Raising food?

[Wolvie56X]

How many of you raise your own food source and if so, what kind? and any advice to the rest of us?

paying $6 a week is getting a little annoying when its something i can raise on my own, just need a few pointers, i was thinking crickets, so anyone have any tips or info?

Wolvie

 

[skinheaddave]

Pop on over to the insect forum and start doing searches. Crickets, roaches, mealworms and king or superworms should do the trick.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Wolvie56X]

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=21240 found that incase anyone was interested as well

Wolvie

 

[scorpio]

Getting into cricket breeding is much more trouble than its worth TRUST ME!

Well, I praise roaches. I have a 1 ft/1 ft plastic tub with several hundred lobsters in it, a strip of roach guard and NO ESCAPES. They breed like crazy after just two months and I cant even remember the last time I bought crickets.

I have sizes everywhere from 3/16 in to 1 1/4 in.

Very good stuff...

LOOK INTO ROACHES. THEY DONT SMELL, DONT CHIRP and "THRIVE OFF NEGLECT!"

 

[Critterfarm]

LOOK INTO ROACHES. THEY DONT SMELL, DONT CHIRP and "THRIVE OFF NEGLECT!"

I second that. Mealworms are also an easy to breed sp. of feeders, that require little to no care. If you feel you have to raise cricks, at least raise camel crickets, they stink much less.

 

[skinheaddave]

Since this has continued, I have moved it to the appropriate forum.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Buspirone]

I have roaches and superworms. I didn't start raising my own over cost but out of a complete hatred of crickets. I'll second the roach suggestion. Roaches are cleaner, quieter and require extremely low maintainece compared to crickets. I'd recommend Blaptica dubia or Blaberus discoidales as feeders. Neither can climb glass/smooth plastic and both breed well. Not nearly as fast as lobster roaches but then you don't have to deal with roach barriers or escapes either. Superworms are okay too and once you get underway you'll have more than you know what to do with.

 

[Wolvie56X]

whats a good roach species, comparible to crickets, and where can i get enough to start a colony, not interested on raising crickets anymore, especially since i just smelled my cricket container, wow smelly little guys

any sites where i can purchase a colony of roaches? i have 15 scorpions plus babies and 3 leopard geckos, roaches are ok for geckos right?

Wolve

 

[Buspirone]

Nauphoeta cinerea(lobster roach) is comparable to crickets in size, possess a soft exoskeleton, breed FAST and because of their rate of procreation tend to be cheap. The downside is that they can climb glass/plastic. They possess a high probability for escape or to give birth in your enclosures.

My two suggestions (Blaptica dubia and Blaberus discoidales) are considered medium speed breeders although some would say slow. Their biggest asset is that they can't climb smooth surfaces and are easy to contain. They cost a bit more but there is always the chance that you will find another enthusiast looking to off load their excess cheap. I wouldn't start with less than 4 dozen to get started unless you are really patient. Most dealers only sell nymphs which adds to the time that it takes to establish a colony so ask if the roaches you are getting are mixed sized nymphs or mixed nymphs and adults. These are larger than lobsters. Do a search for a thread on "Blaptica dubia" by Code Monkey for more details on care and housing that will be applicable to the discoids as well.

You can find roaches offered for sale in the classifieds here on the board and several of the tarantula dealers also offer roaches. Do a search and look around and you will find several decent sources where you can comparison shop.

 

[melissab01]

I am currently raising and breeding Madagascar Hissing Roaches as feeders. They are fed to Bearded Dragons, Chameleons, Tegus, Spiders, and frogs. They all seem to like them and they do not take a lot of work, and do not smell as bad as crickets.

 

[genious_gr]

I want to share my experience and not-wantig to start a new thread I'll pop in here.
My fellow Greek, Vardoulas, was expecting some stuff for two weeks now. Well, I was over to his place yesterday to exchange some other stuff. Well he picked me up from the sub and when we got to his place we found out that the pack had arrived after beeing on the road for 2 weeks.
I'm getting to my point now. In that pack were some hissers, young ones, and since he would just feed them away, he gave them to me to raise and reproduce them.
Well I took them home and got ready to open he plastic box, ready for a surely unpleasant smell. Well, they didnt smell at all!! Nothing, I even took a hard ....you know sniff and still nothing.
Then I opened another plastic box with crickets that had been packed the day before.....you guessed it: smelly little suckers....
The only problem is that slow reproduction rate of the hissers....
Oh well, I'll just let them be for a couple of years...

 

[Wolvie56X]

BUMP

ok just bumping this because i just got my colony and NO SMELL!!!

gotta love it, highly recommended for anyone with lots of mouths to feed

Wolvie

 

[ghost_tomb]

i've started off my colony of hissers. which i will be feeding to my tiger beetles when i get them and maby a Cane toad later this year.


Got what i think is an adult male and gravid female (i hope she is) and 4 female nymphs. I've also ordered 5 adult females and 1 adult male, not the best starting number but i can wait since their really pets for me first pet insect i had were 2 hissers.


is it true that it takes an average of 60 days per egg batch and 3 months to adulthood?
Also i've read som where that their higher in protein than other roachs?