I always have dry dog food and water crystals in my roach colony. Reasoning for sterlite container is because there cheap and affordable and they can't climb it one bit because it is smooth plastic. The size I normally use is 120 qt I believe, when I get home I'll check. But everytime I do maintenance I move them to a very large bin to clean out the home. If you are starting a colony, I would keep them in a smaller home, so they can find each other and breed much easier. Then when the colony is larger, move them into large bin. Which they will then just produce like CRAZY!! I started with around 50, now I have thousands. I sometimes sell them away to save some money. Fruits and vegetables is necessary to maintain nutrients for your feeders. I offer my colony oranges one every now and then (approx. 2-6 weeks). Warmer temperatures is a big key in reproduction and breeding. Higher temps equals more breeding. Note of advice for breeding, for every three females there should be one male (3:1). That way males don't fight over females.
Great info, thanks!
Doesn't seem to bad a idea, but why not give high proteins to all your feeders instead of separating them. If its a budget issue its understandable, but if not, whats the harm?
There's no reason to think that such nutrients will benefit tarantulas in the same way that they *may* benefit geckoes and bearded dragons, which hobbies are where the idea of "gut loading" comes from.
I was doing that with colony 1.0 but they stopped feeding on it. I was using Repashey gel which my fish and shrimp love but the roaches burnt out on it.
True, but there's no reason to think it won't *slow wink*There's no reason to think that such nutrients will benefit tarantulas in the same way that they *may* benefit geckoes and bearded dragons, which hobbies are where the idea of "gut loading" comes from.
I've been watching some of Alex from Tarantula Haven's youtube videos, I wonder if I should opt for a darker plastic container like he suggests over clear
Agreed
Just curious, why did you choose B. Lats over some of the other species. I chose B. Dubia just based on the fact that they seemed to be well accepted as a good option from some of the other members but didn't do a lot of extensive research by any stretch of the imagination. What are the advantages of B. Lats?
I have both lateralis and dubias. The advantages for lateralis is that they produce faster than dubias by a long shot IME. They also don't play dead or bury themselves like dubias. Instead they run around the enclosure and it really helps attract the T. to go for the attack. The only down side is that if they escape, it could possibly be an infestation in your home.Sounds good. Nice improvising. I'm all about creative (cheap) solutions.
I see. Thank you. Guess I will stick to B. Dubia for now. I would hate for my wife to kill me.
The husbandry needs and risk of escape is similar between both species, plus lateralis have less chitin which is desirable for Ts. The behavioral advantages that @Liquifin stated outweigh the escape risk for me, and you can negate the escape risk further by housing your colony in an out building or similar with a heating pad under the container.
You can get 1000 mealworms via various sellers on Amazon for around $17 delivered, but yes, hate crickets
Good to know... I will have to remember that the next time I want to get some. Thanks. Mike