# Roaches and woodlice



## Mujician (Mar 7, 2007)

I saw some woodlice either on pollywog or dartfrog and wondered if they were any good for feeding to lizards? Is there a large species of woodlouse that would satisfy my rankins dragons and leopard geckos? 


I hate bugs and insects and stuff - sooo.......... I think really i should start breeding something like roaches - (medium sized ones for the lizards I mentioned before; oh, and my new ackies too!) what would be a good species for these animals?, do they need to be heated? (could i keep them in the shed?) how do i get them from where they live to the lizards (via powders) into the lizards without touching them?!


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

i breed dubia roaches and its pretty easy, but they do need a heat mat or top of hot viv, as far as im aware all feeder roaches are native to hot countries and will need heat (although i may be wrong) i have dubia as they are the only ones which cant climb or fly, the other such as turkistan roaches and lobster roaches can climp smooth plastic, the dubias can not so they dont escape. now as for getting them to the lizard, i have a cricker keeper tube in with my roaches, if u dont have a cricket keeper tubes (they are about £1 off livefood.co.uk) u can use some other kind of tube, maybe like the inside of a cling film or tin foil roll. i have a little cat food dish, i pick up the tube with the roaches inside, and just shake it into the dish, then dust and then put the dish infront of my beardie. sometimes i get the babies or adults in the dish (when i only want juvies), i just flick them out with my feeding tweezers. 

as for the woodlice, they are on dartfrog, and i think they are intended for amphibians, but they are very similar to roaches, i dont think there would be a problem feeding them to lizards, i have a friend who feeds them to geckos. i have never done this myself however, so i cant say for definate, but i have amphibs and a bearide, so i would buy them for my amphibs and i would deffo give my beardie a try of them.


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## inkyjoe (Mar 31, 2008)

Theres loads of good roach species which dont climb or fly: cuban burrowing, orange head, deaths head, discoid, turkistan to name a few. Ive had cubans for a while and recently bought a bulk load of dubias. I much prefer the cubans though, as theyre bigger, meatier and slower moving, they breed pretty quickly once established.

Im not sure how fast woodlice breed to make them any good as a feeder, but theyre very high in calcium so theyd be good.

As for handling them-face your fear!


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## Pliskens_Chains (Jun 8, 2008)

woodlice are a great source of calcium, they'd be great for beardies as long as they are still getting other sources of food. they are great for amphibians as well as if they are not eaten they are unlikey to have a chew on them. they are fairly good breeders but the culture (if your going to make one) can take as little as a month to establish or as much as 3 months.


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## salad dodger (Feb 13, 2007)

the woodlice on pollywog will be tropical woodlice & they are tiny.
i use them for clean up crews in milli tanks .
i cant imagine you could breed them fast enough to feed to reps


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## Pliskens_Chains (Jun 8, 2008)

salad dodger said:


> the woodlice on pollywog will be tropical woodlice & they are tiny.
> i use them for clean up crews in milli tanks .
> i cant imagine you could breed them fast enough to feed to reps


you can feed them native woodlice too, obviously anything that can eat through the shell of a black locust could manage woodlice. tichorina tormentosa are the tropical woodlice but our native ones are also fine. the tropical woodlice dont get as big so they are more suitable to many types of frog.


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## sharpstrain (May 24, 2008)

google breeding woodlice and you will find a decent info sheet - pretty easy though - and yes you coy breed woodlice in a shed - not roaches though


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## eeji (Feb 22, 2006)

thanks for this info, I'm going to chuck any woodlice I find in with my frogs!


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## HerpLewis (Jan 2, 2012)

My best bet would be Dubia Roaches, fairly cheap easy to bread an easy to keep  im not sure about woodlice as far as they go but it'd never hurt to look mate :}


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