Breeding roaches to sell

[white_feather]

I am trying to break into the business of breeding roaches to sell for feeder food. I would like to hear from anyone that does it as to what the business is like. I am not looking to make a great deal of money. I would be happy clearing $100 per week to start out. I would like to know what it would take to do that. I heard that it will take about six months to get the colony established so I want to get this started in January. Can anyone help me?

 

[Moltar]

Well it's a good thing you don't need to make a lot of money at it. I see people selling like 100-150 B dubia for $20-$30 now. You may make a little supplemental income but it will take a lot of sales and a pretty big operation/colony to make any real cash at it.

The up side is that unlike T's, roaches are pretty easy to breed. Start with a couple hundred, make the conditions right (with a pretty wide margin for error at that) and you'll have thousands of B dubia or B lateralis within a few months.

 

[gh0001356]

Are you wanting to do this locally or over the internet? The internet has a lot of established sources for roaches already. It might be hard to tap into that market niche unless you can offer better deals or a better product.

Your local market might be a good starting point. I have found a lot of reptile and tarantula owners in my area that are tired of the hassles associated with crickets but either are intimidated by roaches or just don't know about their benefits or don't know how to get them. I have found a few who don't want to start their own colonies due to space or the "ick factor" but like being able to pick up a dozen or so roaches as they need them. They can't do that over the internet without wasting money on shipping.

When comes down to picking your roaches, go with the B. dubias and maybe one other species like Discoids to start. Set up your breeding colony and order a couple hundred extra roaches to sell off while you are waiting for your colony to produce. Keep all of the adult females from this second lot and add them to your "breeding" colony. Keep your adult male numbers to a minimum and toss the extras in your "sell" colony. Keep an eye on your adult females and move them into the "sell" colony when they stop producing (use search function for details on how to tell). Use a good quality feed to keep your roaches happy and healthy. Supplement with fresh foods like oranges and greens. Keep them warm so they produce.

As for marketing locally, make up a few flyers and see if you can get them posted at your local pet shops (most have bulletin boards) or hand them out at meetings/shows. Maybe even run a classified ad in a inexpensive local circular.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

 

[james]

roaches

As one of the first ones to do this the market is still growing and there is room to make money but also challanges as well.Your probably better off picking one or two species and trying to produce lots of them. For example bug pros is mass producing lateralis for real cheap and they are out of stock many times because business is booming. Some of the roaches breed much slower though and the common ones like dubia has many sellers and websites these days. There is also money in doing wholesale where you sell in bulk and don't have to answer all the emails and phone calls which is another option. Like gh0001356 said above local stuff is always good as is reptile shows. I only do two shows a year, but I make about $3,000 between them. The other thing you need to consider is with more people coming in eventually supply will exceed demand and prices and profit will drop. In the end who ever thought anyone could make money selling roaches!!!;P :clap: :}
James
www.blaberus.com

 

[Annie3Ponies]

I have way, way too many Dubias, and they won't stop breeding. I will give you a few thousand to start you out if we can figure out a way to meet. I am driving to Louisville, KY from PA in March, via Cleveland, if that is on the way.

 

[gh0001356]

Wow! $3000.00 in roach sales from reptile shows. I'm going to go home and kick my dubias and see if I can't get them inspired to produce more.

 

[Travis K]

Well I make a little $$$ from selling off my colonies once or twice a year, but it is nothing I would quit my job over. Craig's list has worked for me a little, mostly posting adds on the invert forums yields the best results for me. I have thought about supply LPS's with adult males but my colonies are not quite that big. I just got a 500-1000 count colony of Hisser's on Craig's List for free a few weeks ago. ;P

If you are wanting to go big time then you probably need a good amount of capital to invest into getting started and lots of time. If you don't have the capital then you will need lots more time. What I like is my hobby pays for itself now, and is actually growing slowly without me adding more funds. The fact that I am focused on growing my hobby with adding new funds to it is almost a hobby in and of itself. You could say I have a hobby within a hobby.

 

[white_feather]

That is my goal Travis K. I want to just have my roaches pay for my T's. That would be cool enough for me. I have about $5000 capital to spend setting this up so I am not sure whta that would get me.

 

[james]

shows

Well just to be clear all that money was not made off dubia. I sold an even amount of dubia and discoids, plus many different types of hisser species, other blaberus species, and other rare roaches. For example I brought a handful of domino roaches at $10 each but when collectors see the adults they love them.
James
www.blaberus.com