# easy to keep and breed livefood?



## trw (Mar 2, 2009)

are there any types of livefood which are easy to keep and breed for my leopard gecko. at the moment i have a colony of mealworms which is going really well and they are easily breeding and the eggs hatching at room temperature. my leo doesnt like locust anymore and i dont like crickets. maybe im asking too much, but just wanted to know if there are any different types of insects which are easy to keep and breed and dont get too big for the leo to eat so quickly as locust, and also dont need a huge amount of space. i thought about dubias roaches, but dunno much about them so any info is appreciated.


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## McQuillanX2 (Oct 29, 2009)

Dubia roaches are the best:
No smell 
Breed quite fast

All you need a dark storage tub with air holes. Use egg crates and toilet tubesfor climbing. and a heat mat should be placed under the tub to make them breed faster, Feed them veg or crushed cat food, and for water use the cricket water jelly  Hope this helps:2thumb::notworthy:


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## exoticpetshop (Oct 26, 2009)

*Hi*

Dubias are a slow breeder & not worth breeding for one gecko you would need loads becouse they breed better when theres more of them

Try a few types of roaches before buying loads
turkistan roaches are a very fast breeder that cant climb & dont smell & they only get to about adult cricket size well a bit bigger so great for geckos.


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## trw (Mar 2, 2009)

thanks for both the replies. gona look into both types of roaches. do turkistan roaches need aditional heat like dubias do?


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## Grond (Jun 17, 2008)

Why not stick with the mealies?

That's all I and many other feed our leos.


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## trw (Mar 2, 2009)

Grond said:


> Why not stick with the mealies?
> 
> That's all I and many other feed our leos.


i do use the mealies mainly, but i also want to provide them with a bit more variety, and the mealies dont make her chase them to catch them so they give her no exercise.


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## Grond (Jun 17, 2008)

trw said:


> i do use the mealies mainly, but i also want to provide them with a bit more variety, and the mealies dont make her chase them to catch them so they give her no exercise.


True enough.

If you want to know about Turkistan roaches, look here:

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/food-classifieds/383133-turkistan-roaches-sale-reduced-prices.html

There is a fantastic revised care sheet linked further down the thread.

Foggy will provide you with the roaches at a good price and is a nice chap!


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## trw (Mar 2, 2009)

Grond said:


> True enough.
> 
> If you want to know about Turkistan roaches, look here:
> 
> ...


cheers. ive bookmarked the link and will be looking into them more, just need mat and stat etc. also, do u think a colony will get too big if im just breeding them for one leo, and if i kept them without heat would this slow down there breeding or would it kill them ?


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## Grond (Jun 17, 2008)

trw said:


> cheers. ive bookmarked the link and will be looking into them more, just need mat and stat etc. also, do u think a colony will get too big if im just breeding them for one leo, and if i kept them without heat would this slow down there breeding or would it kill them ?


PM Steve(Foggy) and ask him. I have little experience of them as only just starting out but he'll let you know what's what.


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## Juzza12 (Jun 12, 2008)

Probably best off as others said with turkistans, or lobsters. The fact that lobsters can climb smooth surfaces puts a lot of people off but it's easily sorted. No heat at all may slow roaches down to the point where they won't breed. If you use a heat mat and end up with too many you can always sell the excess on here.


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## trw (Mar 2, 2009)

Juzza12 said:


> Probably best off as others said with turkistans, or lobsters. The fact that lobsters can climb smooth surfaces puts a lot of people off but it's easily sorted. No heat at all may slow roaches down to the point where they won't breed. If you use a heat mat and end up with too many you can always sell the excess on here.


thats a fair point. may end up making some money out of them too .


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