# Breeding Turkistan roaches



## dougal (Dec 2, 2009)

Hi I curruntly have a smallish colony in a large exoterra plastic box with egg flats ect being feed the roachhuts food formula and water gel.I am using the heat from on top of my viv's as the heat source.Whilst I don't have a problem with shedding or egg laying I don't apper to see any hatchling nymps. Do I need to somehow increase the humidity and if so what do you guys recommend? Or is it something else?


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

Your first problem is that you wont get enough heat in there if your using the waste energy from a vivarium. You need a heatmat to get them to breed effectively. A lot of people say keep them at a high humidity but i breed mine successfully at normal room humidity. I feed on dry dog food and water gel with some veg every now and again. The hatchlings will be tiny to start off with, they grow very quickly. But you need to give them their own heat supply or they wont breed and the egg cases wont hatch. Ive had my colony as a supplementary feeder for my ackie monitor trio for 2 months now and the colony is still growing.


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## popitgoes (Oct 24, 2010)

SuperSpeedyWheels said:


> Your first problem is that you wont get enough heat in there if your using the waste energy from a vivarium. You need a heatmat to get them to breed effectively. A lot of people say keep them at a high humidity but i breed mine successfully at normal room humidity. I feed on dry dog food and water gel with some veg every now and again. The hatchlings will be tiny to start off with, they grow very quickly. But you need to give them their own heat supply or they wont breed and the egg cases wont hatch. Ive had my colony as a supplementary feeder for my ackie monitor trio for 2 months now and the colony is still growing.


i disagree with the first part of this as i bred my first roaches using the heat from the top of my viv started with 6 adults now got hundreds 

make sure they always have food also give them fruit and veg 2-3 times a week and you should be fine 

also do not bother them if you keep going into the enclosure they are in it can stop them from producing also 

hope this helps


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## The Roach Hut (Mar 29, 2008)

turkistans are a little different to dubia in that they need that heat to hatch the oothecae as dubia internally hatch therefore the heat is provided by mum. with turks if the tubs temp is not high enough they will be very slow hatching even if at all. get a heat mat wrapped around it mate ul be over run, dont go to dog food, and im not saying that cause you buy our chow, but because its very low in protein and the chow is loaded and designed to give the best nutrition to get the best results from breeding and has been designed from years of experimentaion and testing

Tony


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

popitgoes said:


> i disagree with the first part of this as i bred my first roaches using the heat from the top of my viv started with 6 adults now got hundreds
> 
> make sure they always have food also give them fruit and veg 2-3 times a week and you should be fine
> 
> ...


Well I suppose it depends on the size of your viv, the size of your tub and the size of your colony. I wouldnt leave it to chance like that though, especially in cold winter months. But its all down to the owner I guess, I think that by putting a heat mat in your raising temps so much that they will boom.



The Roach Hut said:


> turkistans are a little different to dubia in that they need that heat to hatch the oothecae as dubia internally hatch therefore the heat is provided by mum. with turks if the tubs temp is not high enough they will be very slow hatching even if at all. get a heat mat wrapped around it mate ul be over run, dont go to dog food, and im not saying that cause you buy our chow, but because its very low in protein and the chow is loaded and designed to give the best nutrition to get the best results from breeding and has been designed from years of experimentaion and testing
> 
> Tony


I think that if you can afford roach chow its the stuff to use, but at a tenner a kilo with the amount of roaches I have, I would be going through it like crazy, cheap dog food and offcuts of greens does mine well


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## The Roach Hut (Mar 29, 2008)

SuperSpeedyWheels said:


> Well I suppose it depends on the size of your viv, the size of your tub and the size of your colony. I wouldnt leave it to chance like that though, especially in cold winter months. But its all down to the owner I guess, I think that by putting a heat mat in your raising temps so much that they will boom.
> 
> 
> 
> I think that if you can afford roach chow its the stuff to use, but at a tenner a kilo with the amount of roaches I have, I would be going through it like crazy, cheap dog food and offcuts of greens does mine well


the biggest issue with the cost is postage but we are seeing if we can send via courieer cheaper, but dont forget you get what you pay for.

Tony


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

The Roach Hut said:


> the biggest issue with the cost is postage but we are seeing if we can send via courieer cheaper, but dont forget you get what you pay for.
> 
> Tony


No doubt I cant argue with your prices at all, cheapest out there, but not as cheap as dog food. in all honesty, for 3,000 roaches, how long would a kilo bag last me, because if it will last a while then getting tha nutrition into my reptiles will be worth the cost?


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## The Roach Hut (Mar 29, 2008)

SuperSpeedyWheels said:


> No doubt I cant argue with your prices at all, cheapest out there, but not as cheap as dog food. in all honesty, for 3,000 roaches, how long would a kilo bag last me, because if it will last a while then getting tha nutrition into my reptiles will be worth the cost?


well its should last quite some time, we can send it cheaper and up to 15 kilos a time which really reduces the price down if u bought say 15 kilos in one go we can save you over £50 on the price. like we said its the shipping that costs, and doing it this way can get it down to around £7 a kilo bulk buying. and thats posted 3-5 day delivery


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## dougal (Dec 2, 2009)

Thanks for the replies guys i do have some spare heatmats and thermostats so i will give that a go.The main reason for desturbance is generally adding food and water gel which i have to do every couple of days otherwise the gel goes all yellow smells awful. My Dubias are in a similar set up on top of my tanks and are breeding fine. As i am getting the egg cases but no hatchlings it does sound like a heat issue but i understood humidity played a role also? Is there a maximum recommended temp or do i not need to plug heatmat into the stat?


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

Get to about 32-36 degrees in there mate I dont even faff around with a thermostat. Roaches are not heavy bodied so they wont burn themselves on a mat, dont put it at the bottom, wrap it around the tub, I do mine on the inside and i have mine booming. Both my turks and dubias are on 30w mats, wrapped aound the inside of the tub and at around 34 degrees.. both colonies are doing awesome


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