# Cock-a-Roach.



## mythicdawn07 (Jun 18, 2009)

Hey folks thinking about breeding dubias, have just ordered at 84 litre rub, hopefully will be big enough.

Would these water crystals be safe to use for them? 500g Watergel Water Storing Retaining Gel Crystals on eBay (end time 13-Nov-10 10:43:41 GMT)

If not could you post a link to a supplier who sells bulk for cheap.

Also i need to find some where to buy a few egg crates/cartons.


Cheers :2thumb:


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## kazzy (Aug 17, 2009)

im not sure about the water crystals with them being designed for gardening.

heres a link for egg flats Egg Boxes & Egg Trays, Coloured Egg Boxes, Egg Cartons & Egg Packaging from Farmyard Poultry


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

Hi there, 
Yes 84L is plenty big enough to hold a few hundred adults. 

Yes I think any water gel is good but personally I just use fresh greens/fruit every day and or wet chicken mash as it will feed and water them same time.

Here is where I buy my egg trays from they are really cheap and always arrive fast and in good condition.
20 x Greys Egg Trays Holds 30 Eggs on eBay (end time 09-Nov-10 20:32:17 GMT)

If you want any adult dubia I am selling them at good prices with lots of females.


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## Freakinfreak (May 13, 2009)

With roaches I personally use toilet tubes as you can bash them out instead of having to try and grab them from under and between the egg crates


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## REDDEV1L (Nov 27, 2008)

Water Store - 400G from Homebase.co.uk

Homebase 400g for just under a fiver.
Thats what I use anyway.

Eggcrate is easy....go to a big tesco and look at their egg section, they use em in the wheely pallets to keep the stacks right for one type of egg carton...Then just walk out the door. Ppl look at ya funny but meh!
Or ebay if you cba with tesco/local deli etc


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## mythicdawn07 (Jun 18, 2009)

Thanks for the links guys, I'll be looking for some roaches soon to start a colony if you can let me know prices etc i'll drop you a PM once my set up is ready. : victory:


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

84L should be more than enough especially if u build a roach motel, id say you could keep thousands in a tub that big.


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## mythicdawn07 (Jun 18, 2009)

Repidge said:


> 84L should be more than enough especially if u build a roach motel, id say you could keep thousands in a tub that big.


 
Awesome because my beardie is a eating machine lol.

The box arrived but it wont fit in my wardrobe  will fit on top of it though lol.


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

mythicdawn07 said:


> Awesome because my beardie is a eating machine lol.
> 
> The box arrived but it wont fit in my wardrobe  will fit on top of it though lol.


Haha ive got a few little eating machines :2thumb:


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

how many roaches you starting with?


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## mythicdawn07 (Jun 18, 2009)

Repidge said:


> how many roaches you starting with?


 
well i'v just ordered 100 "Adults" from livefoods.co.uk they seem to be abit cheaper than what people are asking and they'll come with my regular livefoods order so its easier for me i'm just hoping they are actually adults and with decent ratios of male/female.


Fingers crossed


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

you hoping to breed them or just feed them off? i started with 400 and had to wait for about 3 months for their numbers to grow so i had a self sustaining colony for 2 of my beardies. I probably have around 1500 at the min so im not worried about feeding too many off any more.


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## mythicdawn07 (Jun 18, 2009)

Repidge said:


> you hoping to breed them or just feed them off? i started with 400 and had to wait for about 3 months for their numbers to grow so i had a self sustaining colony for 2 of my beardies. I probably have around 1500 at the min so im not worried about feeding too many off any more.


 
Gonna be breeding them, will probably have to wait awhile to get a decent size colony to feed all my pets but will be worth it .


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

mythicdawn07 said:


> Gonna be breeding them, will probably have to wait awhile to get a decent size colony to feed all my pets but will be worth it .


Defo, i cnt remember the last time i actually bought food for my reps, i breed all my own food now. Its loads more fun breeding ur own think i checked on the roaches more than i did my reps at 1st  dnt worry tho roaches breed like crazy you'll have enough in no time.


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## mythicdawn07 (Jun 18, 2009)

Awesome i'v tried breeding meal worms but i think im doing something wrong :lol2:


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## richard hardwick (Jan 2, 2010)

i started with about 200 waited patiently for 3 months now i have hundreds of small ones: victory: well worth the wait also breeding waxworms and looked tonite there was a good few in there


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## Rolandslf (Nov 2, 2010)

I just wanted to say that I don't use any form of water in my Roach colonies. They get liquid from their food source.

Oh, I breed Dubias, Pelidas, Lobsters and Forest Roaches.


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## richard hardwick (Jan 2, 2010)

yes i found a whole orange cut into quarters does the job fine was lasting up to 4 days at start now all gone in under 2 they will eat peeled sliced apple just make sure you have a vent at the top for air circulation


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## forteh (Feb 9, 2009)

We dont add any water to our roaches, they do absolutely fine with the fresh food that they have, if were not careful it raises the humidity so much there is condensation forming on the walls!

We keep ours with a constant supply of dry koi pellets and put some fresh veg or fruit in a couple of times a week. Sliced orange is good, butternut squash aswell, just found that they love melon skin (after weve eaten most of the flesh).

Started off with 100 adults and 2-300 small/medium and now have hundreds of adults and probably thousands of little ones. Kept in an 84litre (I think) wham box with a heatmat @ 90°C. I cut a load of mesh vents into the lid, to be honest could do with some more.


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## Dykie (Sep 4, 2009)

Dubias are great for feeders, far better than crickets and so easy to breed. 
I started with 50 adults 50 medium and 50 small and i have 1000s now. i dont give them any water just fruit and veg every day & any left over CGD when available, they seem to love Carrots and Apples. 

I got my first egg crates from ebay i think they are about £2 for 10 but now i get them from the local butchers for free.

I tried to breed mealworms and all was going good they seemed really easy to breed, i had beetles and worms of all sizes then it got a little damp and a few days later there was literally millions of mites in it, on it and all over where they were kept, it looked like the tub was alive.:gasp: that ended the mealworm project pretty quickly.


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

I always have water crystals in with my Dubies, and to be honest i only have to top it up evey couple of months because they rairly eat it. Even so, i always keep it in there anyways just for peace of mind:mrgreen:


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

mythicdawn07 said:


> Awesome i'v tried breeding meal worms but i think im doing something wrong :lol2:


Haha What dya think you might be doing wrong? I gave up with mealies and now use supers instead. That way my sav can eat them too cos the mealies were just too small, he would eat about 30 then look at me as if to say " IS THAT IT???" :yeahright:


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

> We dont add any water to our roaches, they do absolutely fine with the fresh food that they have, if were not careful it raises the humidity so much there is condensation forming on the walls!
> 
> We keep ours with a constant supply of dry koi pellets and put some fresh veg or fruit in a couple of times a week. Sliced orange is good, butternut squash aswell, just found that they love melon skin (after weve eaten most of the flesh).
> 
> Started off with 100 adults and 2-300 small/medium and now have hundreds of adults and probably thousands of little ones. Kept in an 84litre (I think) wham box with a heatmat @ 90°C. I cut a load of mesh vents into the lid, to be honest could do with some more.


You mean 90f surely?
I bought 250 Turks about 6 months ago, now there are tonnes. I couldn't say how many, I can't count them all.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk


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## mythicdawn07 (Jun 18, 2009)

Repidge said:


> Haha What dya think you might be doing wrong? I gave up with mealies and now use supers instead. That way my sav can eat them too cos the mealies were just too small, he would eat about 30 then look at me as if to say " IS THAT IT???" :yeahright:


 
probably plenty wrong, they are in a tub full of crushed up cereal i havent even looked into there care to be honest which is probably why i'm failing i just took word of mouth and they probably forgot that they needed some souce of water unlike beanweevils hahaha.

i'll have to look into it for when i start a proper breeding group of feeder insects.


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

mythicdawn07 said:


> probably plenty wrong, they are in a tub full of crushed up cereal i havent even looked into there care to be honest which is probably why i'm failing i just took word of mouth and they probably forgot that they needed some souce of water unlike beanweevils hahaha.
> 
> i'll have to look into it for when i start a proper breeding group of feeder insects.


 Haha when you get started again just send me a msg and ill try help you out. good luck :2thumb:


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## mythicdawn07 (Jun 18, 2009)

Well got my roaches today, how much ventilation should i put in the lid, right now its got 3 rows of pretty big holes, hopefully they cant climb on the lid and escape.


Poor pic but you can get some sort of idea for the size of the holes.




















Now is dry dog food okay for them or do i need to soften it or crush it or something they seem to be more focused on the veg and bread atm.


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

I would get some small mesh and put it over a big hole in the lid. My Turks have about a 10 inch square of mesh on the top and a 10 x 3 inch strip on the side.
Dubia can't climb smooth plastic so you should be ok.
I would turn my egg trays on their side if I was you, any poo will fall down that way rather than festering in the crevices of the tray.
Roaches love bread but it doesn't have many vitamins etc. I use ferret food and chicken pellets but will be trying a new mix when I run out.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

mythicdawn07 said:


> Well got my roaches today, how much ventilation should i put in the lid, right now its got 3 rows of pretty big holes, hopefully they cant climb on the lid and escape.
> 
> 
> Poor pic but you can get some sort of idea for the size of the holes.
> ...


You got more than enough ventilation there, it should be perfect just keep an eye out for any moisture building up on sides : victory:

Oh and yes they won't eat much dog food if you don't crush it up.


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## kazzy (Aug 17, 2009)

Repidge said:


> I always have water crystals in with my Dubies, and to be honest i only have to top it up evey couple of months because they rairly eat it. Even so, i always keep it in there anyways just for peace of mind:mrgreen:


*my dubias love there water crystals i have to replace at least once a week, the babies seem to love it more than the fresh food
*


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## Rolandslf (Nov 2, 2010)

I feed my Roaches, Grated Carrot, Grated Apple, some Pronutro mixed into a paste and believe this or not, a few wedges of Orange every now and then. The Orange seems to stimulate and increase breeding.


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## KJ Exotics (Jun 16, 2007)

I feed mine anything really, try stuff to see if they eat it. Not keen on potatoes, love carrots and apples. My cubans go mad for dry cat food.
Looking for some more dubia's if anyone got some spares


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

mythicdawn07 said:


> Well got my roaches today, how much ventilation should i put in the lid, right now its got 3 rows of pretty big holes, hopefully they cant climb on the lid and escape.
> 
> 
> Poor pic but you can get some sort of idea for the size of the holes.
> ...


I use high protein cat food, I chuck it in as it is and they just chomp their way through it. They shouldnt be able to get to the holes in the top anyways with the sides being a smooth surface but ive always gone for the the mesh method myself. Theres plenty of differrent ways to set up ur colony and everyone has their own methods. sure you'll find your own technique, good luck buddy :2thumb:


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