# Dubia roach nymphs & weevils are bad sling food!



## an606 (Feb 7, 2010)

Been experimenting with dubia roaches as alternatives to crickets since all the forums have been raving about them. It seems that my slings are having trouble piercing through the tough shell of the roach nymphs. :eek4: Fed them to my larger slings - T. blondi (6cm legspan), X. immanis (7cm), P. regalis (6cm). All of them couldn't pierce through the hard outer shell on the topside, mind you these were small nymphs (1-1.5cm). They only managed to subdue the roaches if their fangs pierced the soft undersides. 

Had a similar bad experience with the weevils that TSS market as _'ideal food for spiderlings'_. The weevils are tiny (3-5mm), and so are only good for small slings (<2.5cm legspan). I tried these with B. smithi, A. geniculata and G. pulchripes slings and none of them managed to pierce the hard wing case of the weevils. I tried 'surgically' removing the wing case of the weevil before feeding (cruel i know :blush, but even so the slings couldn't score a kill. Ended up just throwing the rest of the weevils away.

Just like to share my personal opinion that weevils and roach nymphs don't make good alternatives to crickets/mealworms/hoppers. Hope to hear your opinions and experiences! :2thumb:


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## elliot ness (Oct 5, 2008)

I think you would have been better off with small silent browns...not as if you have to go pinhead size....like I do with some of the babies.
Silent browns are always the weapon of choice mate.


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## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

I have never had any trouble with weevils for my spiderlings even the ones that are barely 1cm 
I generally just squash the head on crickets for them when they get bigger


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## Mutley.100 (Nov 3, 2008)

I haven't had any trouble with baby roaches for small over 2 cm , I have prekilled some for my Yamia sp.s before only because the roaches were bigger than the slings . Even my 2cm B.smithi sling will kill one when it's hungry .


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

The nutional value of a roach exceeds that of crickets and locusts and poses little danger of attacking your Ts or the gut issues associated with locusts. Beanweavils only eat during the grub stage and will live for a couple of weeks making them ideal food for when you have restricted time to look after your slings eg holidays. Slings unfortunately can be fussy eaters and sometimes we even have to prekill our crickets to get them to feed.


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## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

Poxicator said:


> The nutional value of a roach exceeds that of crickets and locusts and poses little danger of attacking your Ts or the gut issues associated with locusts. Beanweavils only eat during the grub stage and will live for a couple of weeks making them ideal food for when you have restricted time to look after your slings eg holidays. Slings unfortunately can be fussy eaters and sometimes we even have to prekill our crickets to get them to feed.


I bet that take you bloody ages !!!!!!:gasp:


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## SkinheadOi85 (Sep 28, 2008)

*Roaches*

So would my Chile Rose (mature m/f im not sure) be ok on roaches and if so what type would you all recommend??

Also Teeny love the signiture!!!!


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## ShouldIBeDamned (Aug 24, 2008)

My tiny little A.Purpurea slings can take down a weevil and some of those only just reach the 1cm mark. Occasionally I pre-kill a meal worm and let my slings have a nibble overnight then take it out, the good thing about mealworms (although not for the mealworm itself) is that they continue to move after they have been 'killed' so the slings will be able to find them. I took the bottom end of an eaten one out the other day and it was still moving then! :gasp:

Once my roach ooths start hatching I will try them on those but until that happens I'll be sticking to weevils, plus they're much cuter than other live foods!


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## brownj6709 (Jan 26, 2010)

Ive got lobster roaches and there exoskeletons are softer than dubias so my lil'uns have no probs:2thumb:


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## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

SkinheadOi85 said:


> So would my Chile Rose (mature m/f im not sure) be ok on roaches and if so what type would you all recommend??
> 
> Also Teeny love the signiture!!!!


Most roach's would be ok just go by size 

And thanks the sig is troof lol


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## SkinheadOi85 (Sep 28, 2008)

*Cheers*

Haha it is true mines with J.D tho lol me and mr vodka had a love hate relationship - I love it, it hates my head in the morning!!!

Thanks for info on roaches if he doesnt eat um my beardie will or no doubt my daughter will keep um as pets.

x


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

Personally? I've had no problem with bean weevils at all. Even my 1cm _A. laeta_ sling which usually refuses live food killed one and ate it the other day. My minatrix was also doing well on them when it was tiny.

All my very small slings have no problems with weevils, and I've found if you use the larger female weevils you can really feed spiders up to about a 3.5cm leg-span on them. You just chuck in more weevils.

I love the fact that I don't have to worry about them eating a moulting sling as well!


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## ShouldIBeDamned (Aug 24, 2008)

Hedgewitch said:


> I love the fact that I don't have to worry about them eating a moulting sling as well!


This is one the main reasons I use em too... bad enough worrying about the little buggers as it is without the risk of them being munched as well!


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## Nicola McKay (Dec 28, 2009)

All of our slings are eating bean weevils and cockroaches and they manage them no problem. 
The one invert I have found that will not eat bean weevils is praying mantis. For some reason they will not touch them, which is quite annoying when you have 46 boxes of bean weevils and then have to go and buy fruit flies instead!


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## Sublios_Pixelus (Dec 13, 2008)

I don't have any issues with bean weevils either.
Although I do make sure to feed off the big fat freshly emerged females if there are any and pretty much always remove the hard wing covers which is rather easy as you just hold it between 2 fingers roll it until the covers are visable and pull them off with some tweezers, does make it a lot easier for the smaller slings to take them down


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

Nicola McKay said:


> All of our slings are eating bean weevils and cockroaches and they manage them no problem.
> The one invert I have found that will not eat bean weevils is praying mantis. For some reason they will not touch them, which is quite annoying when you have 46 boxes of bean weevils and then have to go and buy fruit flies instead!


Tell me about it, I have 8 mantid nymphs here and I thought "oh it's fine, I'll just give them bean weevils"... won't touch the things so I'm running around the Deen looking for fruit flies, eventually settling for micro crix.

Got fruit flies now though.


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## Nicola McKay (Dec 28, 2009)

Hedgewitch said:


> Tell me about it, I have 8 mantid nymphs here and I thought "oh it's fine, I'll just give them bean weevils"... won't touch the things so I'm running around the Deen looking for fruit flies, eventually settling for micro crix.
> 
> Got fruit flies now though.


I had 8 mantis nymphs as well. Got them from Alex (Chaika). Unfortunately 4 died before I was able to get fruit flies. If I'd known they wouldn't eat bean weevils I'd have told Alex to keep a hold of them until I got fruit flies. Where abouts in Aberdeen are you? I'm in Dyce.


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

Nicola McKay said:


> I had 8 mantis nymphs as well. Got them from Alex (Chaika). Unfortunately 4 died before I was able to get fruit flies. If I'd known they wouldn't eat bean weevils I'd have told Alex to keep a hold of them until I got fruit flies. Where abouts in Aberdeen are you? I'm in Dyce.


Snap, I got mine off Alex as well. I managed to get some micros before any started starving off. Sorry to hear about yours. If I'd heard I'd have given you some... I have far more than I'd like to have. And nothing else I own will eat them.

I'm not far from central Aberdeen, about half way between the Uni and Union street.


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## Chaika (Jun 5, 2009)

Nicola McKay said:


> I had 8 mantis nymphs as well. Got them from Alex (Chaika). Unfortunately 4 died before I was able to get fruit flies. If I'd known they wouldn't eat bean weevils I'd have told Alex to keep a hold of them until I got fruit flies. Where abouts in Aberdeen are you? I'm in Dyce.


I didn't have fruit flies either, so it wouldn't have helped! 
Now, after a mad rush last week, I've ended up with no less than 8 fruitfly cultures (this was after I'd also discovered that they won't touch even the smallest bean weevil :gasp.

I wouldn't be too upset about the deaths, small nymphs like that have a high death rate, that's why I gave you guys so many, to cover any losses. I've been feeding them well for the last week now and still get one or two every day that just didn't eat for some reason and die on me.


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