough to buy bulk so i won't bother once what i have is used.

I have 2 Turk collonies so i can use 1 while i rest the other.

I have locusts breeding and just hatched my 2nd lot of hatchlings - that is the cresties sorted as they pref those to roaches.

I have my waxworm bottles setup and Waxies in the post so will see how thet goes.

I am ordering the tropical woodlice for cleaning the crestie exo but may try breeding half of them.

I am looking into breeding fruit beetles but then i can get the larvae £1 a pot of 10 instead of the £3.50+ charged online so again like mealies and morios i may just buy them in as their cheap enough.

The only thing i pay alot for is butterworms which cant be bred.


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

None of ours were interested in butter worms and the pachnoda grubs are horrible little buggers that splat when bitten.
I thought about trying locusts, not sure on how easy they are to breed though.


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

LOL yep the grubs are evil :devil:
I havn't found breeding locusts hard but then i have only had a couple of laypots hatch so far, the first babies are on 2nd shed now so they havn't done bad :2thumb:


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

Sounds good, any pics of your setup?


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

Heres a pic of the adults breeding viv, the pink faunarium i have aprox 50 hatchlings in at the moment and another laypot incubating with the heat from the viv and the black faunarium have roughly 40 babies about a week old and just had 2nd shed from my first laypot.

As i change laypots i put them into the tub with smaller babies and when the bigger ones are 3rds will feed them to my cresties and possibly hatchling beardies emptying that container so i can start hatching into it.

1 container should grow for 2 weeks ish and be on stages 2-3 when emptied so i am cycling the 2.

When my viv builder is back to work i am having two 2ft vivs built, 1 for adult collony raised on legs with laypots slid in underneath and another for 2-3rd shed babies upwards to grow on and use.


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

I Breed Super worms, Wax worms, and Dudi roaches, in the middle of setting up my rat/mouce racks and have bred locust and crix in the past.
Had to get rid of my rodents before i moved then once i get the racks sorted ill prob start with the locust again. Dont think ill ever get bk into crix, they stink and end up all over the house


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## Kathy17 (Mar 23, 2009)

I breed locusts, turkistan roaches and mealworms so far, only need to buy crickets bout once a month now (don't fancy breeding them really, too smelly). What other live foods are easy to breed and good for beardies?


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## emma90 (Jan 28, 2010)

dont they smell? like i think mealworms smell even in the small tubs?


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

Kathy17 said:


> I breed locusts, turkistan roaches and mealworms so far, only need to buy crickets bout once a month now (don't fancy breeding them really, too smelly). What other live foods are easy to breed and good for beardies?


 
Super worms are really easy, bit more work than mealies but they grow a lot quicker and a lot bigger. the only difference in breeding is keeping the adult super worms seprate so they turn into pupae.

Wax worms are also easy, after the initial setup you just leave them to it until there big enough to feed off.


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

I gave up with mealies, take too long to grow and cheap enough to buy bulk.

I have the turks, locusts and now waxies too :no1:
If i do ok with them will try Silkworms and i have woodlice coming too so won't hurt to try that.

Beetle grubs sound easy enough but as said before, i get them alot cheaper than online so not much point.


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## Kathy17 (Mar 23, 2009)

Sounds good. How would I go about establishing wax worm and super worm colonies? (what are super worms?)

I personally don't think that the mealworms smell but other members of my family think they do so I think it comes down to preference. 
I found though that they breed really quickly and efficiently with little effort on your behalf!


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## Bradley (Aug 26, 2009)

I have a dubia colony probably consisting of nearly 100 adults and nearly 200 smaller ones. I also have bred mealworms and crickets and im going to get some turkistan roaches and some hissers/lobstersa and bean weevils when i get my rep room


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## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

shep1979 said:


> i have lobster,tuskan,dubia,banana,cuban burrowing,death head,doimo,dwarf hissers 2 sp ,flordia,headlight, and some others i cant remember of the top of my head


I got some bananas but all dies in a week  how do you keep yours?


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## ozyshane (Dec 17, 2008)

My 2 turkistan colonies are more than enough to feed my beardies, infact if i wanted to i would have enough to feed the missus and kids as well!! lol. I do however buy in the odd tub or two of locusts and crix to vary their diet. 

ps. has your incubator been producing any goodies yet, piccies pls.


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

ozyshane said:


> My 2 turkistan colonies are more than enough to feed my beardies, infact if i wanted to i would have enough to feed the missus and kids as well!! lol. I do however buy in the odd tub or two of locusts and crix to vary their diet.
> 
> ps. has your incubator been producing any goodies yet, piccies pls.


Glad their saving you some cash hun :2thumb: Makes adding just 1 more to the collection a much easier decision doesn't it :whistling2:

I have locusts breeding too now giving me 40-60 babies a week already, gave up on mealies as i get them, morios and beetle grubs cheap anyway and just started waxies - soon i will only have the expense of butterworms lol

Candled the eggs today, i have little tails and even a foot with dinky toes - think its made waiting worse!!! :flrt:

Day 57 today, hopefully wont be long :whip:


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

Kathy17 said:


> Sounds good. How would I go about establishing wax worm and super worm colonies? (what are super worms?)
> 
> I personally don't think that the mealworms smell but other members of my family think they do so I think it comes down to preference.
> I found though that they breed really quickly and efficiently with little effort on your behalf!


 
There is loads of info on this forum bout waxworm setups and substrate but not many of them tell you how many worms to start off with and when to put them in the setup.
the way i set mine up was to keep the amount i would normally feed my reptiles in a month in the container i bought them in until they pupate, and then put them in the setup. If you put them in the setup whilst they are still worms they bury themselfs in the substrate, turn into pupae then are unable to dig ther way bk out as moths.
After a month has passed repeat the proccess until the 1st colony are big enough to feed to your reps. As long as you always seperate your grown colonies so you have enough to feed and enough to go bk into your breeding cycle you will never need to buy waxworms again :2thumb:

Superworms/Morioworms or (Supers) are similar to mealworms but around 3 times bigger.

The key to stop or reduce the smell of mealworms/superworms is ventilation and good husbandry, i keep all my supers in lidless containers.


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

i have just started with 6 pots of 10 waxies, i dont use substrate just weetabix and honey mix in clusters - that ok?
They have screwed up tissue and thin strips of corregated card to climb/shed on as per the instructions on here.


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## Kathy17 (Mar 23, 2009)

Repidge said:


> There is loads of info on this forum bout waxworm setups and substrate but not many of them tell you how many worms to start off with and when to put them in the setup.
> the way i set mine up was to keep the amount i would normally feed my reptiles in a month in the container i bought them in until they pupate, and then put them in the setup. If you put them in the setup whilst they are still worms they bury themselfs in the substrate, turn into pupae then are unable to dig ther way bk out as moths.
> After a month has passed repeat the proccess until the 1st colony are big enough to feed to your reps. As long as you always seperate your grown colonies so you have enough to feed and enough to go bk into your breeding cycle you will never need to buy waxworms again :2thumb:
> 
> ...


Thank you very much, will have a go!


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

Gemstone Dragons said:


> i have just started with 6 pots of 10 waxies, i dont use substrate just weetabix and honey mix in clusters - that ok?
> They have screwed up tissue and thin strips of corregated card to climb/shed on as per the instructions on here.


I started with weatabix, tryed others thing since and it doesnt make that much difference to be honest. When you mix up ur next lot chuck a bit of Gllycerine in with it, you can find it eveywer i got mine from tesco in the baking section. Its used to stop your honey drying out and going hard. :idea:
:thumb:


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

How much do morios stink? My turks are a bit pongy at the moment, I've only had them a few weeks though so I don't want to clean them yet


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

They do whiff a bit 
are they well ventilated?
how long do you leave fruit/veg in there for?


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

They have a great big hole covered with alumimium mesh on the top. Veg is left in a day or two at most and always in a bowl. They don't smell loads but you can definitely smell it when you walk in the room.


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

I keep mine in an under stairs cupboard so can't really smell them that much, until I open the cupboard door that is 
Yours sound well ventilated and you’re not leaving veg in there for too long so there’s not much else you can do to be honest.
I’m gutted I accidently left my monitors sliding door open slightly yesterday and when I came home he managed to get into my rack system and eat half of my breeding stock, all of my pupae had been gobbled up too 
Can’t be mad at him tho, he's just too cute 
Still got bout 150 beetles breeding tho so shud build back up again in a few weeks.


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