# Giants



## Rogue665 (Mar 17, 2010)

I was wondering what giant bugs are easily bred and cheapish once breeding and are fast growing and reproducing?
I seen a few giant cock roaches some larger than mice and rats, i want something these big as feeders for my bosc once she's older, rather than mice and rats which aren't too healthy for her.
currently got a dubia colony on the go but their minute compared to what she needs to fill her up.
thanks in advance.


----------



## Ste123 (Apr 30, 2011)

What about giant African snails?


----------



## Rogue665 (Mar 17, 2010)

Ste123 said:


> What about giant African snails?


 their pretty slow at growing up arent they? and i don't think thats one of the foods bosc's can eat as staple.


----------



## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

I breed giant snails for my Sav, they are a great food for Savs, lots of water and calcium too, he loves them, it takes about 5-6 months before they are a reasonable size, but they breed fairly quickly once they are mature (25-30 eggs or more at a time), and they dont take much work to look after.


----------



## jarich (Mar 23, 2012)

GALS (giant african land snails) are a great food for boscs, yes. They have a decent Ca ratio and a lot of good fatty acids. They do take some time to raise up, but they can be prolific. Crayfish are the same way; excellent food, and can get quite big and be prolific, but take some time to raise up. Unfortunately there is no real quick fix to that. Dubia and Madagascar hissers are good ones, but there are many large roaches you can also look at raising. They will be the easiest and fastest to grow. Lob worms are also a good one, and they have the added benefit of being good for your house (composting). You can use the worm castings to help with the soil in your enclosure too or any plants you have. If you are able to raise all of those, then you wont be as bothered by how long some of them take either, but its a pretty big commitment admittedly.


----------



## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

Mario's are another easy to breed larvae, similar to mealworms but allot bigger, got stacks of them on the go, and yeah Dubias, breed like rabbits, or cockroaches


I'm also contemplating scorpions at some point, I dont have the space to house enough to make it worth while at the moment, but thats something I plan on doing in the near future


and also giant millipedes, not something I have ever kept, but a friend of mine bred ''pill bugs'', a type of milipede and said it took very little effort


----------



## Rogue665 (Mar 17, 2010)

I plan on testing my bosc with what has been mentioned to thanks guys but i was hoping for much larger prey items, giant beetles.cock roaches, i found a couple of these things i wanted something similar.
giant burrowing cockroach
Weta's was another i was told to look into.
what kind of millipedes are easiest to raise/breed and keep for food.

whats it like breeding and keeping lob worms, is there a care sheet?


----------



## Ste123 (Apr 30, 2011)

What about large hissing cockroaches? I think people actually keep them as pets but maybe if they just similar to breeding as other roaches they could become a food source. Might be a slow process but bosc's are long term anyway :2thumb:


----------



## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

...or frogs n toads, they certainly produce plenty of young each year, probably a bit high maintenance for a feeder tho?





Rogue665 said:


> whats it like breeding and keeping lob worms, is there a care sheet?


you just need a compost heap and a box of worms


----------



## jarich (Mar 23, 2012)

Rogue665 said:


> I plan on testing my bosc with what has been mentioned to thanks guys but i was hoping for much larger prey items, giant beetles.cock roaches, i found a couple of these things i wanted something similar.
> giant burrowing cockroach
> Weta's was another i was told to look into.
> what kind of millipedes are easiest to raise/breed and keep for food.
> ...


Wetas I dont think you can get a hold of outside of Aus. and NZ. I could be wrong on that, but they normally dont allow exports like that. You could look into Jerusalem crickets as an alternative. 

As for lob worms, it depends on which ones you get. I would recommend African nightcrawlers over the European ones, unless you plan to keep them outside. The european ones cant handle being inside as it gets too warm. Otherwise, like CloudForest said, they are pretty basic. You get a tub, put about 4 inches of dirt in the bottom (mix in about a tablespoon of calcium carbonate with it) and then give some sort of ground cover like shredded newspaper or such. Shred up your vegetable scraps and sprinkle them on top of the soil every day and youre good to go.


----------



## DONTLOOKATME (Apr 5, 2013)

Wetas can be bought and come up every now and then, but are pretty care intensive themselves and realistically couldn't be bred as a feeder food without a very well planned set up. People are still working out the kinks with keeping them.
The problem with millipedes is, although productive once they get going (In theory) They take a very long time to mature, breed, hatch etc. and you wouldn't see any real results from such a project for some time.
Not to mention the harmful secretions they produce, I have no doubt a bosc could handle them but there's no sense feeding something known to produce toxins. 
In all honesty scorpions are a bit too time-intensive to breed as anything more than a once a year treat, all species have a very long gestation period and anything sizeable enough to feed a bosc will take some time to grow.
If you do choose to go the millipede route then I would recommend the Burmese Millipede :2thumb:
Realistically your best bet will be cockroaches, Madagascan hissing cockroaches sound ideal for your purposes as they breed readily, produce lots of young, and most species grow to a fair size too.
I would go for hybrids as these can be picked up cheaper and they're only for food, so.
Why not try some stick insect species for a bit of variation? Same problems as millipedes but okay and cheaper as a once in a while treat.
And I can second the suggestion of African Land Snails, although it takes a few months to get up to a good size before long you'll have more than you know what to do with! : victory:
Best of luck and keep us updated, always nice seeing people trying to get the best for their pets.


----------



## Rogue665 (Mar 17, 2010)

DONTLOOKATME said:


> Wetas can be bought and come up every now and then, but are pretty care intensive themselves and realistically couldn't be bred as a feeder food without a very well planned set up. People are still working out the kinks with keeping them.
> The problem with millipedes is, although productive once they get going (In theory) They take a very long time to mature, breed, hatch etc. and you wouldn't see any real results from such a project for some time.
> Not to mention the harmful secretions they produce, I have no doubt a bosc could handle them but there's no sense feeding something known to produce toxins.
> In all honesty scorpions are a bit too time-intensive to breed as anything more than a once a year treat, all species have a very long gestation period and anything sizeable enough to feed a bosc will take some time to grow.
> ...


I think i'll definitely get into researching hissing cockroaches although what i seem to see is their care is just like dubia's temp wise and fresh fruit and veg, bigger rub of course because of their size, do you know of any hybrids being sold? what ratio would you suggest,Fx10
Mx5 kinda thing, thanks again much appreciated.


----------



## jarich (Mar 23, 2012)

DONTLOOKATME said:


> Wetas can be bought and come up every now and then, but are pretty care intensive themselves and realistically couldn't be bred as a feeder food without a very well planned set up. People are still working out the kinks with keeping them.


Very interesting, thanks for the information.


----------



## DONTLOOKATME (Apr 5, 2013)

Rogue665 said:


> I think i'll definitely get into researching hissing cockroaches although what i seem to see is their care is just like dubia's temp wise and fresh fruit and veg, bigger rub of course because of their size, do you know of any hybrids being sold? what ratio would you suggest,Fx10
> Mx5 kinda thing, thanks again much appreciated.


Mine have an ambient temp of whatever it is in their room so usually around 18-22 celsius, with a heat mat at 28 degrees or so on one side of their enclosure.
Although I wasn't breeding mine for feeders they were fed almost exclusively fresh fruit and veg, they can be fed anything other roaches will eat though, really.
I find a ratio of three males to seven or eight females has always worked well.
I would send you a tub of them but unfortunately the weather is iffy for the foreseeable and I'm not terribly experienced with packaging them!
A site called "Schaben Spinnen" has large quantities of hybrids (And pure strains) for very cheap. It also has dozens of other species, so if you're after variety then you could pick up a few starter colonies :2thumb:
Postage is 15 euro last time I checked but if you put in a big enough order it's well worth it!


----------

