# Roach and insect feed.  roach buffett



## biomarine2000 (May 21, 2009)

I have searched with minimal results.  I am wanting to make my own dry roach or feeder insect food.  Please put your recipe in a post below and how to make it.  What you use, how much, and where to get it.  Thanks for the help everyone.


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## Matt K (May 21, 2009)

There is no such thing really....its whatever someone wants to dry/grind/mix together.  Again I refer to the text _"*Cockroaches*: by Bell, Roth, and Nalepa"_ - really the whole of Chapter Four entitled "_Diets and Foraging_"; to better understand why roaches only really eat what they need and not pour some homogenous slurry down thier gullets....:} 

Most commonly used are dog food pellets and fish food pellets/sticks with some dried green leafy vegetables and such crushed up and mixed in.

The very cheapest you can do is go to your local grocery store and see if you can haul off thier old produce- they pull some almost every day from the produce department to toss in the garbage.  Makes great roach food.

I feed mine fresh produce and fish food pellets. :clap:


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## Matt K (May 21, 2009)

Since you are in DFW, go anywhere other than Tom Thumb....they have a legal issue with handing over day old fruits and veggies (as though you intend to feed it to your family and have everyone die of salmonella or something)- rediculous.


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## codykrr (May 21, 2009)

agree with th above. but here is my mixture....this is only about a months worth(for freshness)

2 1/2 cups fine ground dog food(i use old roy)
1 cup betta pellets(whatever brand)
1/4 cup grits
1/4 cup oats
1 cup dried orange slices( completely dry)

i grid it all up mix it together and serve. mine eat it up like theres no tomorrow! i know sme say its to much but i like to make sure they get what they need.


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## biomarine2000 (May 21, 2009)

I am aware that there are tons of ideas out there for roach mixtures.  Cody is the only one so far that got it.  I want everyones recipe that they have made on this thread, for the experienced and newbs.  Its something asked a lot on this forum but hard to find when searching.  If you make your own, all I'm asking is that you write it down for others.  Thanks

EDIT:  I buy my dry roach blend from James at blaberus.com.  Its great stuff.  I want to make my own and I'm sure there of tons of people that would too.  Thanks for helping.


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## brothaT (May 21, 2009)

This is my very cheap but also effective mix (available at most feed stores)

2 part chicken mash
1 part soybean meal (high protein content)
1 part wheat bran or oats

I get 50 pound bags of all that stuff for ~$10 but smaller quantities are usually available.  I've been impressed with the results so far when used along with some occasional fresh food.


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## biomarine2000 (May 21, 2009)

Thanks brothaT

Here is website with some good information on how to make your own and you can order it from them.

http://www.progeckos.com/gutload.htm


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## Matt K (May 21, 2009)

I guess what I do not understand is why bother drying/grinding/mixing etc.?  The roaches dont need all that effort put into making thier food, and that is probably why you cant find that much info on the web on how to make it....it's just not necessary.  Take the ingredients you buy and put in cage- no grinding/mixing necessary. It serves no purpose.


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## biomarine2000 (May 21, 2009)

From the threads I've read the best thing so far that I've come across is chicken feed non medicated.  Thats what I'm going to go with.


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## jmiller (May 21, 2009)

Matt K said:


> I guess what I do not understand is why bother drying/grinding/mixing etc.?  The roaches dont need all that effort put into making thier food, and that is probably why you cant find that much info on the web on how to make it....it's just not necessary.  Take the ingredients you buy and put in cage- no grinding/mixing necessary. It serves no purpose.



I agree with Matt K.  I use to grind everything up but now I just toss the stuff in.  Cat/dog food, fresh fruit/veggies, oats, fish pellets, etc.  I never grind anything anymore and they are going strong.  It all disappears by the next day.


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## biomarine2000 (May 21, 2009)

All I have to say to this is, to each is own.  Some throw in dog food and forget about the roaches.  Others actually take the time to take care of their feeders that go to their prized tarantulas.  I'm the second one.  I am posting this information for those that want the info not just for myself.  There are always questions from newbs wanting to know what the best food is.  That is why I want the information in a thread.  I plan on adding it to my signature.



Matt K said:


> I guess what I do not understand is why bother drying/grinding/mixing etc.?  The roaches dont need all that effort put into making thier food, and that is probably why you cant find that much info on the web on how to make it....it's just not necessary.  Take the ingredients you buy and put in cage- no grinding/mixing necessary. It serves no purpose.


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## jmiller (May 21, 2009)

biomarine2000 said:


> All I have to say to this is, to each is own.  Some throw in dog food and forget about the roaches.  Others actually take the time to take care of their feeders that go to their prized tarantulas.  I'm the second one.  I am posting this information for those that want the info not just for myself.  There are always questions from newbs wanting to know what the best food is.  That is why I want the information in a thread.  I plan on adding it to my signature.


I don't think Matt K was advocating that you just feed your roaches crap, and I know I wasn't.  The point I think he was making and what I was agreeing to is the fact that you don't need to dry and grind everything up.  If you use quality ingredients and just place it in there it is less work for you but no different to the roaches as they can grind it up themselves.


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## biomarine2000 (May 21, 2009)

No offense to those that have posted but the original post has gone way off corse.  I'm trying to get recipes for roach food not opinions of what I should feed them.  I want to know what blends people have come up with to feed their roaches to keep them at maximum health.  I'm not interested in just throwing stuff in.  I appreciate the opinions but its not what I'm looking for at the moment.  My colony is thriving beyond what I need.


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## Mister Internet (May 22, 2009)

Look dude, the same rain waters your garden and floods your basement.  Try being a little less testy and maybe people will give you what you're after. Your thread title was unhelpful, and the fact is that most people do NOT put much effort into their feeders' food, because there has never been any demonstrated proof that inverts benefit AT ALL from "gutloaded" feeders in the same way that reptiles allegedly do.  People aren't tossing out anecdotes about how little thought they put into their feeders' food because they don't care, they've just decided it's unnecessary due to lack of evidence to the contrary. That doesn't make you better than them for "caring more", it just makes your quest in this thread a rather dry one.

That's all... ease up and some of the info you seek may trickle through.  Keep up with what you're slinging now though, and even those who have the info you seek might be dissuaded.


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## biomarine2000 (May 22, 2009)

I'm not sure where you getting that I'm dishing out attitude.  All that I'm trying to do is make a thread that people can look up and benifit from.  I just want the thread to stay on topic.  There are tons of threads on here that say the same thing, which is where this thread was going.  The reason for the thread title is so its easier to find when using the search function.  I never said that I was any better then anyone else.  I merely said that I "DO" care what goes into my inverts.  I didn't say anything to hurt anyones feelings, and if it came off that way I apologize.  I just want a thread that people can find when searching for roach food, and they can actually find it.  If they dont care then they wont be searching.



Mister Internet said:


> Look dude, the same rain waters your garden and floods your basement.  Try being a little less testy and maybe people will give you what you're after. Your thread title was unhelpful, and the fact is that most people do NOT put much effort into their feeders' food, because there has never been any demonstrated proof that inverts benefit AT ALL from "gutloaded" feeders in the same way that reptiles allegedly do.  People aren't tossing out anecdotes about how little thought they put into their feeders' food because they don't care, they've just decided it's unnecessary due to lack of evidence to the contrary. That doesn't make you better than them for "caring more", it just makes your quest in this thread a rather dry one.
> 
> That's all... ease up and some of the info you seek may trickle through.  Keep up with what you're slinging now though, and even those who have the info you seek might be dissuaded.


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## Matt K (May 22, 2009)

Ok *Biomarine2000*-

Here is the *ultimate answer *to feeding any roaches, feeder or otherwise:

-I quote from a previous post I made to illustrate that I care about my roaches and my roach-eating inverts: _"I feed mine fresh produce and fish food pellets_"....in other words, I give my bugs the best, freshest foods money can buy.  This seems rediculous even to me because now I do it for my own superstitous reasons, but when I fed them food items that were still partially good but starting to go bad for _human_ consumption, they were every bit as healthy and productive as they are today.

There is no mix of ground food that is an all-purpose perfect roach food.  As *Mister Internet* said, too, there is zero proof that premium food is best for feeders going to your prized T's.  Now I think that it is logical and stands to reason, but there is no scientific evidence at all. Once food is digested it has undergone biochemical conversion to be utilized by the organism. If you get and read the book I referred to earlier, you would understand why this is so, which has been evaluated by 3 of the worlds leading cockroach researchers.

So to brief:
Feed roaches anything they will eat by tossing it in thier enclosure and leave them alone.  No food preparation is required ever.  Generally, depending on the roach species, they will eat a variety of fruits and vegetables.  Foods made for dogs, cats, chickens, and fish can aid in the speed and volume of roach reproduction. Add to enclosure and allow roaches to eat.

****
I have had roaches for years. I have more species than most people ever will.  Every one is perfectly healthy and consistant with described specimens documented by science.  My sole contention in this thread is to observe the fact that grinding and mixing food for roaches is absolutely pointless and has nothing to do with exactly what ingredients are chosen to be fed.  Roaches can live well on a variety of items solely or in combination.


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## dendrobate (May 22, 2009)

In the years I bred 4 species of tropical roaches I just used the least expensive high protein Cat food.It worked perfect without any issues and they bred like rats.Roaches have been on this planet longer then humans , have lived through wars , atomic bombs, and plagues. In the wild they do not get fed specialty food.They eat anything they can find from plant matter to dead animals so I would use high protein feed, be it chick feed or cat feed or I even used Purina monkey chow as an experiment once.Cuttings from your fruits and veggies.One very important thing referring to any feeder insects is if you find an escaped insect from your holding tank ,NEVER put it back with the colony or use it as a feeder.It could of eaten or got into something that could wipe out the colony or your pets.
Good luck


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## biomarine2000 (May 22, 2009)

dendrobate said:


> One very important thing referring to any feeder insects is if you find an escaped insect from your holding tank ,NEVER put it back with the colony or use it as a feeder.It could of eaten or got into something that could wipe out the colony or your pets.
> Good luck


That is absolutely excellent advice that I never though about.


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## biomarine2000 (May 22, 2009)

I think "Mister Internet", is completely taking what I said the wrong way.  I am merely wanting things that people put together to simplify the way they feed their roaches.  I understand that we dont know what is the perfect diet.  I just want to have something easy for dry food that I can toss in there.  From my readings the easiest thing that seems to be good for them that I read about on this forum is chicken scratch unmedicated.  I picked up a 50 lb bag today from the feed store.  

What I wanted this forum to be is some dry mixture that people have come up with that they can just scoop up and throw it in for the roaches that isn't just trash their throwing in there.  

Like I said before thank you guys for your words of wisdom, I'm not turning the information away.  I just want specific information for other members and myself so when they search they see recipes that are easy to make for their roaches.  It took me forever to hunt down some of the information I've read, which was very minimal.


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## biomarine2000 (May 22, 2009)

Here is another one that I found on arachnophiles.com.  Compliments of Uglykid2, I got his permission to post this here.  This is his recipe.

I've been asked to post my roach food recipe so here it is.... I always make 4 times as much as this and keep it in the fridge in zip loc bags until my food jar in the roach room is empty. 
1 cup dog food 
1 cup cat food 
1 cup rabbit food pellets 
1/2 cup powdered milk 
1 tbsp bee pollen 
3 or 4 kelp tablets 
1/2 cup seeded unsalted sunflower seeds 
These last 3 items are not necessary but were on the list of what some labs feed their roaches for maximum nutrition. I get all this stuff at Wal-Mart except for the beepollen cause it's dirt cheap there. I grind it all up in a blender cup by cup then mix it all up together real good in a big bowl. Sneak out at night and watch the roaches go nuts for this


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## Matt K (May 23, 2009)

So if you are looking for an easy dry food, that is why I use fish pellets.  I have chickens and buy crumbles for them, but the fish food is $12 for a 50 pound bag for my roaches.....though the chicken crumbles are probably pretty good as roach food too and cost me maybe $16 per 50 pound bag, so the cost is similar.

I know of someone in central america that raises snakes.  He also raises rats/mice to feed them.  He feeds the rodents something that can also be fed to chickens, and often has a lot of roaches in the rodent house (Pycnoscelus surinamensis and Periplaneta australasia - neither are native species)


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## biomarine2000 (May 23, 2009)

Does the fish product that you use make your roaches smell at all?  I have lats and dubias and the smell is pretty low at the moment.



Matt K said:


> So if you are looking for an easy dry food, that is why I use fish pellets.  I have chickens and buy crumbles for them, but the fish food is $12 for a 50 pound bag for my roaches.....though the chicken crumbles are probably pretty good as roach food too and cost me maybe $16 per 50 pound bag, so the cost is similar.
> 
> I know of someone in central america that raises snakes.  He also raises rats/mice to feed them.  He feeds the rodents something that can also be fed to chickens, and often has a lot of roaches in the rodent house (Pycnoscelus surinamensis and Periplaneta australasia - neither are native species)


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## Matt K (May 23, 2009)

No... but I think lats are smelly no matter what they are fed....I hate that smell too, so I have tried alot of ways to avoid it and so far nothing... just now I have a substrate in there that has some activated charcoal mixed in and it seems to help a little..... of all my species the lateralis are actually the only ones that have a bad smell to them...


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## B.L. (May 23, 2009)

Hello I am trying to raise feeder roaches also blaptica dubias.....can I feed Flukers high calcium cricket diet to them? I also add fruits and vegetables. 

I keep theraphosa blondi's  as well as a geckos monitors and african bullfrogs.


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## biomarine2000 (May 23, 2009)

B.L. said:


> Hello I am trying to raise feeder roaches also blaptica dubias.....can I feed Flukers high calcium cricket diet to them? I also add fruits and vegetables.
> 
> I keep theraphosa blondi's  as well as a geckos monitors and african bullfrogs.


This is the reason I started this thread, to help people figure out what is easiest and best for their roaches.  I have read that feeding cricket gut load is too high in calcium.  Again its just what I've read.  I'm still pretty new to raising my own roaches so don't go by me.  Check out the recipes posted here for some good stuff.  The bag of chicken scratch I picked up from the feed store yesterday was only 8 bucks.  Cant get much cheaper or easier then that.  It is a 50 lb bag.


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## biomarine2000 (May 23, 2009)

Matt K said:


> No... but I think lats are smelly no matter what they are fed....I hate that smell too, so I have tried alot of ways to avoid it and so far nothing... just now I have a substrate in there that has some activated charcoal mixed in and it seems to help a little..... of all my species the lateralis are actually the only ones that have a bad smell to them...


Yeah mine vary in smell.  I checked in their substrate last night and notice some little things moving around.  Its not mites for sure.  It looks like little worms.  I'll try and get a pic on here, maybe someone has had an experience with them.  They dont seem to be harming the roaches.  If I had to guess they are eating the frass.


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## jmiller (May 23, 2009)

biomarine2000 said:


> Yeah mine vary in smell.  I checked in their substrate last night and notice some little things moving around.  Its not mites for sure.  It looks like little worms.  I'll try and get a pic on here, maybe someone has had an experience with them.  They dont seem to be harming the roaches.  If I had to guess they are eating the frass.


They might be dermestid beetles or beetle larvae.  I receive a bunch of them in a roach order once.  I left them in there to see what would happen as I read that they would not hurt the roaches.  But they were in the discoid bin and they are "live breeders".  If they are dermestid's they may eat the egg cases of the lateralis but I do not know if they do nor not.


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## biomarine2000 (May 23, 2009)

jmiller said:


> They might be dermestid beetles or beetle larvae.  I receive a bunch of them in a roach order once.  I left them in there to see what would happen as I read that they would not hurt the roaches.  But they were in the discoid bin and they are "live breeders".  If they are dermestid's they may eat the egg cases of the lateralis but I do not know if they do nor not.


They are breeding so good that it couldn't hurt to get a few of the lat cases eaten just to slow down the production a bit.


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## kupo969 (May 23, 2009)

I want to try something new for my crix. 

I was thinking:

Cat food
Dog food
Unmedicated chicken feed
Fish pellets
wheat bran
rolled oats (oatmeal)

I think that's enough protein, I have all of these lying around.


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## B.L. (May 24, 2009)

biomarine2000 said:


> This is the reason I started this thread, to help people figure out what is easiest and best for their roaches.  I have read that feeding cricket gut load is too high in calcium.  Again its just what I've read.  I'm still pretty new to raising my own roaches so don't go by me.  Check out the recipes posted here for some good stuff.  The bag of chicken scratch I picked up from the feed store yesterday was only 8 bucks.  Cant get much cheaper or easier then that.  It is a 50 lb bag.


I talked to a seller of dubias today and they told me the roaches really don't like cricket food but if they do eat it, it probably will not hurt anything. I am not convinced crickets like cricket food either but hey I got a bottle of the crap. LOL.


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## biomarine2000 (May 24, 2009)

B.L. said:


> I talked to a seller of dubias today and they told me the roaches really don't like cricket food but if they do eat it, it probably will not hurt anything. I am not convinced crickets like cricket food either but hey I got a bottle of the crap. LOL.


Yeah I know what you mean.  I have a bottle of it too and yes they will definately eat it.  I fed it to them a while back and they ate it up.


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