# Roach types as feeders



## TheMetaphysicalNinja (Aug 18, 2009)

Hiya all, I've been using crix and locusts for a while as feeders. But I'm finding more and more they are a complete pain... i always end up with too many esacpees, and they are noisy **** 

anywho, I was/am looking at setting up a roach colony. I have a very small number of roaches, and spyke seems to eat them (i haven't seen any trace of the one I tried him on!) 

My question is, whats the difference between the different types? The dubia seem to be more common, but whats with the turkistan/discord/deathshead/ golden/lobster roaches I'm seeing? are any better/worse? I'm thinking ease of keeping (I don't fancy spending too much time on care of food) and breeding? 

Oh I know they are different sizes, recomendations for beardie/MHD and maybe leos? Cheers :no1:

:2thumb:


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## asopeoprea (Oct 8, 2009)

the care for the roaches are all the same. the main differences are that some roaches take longer to breed then others, and some can climb up smooth surfaces while others can't, and some are faster then others.

i keep a colony of lobsters myself, best roach imo. they breed very quickly compared to dubias, the downside is they climb smooth surfaces. to fix this i take a pair of tongs and crush their heads. it doesnt kill the roach, but makes them very sluggish, so they cant run fast or climb. dubias take a lot longer to breed.

and for the record, roaches dont need to be fed as much as crickets. ive had mine go 5 months without food. i supply mine with a dish of dog food at all times, and offer fruit once a week.


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## Juzza12 (Jun 12, 2008)

I prefer the lobsters too. They're a lot cheaper, as above they breed a lot quicker. I put a layer of vaseline around the top of the tub and have tights around the top just in case. There's a heat mat underneath that covers around half of the tub and loads of egg trays inside for them to hide in. I feed cat biscuits for protein and fresh veg so they're well gut loaded and i also provide water gel crystals. I takes a couple of minutes to feed them and they don't need to be cleaned out very often either.


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## TheMetaphysicalNinja (Aug 18, 2009)

Cool, cheers :2thumb:

Only problem with lobsters is my mother... she'd freak if any got out... Shes ok with them so long as they stay in the box lol. :whistling2:


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

ive got Turkistans, but buy in and feed a lot of Dubias. the Turkistans are crazy fast and masters at escape. they can sort of climb plastic, they can easily climb wires and silicone, even the adults. the males can also jump small distances. vaseline and mesh wasnt enough to stop them escaping, it seems so far that parcel tape and clingfilm is.

Dubias are easy, they never escape except from the viv itself. the smaller ones can squeeze through gaps, they can climb wood quite easily. the big ones dont get out. the small ones are like woodlice though so its no issue.

escaped Turkistans running around the kitchen gets family members annoyed though. id like to hope there are only potentially a handful of them in there, but potentially i guess there could be quite a few. ive set some traps to find out how many, ive got a glass fish tank now so there shouldnt be any more escapes.


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## TheMetaphysicalNinja (Aug 18, 2009)

Hey dude, another basingstoker! :whistling2:

Yeah... thats my concern. them getting out. They wont get out the viv cus mine have pretty good vents, loads of gaps that are really small. And I wont be feeding anything particuarly small. Ordered a bunch of dubia's. Gunna get some more when i can, get a conlony up and running and never buy any more lol. Cheers guys : victory:


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

TheMetaphysicalNinja said:


> Hey dude, another basingstoker! :whistling2:
> 
> Yeah... thats my concern. them getting out. They wont get out the viv cus mine have pretty good vents, loads of gaps that are really small. And I wont be feeding anything particuarly small. Ordered a bunch of dubia's. Gunna get some more when i can, get a conlony up and running and never buy any more lol. Cheers guys : victory:


never underestimate the ridiculously small gaps roaches can squeeze through! the added bonus is that in my experience they seem very well adapted to seeking out heat and humidity, so more often than not they find their way back in again through the same gaps lol.

i reckon with a glass fish tank and parcel tape over the silicone joins the setup is pretty much escape proof for most roaches. Dubias are really bad at escaping compared to Turkistans, those are the only 2 ive had experience with. Dubias grow much larger though, so it depends on what they are getting fed to as to which suits best. an adult Beardie will comfortably eat adult Dubias though.

P.S. what part of Amazingstoke are you unfortunate enough to live in? lol


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## TheMetaphysicalNinja (Aug 18, 2009)

Yeah, i'm gunna try and get hold of a cheapo tank. gunna keep both if I can, so they can get a bit of variety and I don't accidentally feed off the colony too much. 

Aye thats a good point, but I've not had any get out at all so far, and I wont be feeding anything particularly small anyway, so hopefully wont have any escapees from the vivs. There for the beardie and Moutain lizard, he's not very big so smaller foods are a bonus. medium sized dubias seem to be ok. the adults are a little big for him lol. 

I'm a brighton hiller lol. right by ol' asda. : victory:


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

i bought a 100cm fish tank off ebay from a bloke right near you last week lol, for £10.50! lived in one of the side roads off Sullivan Road, Bartok Close iirc. im a bit further out of town, in Oakley.

as for the fish tank setup, its 100% escape proof now, the only way roaches are getting out is if i drop them. which i did yesterday and about 10 made a run for it. i think i managed to squash them all, id rather have caught them and put them back but theyre so damn fast. it was squash them or find them crawling around the kitchen next week. im already facing the wrath of the family because theyve found 3 in the last couple of weeks....oops.


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## TheMetaphysicalNinja (Aug 18, 2009)

To Ebay!!!! lol. 

Ah cool, in the quieter area then lol.


yeah, I'm dead if any get out. had enough trouble with the crickets -_-
If anyone wants them btw... I don't. Theres quite a few and they come in a RUB!!


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