# the pros and cons of the use of roaches over crickets...



## rex_arachne (Oct 10, 2006)

people have been saying good things about using roaches instead of crickets. what are your experiences so far and the pros and cons? also, which species of roaches are the best to use?


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## Vixvy (Oct 10, 2006)

I have been using surinam roach for quit some time and all of my pets are healthy. for me there is just no difference between crix and roaches.


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## dGr8-1 (Oct 10, 2006)

I heard that Naophoeta cinrea's are great feeders.


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## PIter (Oct 10, 2006)

Roaches burrow, crickets tend to climb up to the highest point in the enclosure.


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## final-sting (Oct 10, 2006)

crix pros:
>cheap
>easy  available from pinhead to adult
>easy to breed and much faster grow rate than roaches
>5mm scorplings, maybe only pinheads are the rigth size to feed it.

cons:
>adult males very loud (feed the males first or cut the wings)
>clean crix box its a must, because bad smell
>the badest,you buy much crix boxes include mites  


roaches 
iam no have, next please for pro and cons


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## Scarp172 (Oct 10, 2006)

I only have a B. Dubia colony, so I will comment on them.
B. Dubia roaches
Pros:  
Relatively fast reproducitve rate
Long life span per roach
Extremely easy to keep and breed (they almost thrive on negligence)
early nymphs are 1/16th of an inch long thereby making them perfect for any sling or scorpling.
Adults can be anywhere from 2" to nearly 4" for larger critters.
Quiet.
No smell!!!!
By raising them you know where they've been and what they've eaten- unlike store-bought crix that could have eaten who knows what, have mites, etc...

Cons:
They can burrow if you don't watch them in your animal's enclosure/ your animal doesn't eat it right away.  (I've noticed they have a very difficult time burrowing in the sand of my scorps' enclosures though)
Higher startup cost, but colony becomes self sufficient after about 6 months (if you start with an adequate number, say 100-200.)



If the burrowing is really a problem for you, I would suggest some Blatta lateralis, most on the boards have had good luck with them- they're faster, don't burrow, and are much smaller.

Hope this helps- there are also numerous threads already dedicated to the pro and cons of roach feeding/keeping and I suggest you read those- use search function or browse the Insect forums.
-Steve


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## Mister Internet (Oct 10, 2006)

There are absolutely no cons to using roaches instead of crickets.

I know it sounds like I'm exagerrating, but I'm not.  I prefer B. dubia, but many species are great feeders. As long as you keep roaches very warm, well fed, and keep their enclosure dry, they will produce like crazy... I know it sounds horrible, but I've actually had to simply destroy several hundred at a time, I just don't have enough critters to eat them all...   They do not smell (again, if kept dry but well fed and hydrated), the non-climbing species are quite easy to contain, and they eat anything.  There are no downsides...

I, for one, do not miss the rancid ammonia smell of dead crickets if you don't feed them immediately, and the ridiculous noise.


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## SOAD (Oct 10, 2006)

I have lobster roaches. 

Pros:
Fast growers.
Easy to keep and breed.
No smell.
Scorpions seems to like eating them.
Don't fly.

Cons:
Climb.(but if you cut some legs or a piece of each leg they still walking and can't climb anymore) 

Crickets die easy, smell bad, hard to breed, you can't keep the youngs with the adults...


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## jojobear (Oct 10, 2006)

*Roaches vs Crickets*

*Roaches*

Pros: 
Don't smell
Don't chirp
Easy to breed
Fast growing
Cleaner than crickets
Most feeder roaches don't climb
Nutrionally better than crickets
The right ones don't burrow


Cons:
Some species climb


*Crickets*

Pros:
There are none IMO

Cons: 
Smell 
Make noise
Short life span
Hard to breed
IME always had some type of unwanted bug in box with them

I got rid of all of my insect-eating critters (leopard geckos, bearded dragons, day geckos, banded geckos, scorps, T's etc.) at one point because I got so fed up with crickets. Now that I gotten into roaches it is so much easier


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## DavidRS (Oct 10, 2006)

I switched over from crickets to dubias and lateralis about a year ago. Best thing i've ever done.

My favorite is the lateralis, as they are most "cricket-like" in behaviour, except without the filth, smell and chirping. They breed like crazy, and you will have a size range similar to crickets. 

My dubias are reproducing like gangbusters, and again, no smell, no die-off, & no noise. I generally use these for my larger T's. There's nothing like the sound of crunching by my L. parahybana chomping on an adult dubia.


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## Alakdan (Oct 11, 2006)

Until my B. dubia colony is established I will continue rearing and feeding crickets to my inverts.  I'm also currently breed Pycnoscelus surinamensis (Surinam roach)  so based on my experience I will give you my opinion.

Crickets

Pros:
-they are rather dumb so once you put them in the enclosure they will wander around clueless.  This activity will alert your invert, you get the picture.
-they reproduce fast
-pinheads are good feeders (but I am inclined to use termites often)

Cons:
-they stink!
-they're noisy!
-they have the potential to attack your slings
-they are short lived


Roaches

Pros:
-they live longer than crickets so culturing is not a problem
-breeding and feeding is the same as crickets
-good shell to meat ratio

Cons:
-they burrow and climb (this can be solved by pinching the head or clipping the legs)
-nymphs are hard to catch (that's why I still use pinheads and termites)


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## CopperInMyVeins (Oct 11, 2006)

I have a B. dubia colony, and have used several species of roaches as feeders, in general I really prefer them to crickets in every way.  My only issue is that even the smallest nymphs are too big and too hard to subdue for some of my second instar scorpions.  So I've still had to resort to buying pinhead crickets for them, I'll be glad when they're bigger, I hate having crickets around.


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## kahoy (Oct 11, 2006)

Alakdan said:


> Until my B. dubia colony is established I will continue rearing and feeding crickets to my inverts.  I'm also currently breed Pycnoscelus surinamensis (Surinam roach)  so based on my experience I will give you my opinion.
> 
> Crickets
> 
> ...




hmm... i think not that much... my surinams abdomen is the only part that my scorps eat.

and the legs are a bit spiky...

try madiera roach... they stab!!! they smell!!! they scream!!!


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## Nazgul (Oct 11, 2006)

Hi,

I´m breeding Blaptica dubia as feeders for years now. The only con I can think of is that they are burrowing and are therefor not the best feeder for climbing scorpion species which tend to hang on cork bark, like barkscorpion spp.


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## Snake_Eyes (Oct 11, 2006)

I would love to try roaches but being I can't go down to the LPS and buy'em as needed I'm stuck using crickets   oh well  I only go thru a dozen or so  a week anyways.


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## PIter (Oct 11, 2006)

Snake_Eyes said:


> I would love to try roaches but being I can't go down to the LPS and buy'em as needed I'm stuck using crickets   oh well  I only go thru a dozen or so  a week anyways.


Start your own colony.


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## Vixvy (Oct 11, 2006)

Congrats! rex_arachne for a very good thread! nice topic you have here!


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## Snake_Eyes (Oct 11, 2006)

PIter said:


> Start your own colony.


Honestly the thought of having a colonly of roaches in my living room kinda freaks me out...lol My luck they would end up getting out and taking over the apt.


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## ~Abyss~ (Oct 11, 2006)

jojobear said:


> [
> *Crickets*
> 
> Pros:
> ...


I never see these unusual bugs everyone talks about. What exactly are we looking at here?


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## DavidRS (Oct 11, 2006)

Snake_Eyes said:


> Honestly the thought of having a colonly of roaches in my living room kinda freaks me out...lol My luck they would end up getting out and taking over the apt.


The chances of most tropical roachs being a household pest is slim to none. I've been keeping lateralis and dubias for a year here in southern California with no problems. I had way more problems with escaped crickets in the past.


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## Snake_Eyes (Oct 11, 2006)

I'll think about, from what I've read B. dubia seems to be the popular choice for feeders around here.


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## rex_arachne (Oct 11, 2006)

Vixvy said:


> Congrats! rex_arachne for a very good thread! nice topic you have here!


thanks Vixvy.


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## kahoy (Oct 12, 2006)

abyss_X3 said:


> I never see these unusual bugs everyone talks about. What exactly are we looking at here?


mites and Dermestes maculatus they are attracted to the stinky smell of the crickets and they really are scary... they are also used on treating skulls by reating all the tissue on it leaving a white clean skull...

make sure that youll never get near this or else youll be eaten too...  
(scaring a little kid)


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## jimmysp4des (Oct 12, 2006)

roaches=filet mignon
crickets=spam


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## Vixvy (Oct 12, 2006)

you got us there jimmy! hahaha! nice one! IMO having a variety of feeders will be good to your pets but there is one observation i had when i started to trade scorps when i got someones scorps i used to feed them with crix and it suddenly stopped eating but when i tried to feed it with roaches it took and finished it all. now when i asked the person whom i got it what was he feeding his pets he said roaches. my opinion is when scorps are used to a particular feeder they will not get used to the feeders of their new owners. hope there are some who had the same experience with me.


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## Alakdan (Oct 13, 2006)

Vixvy,

Just starve them for a few days.  They will eat anything.


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## subic_spiderworld (Oct 13, 2006)

Biggest problem with crickets:
They tend to eat the T or scorp if they moult while a cricket is in the enclosure. 

I am switching to roaches (just got 100 lateralis and dubia last week) and I think it would be much better than the crickets.


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## rex_arachne (Oct 16, 2006)

how long do roaches live generally?


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## cacoseraph (Oct 16, 2006)

rex_arachne said:


> how long do roaches live generally?


bear in mind, between all the dif roach species there is a huge range. some of the giant tank roaches live 4-6 years.

some of the smaller plague roaches live ~6-9 months iirc. most of the medium-ish sized common pet/feeder roaches live something like 18-30months

also, heat kept at, food provided, and water provided can affect this greatly!


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## Stylopidae (Oct 16, 2006)

I'm mostly a centi and T keeper, but I will tell you the biggest problem I've had with crix and why I hate them as feeders now.

I'll even make it in huge text 

NEMATODES

I had a centipede that got a nematode infection that I'm 90% sure came from crickets.

It died as a result, although I do plan on experimenting with the nematodes.


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## marcelo_987 (Oct 16, 2006)

It depends on if you breed them or not. Breeding roachs would be better because you don't to deal with the obnoxious sounds male crickets put out. If you don't want to breed them I think crickets would be better because they can't fly or walk on glass. It seems that roachs either have the ability to walk on glass, fly, or both.


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## dtknow (Oct 16, 2006)

Many species used as feeders can needer climb nor walk glass.

They can't jump...either.


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## GanjaTaz (Oct 16, 2006)

marcelo_987 said:


> you don't to deal with the obnoxious sounds male crickets put out.


I think I must have the worlds horniest or most annoying male cricket in my Emp colony enclosure as I type this and it is doing it's level best to rub itself on fire witht he amount of friction it must be generating.


ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!


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## rex_arachne (Oct 20, 2006)

cacoseraph said:


> bear in mind, between all the dif roach species there is a huge range. some of the giant tank roaches live 4-6 years.
> 
> some of the smaller plague roaches live ~6-9 months iirc. most of the medium-ish sized common pet/feeder roaches live something like 18-30months
> 
> also, heat kept at, food provided, and water provided can affect this greatly!


hi Caco,
can you name some of the available species that live for 18-30 months? TIA


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