# Where to buy a starter roach colony



## lewkini (May 12, 2009)

As the title suggests im now ready to start a colony but im trying to decide where to buy them!

Ive seen roach hut sell starter colonys but for £60!! Is this a usual price?

I had a look on ebay but im worried that the colony i get may already be infected with one thing or another like these threads

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/lizards/993703-how-do-i-dispose-dubia.html

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/feeder/949493-not-again-pest-bugs-feeders.html

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/feeder/775113-help-mite-my-dubia-roaches.html

Is this something to be concerned about or am i over worrying?

I know this may sound stupid but do you get different quality roaches from certain places ie does it vary from one breeder to the next or again does this not matter!

Cheers for any replies

Lewi:2thumb:


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## ConnorTrussell (Apr 5, 2012)

lewkini said:


> As the title suggests im now ready to start a colony but im trying to decide where to buy them!
> 
> Ive seen roach hut sell starter colonys but for £60!! Is this a usual price?
> 
> ...


They're very expensive to start up, and you won't get it much cheaper than that for a full colony.

You could drop me a PM I sell for much cheaper but obviously you get much less roaches:whistling2:

It's probably better to just suck up that price to be honest though

Connor


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## ConnorTrussell (Apr 5, 2012)

and sorry I didn't answer your other questions:

I personally think that you are over worrying- I had a few flour mites turn up about a year ago, dried out the container for a few days, job done. Roaches are roaches and I don't think flour mites even affect your reptile, just a pain in the :censor: cos you know they are there

Connor


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## Corfel (Apr 29, 2013)

Roach Hut - the guy is decent with communication too

£60 ain't all that bad

I paid about £20 simply for 100 females so...


I wouldn't worry about any disease/infections with your colony either - once you're going just make sure you're not buying/adding roaches from other sources and it should get itself going.

Keep in mind it'll take you a few months though.

Real simple though - Bug Grub + some greens and that's it, nothing else to maintaining them besides keeping them warm


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

Which type of roaches were you looking for??

Tiger

Sent from my LT18i using Tapatalk 2


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

why do folks want roach colonies?


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## Dragon Farm (Aug 7, 2009)

Corfel said:


> Roach Hut - the guy is decent with communication too
> 
> £60 ain't all that bad
> 
> ...


If you used 'bug grub' and (salad ?) greens, you would end up paying more for your home roaches than shop bought insects. Both are an extremely expensive way to feed roaches. 

Mites will appear in clean colonies from outside sources. For example from cereal foods. Its how you keep your colonies that determines if the mites take over and cause problems or not.


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## Corfel (Apr 29, 2013)

Dragon Farm said:


> If you used 'bug grub' and (salad ?) greens, you would end up paying more for your home roaches than shop bought insects. Both are an extremely expensive way to feed roaches.
> 
> Mites will appear in clean colonies from outside sources. For example from cereal foods. Its how you keep your colonies that determines if the mites take over and cause problems or not.


I wouldn't specifically buy salad for roaches

Being a human who eats such things though, there's always something spare which I'll throw in

Can make up your own bug feed for budget

I wasn't really suggesting specific feeds for him to use, more the concept of what things you want to look at feeding


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## Dragon Farm (Aug 7, 2009)

I love salad too, and there is rarely any leftover. You specifically suggested bug grub, and salad for mantaining them, and i thought it only fair to point out how much these things cost.

For example I have a bag of salad in the fridge which cost me €2 for 150g, but I chose to buy pears for my roaches which cost me 65 cents per kilo ! Bug grub is easily 10 times the price of other suitable just as good products.


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## ConnorTrussell (Apr 5, 2012)

HABU said:


> why do folks want roach colonies?


Roaches can be used as a stable, they're incredibly easy to breed. Saves so much money when you compare to buying 10-14 locusts for £2.50


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## lewkini (May 12, 2009)

Sorry i have been so busy with the poo problem ive forgotten to reply to this thread!

Well you guys have reassured me so i may aswell just place the order with roach hut? 

Altho the recommended ratio males to female are not correct in the start up colony!

Lewis


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## Corfel (Apr 29, 2013)

Isn't it something like 1:5 ? 

Can't recall

Sounds about right though


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## Dragon Farm (Aug 7, 2009)

My advice would be just buy alot, mixed sexes, and start using some of the spare males, but don't go mad. I find that females live longer, so personally I would not recommend buying something like 1.5 ratio unless you are buying all sizes, and new males will be maturing very soon.


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

HABU said:


> why do folks want roach colonies?


toppings for salads


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