# favourite roach species?



## Catherine896 (Jul 27, 2007)

Im starting to breed some of my own livefoods. I bought 300 large Dubias the other day and am looking forwards to them starting to breed (hopefully!)

I was just looking into Turkistans aswell. Any good/bad points with these?

What is everyones favourite species for breeding/feeding? I can see Dubias winning but wanted to see poll results too.

Thanks


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## reptiles-ink (Nov 4, 2006)

It depends what I'm feeding them to.
Dubias are bigger and cant climb very well, lobsters are smaller and breed better but are very good climbers.


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## Pleco07 (Aug 15, 2007)

I prefer Dubias, so easy to breed. Fed the adults to my BD, smaller ones to my gecko and scorpion.

I had lobsters in the past, they are super quick breedes but I found them to fiddly and quick to pick up and feed so i gave up on them.


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## Catherine896 (Jul 27, 2007)

Just seen a few female Dubias dropping eggs 

Wasnt impressed with the males hopping around on my bed the other day either lol :censor:

Was chasing 1 round my kitchen for 10 minutes :gasp:

The tub is more secure now, and that tubs inside a bigger tub too lol.

Hopefully wont find any more escapees :devil:


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

my vote is for Turkistans. they seem to be very underrated. they are more prolific and faster breeders than Dubias, required conditions are similar but they require more humidity to hatch their eggs, they are a smaller roach fully grown but big enough to be a meal for any lizard, and as babies they are nice and small for small and young lizards and stay smaller for longer.

there are quite a few positives for Turkistan roaches, and thus far ive not found any negatives. my water dragons arent really fussy though, they eat anything that moves. the Turkistans move much faster though and draw their attention better than the Dubias which arent slow by any means.


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## Anna89 (Sep 18, 2008)

Hi,

I voted dubia! I bought 5 adult females and one male at the south west show and two had lots of babies within a week - waiting for the others to drop now! Livefoods uk sell them now too! Getting some every week now!

Anna.


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## The_Real_Moreliaman (Jan 24, 2009)

I like these !!








But i dont feed any to reps !!


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## Javeo (May 4, 2008)

Having kept dubia, lobster and turks I prefer turkistan roaches. As said above they are faster breeders, more active and stay smaller as babies so even my dartfrogs can eat them. second is lobster and last is dubia, I actually sold my colony recently as I couldnt be bothered with them. If you have large reptiles thaen I guess they are useful but I only have frogs and day geckos.


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## Catherine896 (Jul 27, 2007)

I want to try Turkistans, can they jump/fly?

Thanks


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

Catherine896 said:


> I want to try Turkistans, can they jump/fly?
> 
> Thanks


males have wings but they cant fly. sometimes they try flapping them but they dont go anywhere. and they cant jump at all. they cant climb smooth surfaces either. they are never going to escape unless there is a gap for them to crawl through at ground level. and they are super fast and always want to hide anyway. unless i start pulling egg trays apart i never even see mine, bearing in mind there are over 300 of them in there! as soon as i open the box and light gets in they all just vanish.

the hardest aspect of keeping Turkistans is the humidity. but ive actually found a very easy way to take care of it. ive got a 64 litre RUB with 2 large holes cut in the lid, and then fine fibreglass mesh under the lid. the RUB is then inside a cardboard box and insulated with foam and bubble wrap. heatmats on the floor on a stat to keep the floor level around 29-34°C and the top tends to sit around 26-28°C giving a nice thermo gradient. humidity was sitting at 55% with water gel in a dish on top of the heatmat.

however i stuck some clingfilm over the holes at the top leaving it mostly unstuck around the edges for airflow, and once every 2 or 3 days i squirt some water onto the top of the mesh with a plant mister. only 2 or 3 squirts, hardly any water. humidity sits at 80% without any worries now, sometimes it gets closer to 100%!! ive had to open the clingfilm up a bit to reduce it. so that is now extremely easy, meaning im not having to incubate my egg cases seperately and mating is proving very successful. there are egg cases everywhere and hatchlings are running riot.


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## Catherine896 (Jul 27, 2007)

Thanks alot for that!

I may get some and attempt breeding them too.


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

Catherine896 said:


> Thanks alot for that!
> 
> I may get some and attempt breeding them too.


drop a PM to foggy01.1983 on here. hes selling them, i had 300 off him this week and not a single one was dead on arrival. they are all dropping egg cases straight away, egg cases are hatching already, and they are all thriving. plus they were very reasonably priced, and he biassed my order towards females to improve the productivity of the colony


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## Catherine896 (Jul 27, 2007)

I saw his thread but it said he didnt have any left?

Ill PM him now just incase.

Thanks


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## Alex (Jun 14, 2009)

Hmm,im sure he had some. 

Personally, i use dubia, they breed well for my needs, good meat-to-shell ratio, Dragons love them and my colony quickly expaned from 300 to 1000! . I have also heard that turkistans are good breeders!


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

Jim2109 said:


> there are quite a few positives for Turkistan roaches, and thus far ive not found any negatives.


Only "negative" we've found with the red runners is that they seem to give us exploratory "can I eat it" nips if we leave our fingers near them.

But otherwise, they're absolutely BRILLIANT.


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## grumpyoldtrout (May 19, 2008)

The_Real_Moreliaman said:


> I like these !!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



OK no-one else has asked, what are they? where are they from?, and where did you get them??? :flrt:


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

They look rather like Domino Roaches.


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## grumpyoldtrout (May 19, 2008)

Thank you Ssthisto. :notworthy::notworthy:


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

They're lovely little bugs, aren't they?

I rather like green banana roaches, too.


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

Ssthisto said:


> They look rather like Domino Roaches.


look more like therea olegrandjean. i wonder if they are any good as feeders? theyd look cooler running around the viv than Turkistans lol


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## Chaika (Jun 5, 2009)

grumpyoldtrout said:


> OK no-one else has asked, what are they? where are they from?, and where did you get them??? :flrt:


Domino cockroaches  Virginia Cheeseman is selling some for £2/adult.


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## Alister (Jun 3, 2009)

I have a quick question about Dubias. I have had a colony of 600 a week and there are more and more babies each day. My question is, are these breeding yet or were they pregnant when I bought them? How long is the process?

Alister


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## sharpstrain (May 24, 2008)

Catherine896 said:


> Just seen a few female Dubias dropping eggs
> 
> Wasnt impressed with the males hopping around on my bed the other day either lol :censor:
> 
> ...


 

They dont lay eggs they are live bearers


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## Catherine896 (Jul 27, 2007)

They can drop the egg sacks though cant they? Thought they carried the eggs round with them 'til they hatch?

A few females dropped what looked like eggs and Ive read once they have done this they are no good. Happens when they are stressed etc.

I have found a few babies today so fingers crossed my colony will start expanding!


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

yeh, Dubias do produce eggs, but they carry them. if they drop them then they wont hatch, they hatch inside and then release the young.


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## Catherine896 (Jul 27, 2007)

Got my Turkistans this morning  Have a few egg cases already. Ive taken 2 out so I can see how small they are when they hatch.

What do other people do with the egg cases? Ive got them on damp kitchen roll in a cricket tub. How long should it take them to hatch?

Fingers crossed these breed well!

Thanks!


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## Dynamos Dragons (May 23, 2009)

I ordered some turkistan roaches on sunday to breed, have my RUB ready with a shelf built in my airing cupboard for it (30degrees :no1, So im hoping they will be here today and i can get them breeding :whistling2:

I have never bred roaches before this will be my first time so cant comment on which is the best but i have been told turkistan breed the quickest, so that is why im going for them as my beardies eat like pigs and with 14 hungry babys to feed too i need them to breed quick :whip:


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

Catherine896 said:


> Got my Turkistans this morning  Have a few egg cases already. Ive taken 2 out so I can see how small they are when they hatch.
> 
> What do other people do with the egg cases? Ive got them on damp kitchen roll in a cricket tub. How long should it take them to hatch?
> 
> ...


they hatch tiny, you can barely see them. they are smaller than ants! i was incubating mine in a cricket tub with the lid on with cotton wool at the bottom with a dish on top of it, eggs in the dish. however mould formed and none of them have hatched! so now im just leaving the eggs loose in the RUB wherever they are laid. il have to wait and see whether this works, but there are babies everywhere so im guessing it must be to some extent. the RUB has 80% humidity anyway so i dont think it will be an issue, and at floor level the temperature is 30°C+


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## Catherine896 (Jul 27, 2007)

Got a few egg cases in with my Turkistans now, although 1 or 2 look like they have been eaten? 

They have cat biscuits and some veg as food.

Good news is I have lots of baby Dubias this morning


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## The_Real_Moreliaman (Jan 24, 2009)

Jim2109 said:


> look more like therea olegrandjean. i wonder if they are any good as feeders? theyd look cooler running around the viv than Turkistans lol


yep they are t.grandjeani....or Question mark roach....i think petiveriana are the domino roach....not good for feeding as a food source as the growth is just too slow, I bought some nymphs back from hamm a few years ago.

They are in the for sale section if anyones interested.


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