b. lateralis starter colony

[hemingway]

Hi there folks. I've used the search function without finding an answer, so I'm hoping that I'm not rehashing an old question. I have a breeding colony of dubia that I feed to larger vertebrates and spiders, but I am getting into lateralis in anticipation of clutches of bearded dragons later in the summer/fall. I have heard plenty about the amazing reproductive capacities of these guys, but don't really know what that means in quantitative terms for somebody starting a colony. I guess my question really boils down to how many adults I need to start cranking out tons of feeders. I have a few months lead time before babies should arrive and would like to substantially (if not completely) reduce my cricket bills. I'm breeding two large female beardies, and plan to let them clutch till they are done -- probably 150 babies total spread between 3-4 clutches hatching three weeks apart. At the moment, I have 1000 lats that have begin to molt into adult size, and an order in for another 2000 mixed nymphs and adults. Will this set me up for a productive colony in the next few months, or do I need to stock up further? If so, how much more should I be looking to get? As a tangential question, some input on how many roaches make a good starter colony based upon projected output need might be generically helpful for others like myself spreading into new roaches.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Kris

 

[gvfarns]

It's really hard to estimate how many roaches one needs for a particular purpose. In my experience lateralis either doesn't reproduce or they reproduce frighteningly fast. I had 500 sitting for a number of months with no reproduction and I was really frustrated. Kept fiddling with the temperature and other stuff. I only fed mature males to my T's. Then one day my 500 became 2000 at least. I turned off the heat, fed off every mature female I could find, and have otherwise neglected them. Still way too many. 1500 tiny red babies is no big deal but when they grow up it becomes a pile of roaches. My guess is that under the circumstances I keep them in they could double every month. Better circumstances may work better. Actually, if you have a largeish number of mature females, they will cover the substrate with egg cases. If they all hatch you will be overrun. In my experience they don't, though. Probably has to do with my bad husbandry.

The really annoying thing, though, is that they drop egg sacks and then it takes forever before they hatch and you don't really know whether they will or not.

 

[Pacmaster]

I would think that the #s you have now is more than sufficient.
Just keep them really really warm, and they will grow and multiply quickly.
Just coming out of the cold into a hot summer, my roaches have gone outside in the daytime and have just exploded . . .

You can just keep buying more and more, but until you get them really breeding stable, your just paying for the replacements not producing them.

Take what you got, feed the heck outta them, and keep them really warm like 85-90 24/7, and you shouldnt have to buy any more . . .

 

[skips]

It all is done right (humidity, heat, nutrition), you'll have more than you can handle. think about it. I had 50 nymphs 4 months ago and now have in the low thousands. since population growth is exponential, you're starting with many time more roaches than I did. think how many you'll have in a couple months....make sure to feed them something with protein like cat or dog food and I always suggest oranges. It's pretty well documented by now that for some reason they increase breading.

i agree, it took a bit before they started to multiple, but once they did its scary. makes you wonder what the inside of the walls of your house look like if you see a couple roaches in the bathroom.