# -Best feeder roaches?



## deifiler (Nov 10, 2003)

Hi all,

I'm after ordering a roach culture, primarily to serve as feeders for my spiders.

Anyway, a site I'm ordering from has a great selection of roachs, I was hoping someone could give me advice on which would be the most suitable. 

Cheers!  Roaches:

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Archimandrita tesselata Breeding Culture   £6.95 
Blaberus cranifer Breeding Culture   £6.95 
Byrsotria fumigata Breeding Culture   £6.95 
Nauphoeta cinerea Breeding Culture   £6.95 
Pycnoscelus surinamensis Breeding Culture   £6.95 
Pycnoscelus femorata Breeding Culture   £6.95 
Blaptica dubia Breeding Culture   £6.95 
Eublaberus distanti Breeding Culture   £6.95 
Phoetalia pallida Breeding Culture   £6.95 
Paratemnopteryx couloniana


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## jaijjs (Nov 10, 2003)

I would say that eather of these two from your list would be good feeders. Blaptica Dubia or Blaberus Cranifer.


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## fatbloke (Nov 10, 2003)

deifiler 


the roaches i use for food are 
Blaberus cranifer 
Nauphoeta cinerea 
Pycnoscelus surinamensis
i did try to breed Archimandrita tesselata but i found out that they can take up 6 months for them to breed which is abit slow for food purposes

fatbloke


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## Buspirone (Nov 11, 2003)

> _Originally posted by jaijjs _
> *I would say that eather of these two from your list would be good feeders. Blaptica Dubia or Blaberus Cranifer. *


I agree with jaijjs.


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## Code Monkey (Nov 11, 2003)

I raise B. dubia and have zero complaints, no smell, cannot climb glass or plastic even as nymphs, thrive with minimal care, 1st instars are small enough for all but really tiny slings to take without problem and adults are big enough to keep the largest Ts feeling like they've got a T-bone steak, and I've yet to find the T that won't eat them.

Like any large species of roach, there's a months to several months delay while you wait on the population to reach critical mass for feeding (I don't know how many that 7 pounds gets you, but start with 3-4 dozen unless you really want to wait - I started with 18 nymphs of various sizes and it took a year before the numbers got high enough to feed from nigh exclusively).


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## james (Nov 11, 2003)

*Feeder roaches*

I have been breeding the dubia for years and they are a great feeder. The proticus are also very good. If you can deal with climbers the cinerea are the fastest breeders, but the most work.
James


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## jaijjs (Nov 11, 2003)

Two tips for anyone that is keeping roaches. Don't get suckered into paying a arm and a leg for the Water crystals sold at petstores that are premade. Go to a garden supply company and buy them in bulk at a tenth the cost and mix them up yourself. The other thing that turned out to be a real hassle for me to find was enough egg flats. I did a little hunting and found a site www.eggcartons.com. It was cheap enough to order a year or twos worth for my needs.


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## Code Monkey (Nov 11, 2003)

> _Originally posted by jaijjs _
> *Two tips for anyone that is keeping roaches. Don't get suckered into paying a arm and a leg for the Water crystals sold at petstores that are premade. Go to a garden supply company and buy them in bulk at a tenth the cost and mix them up yourself.*


Better yet, save the trip and order from www.watersorb.com - even with shipping, they're cheaper than the garden store.


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## Cockroach (Nov 15, 2003)

Lobsters are the best in my opinion. Sure, they grew to plague proportions in only a month, but they are easy to take care of and are liked by all of my animals. I've totally switched over to lobsters instead of using solely crickets, they're just that good! They also are better than crickets because they don't chirp all the time.


laters,
Bill


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## chuck (Nov 15, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Cockroach _
> *Lobsters are the best in my opinion. Sure, they grew to plague proportions in only a month, but they are easy to take care of and are liked by all of my animals. I've totally switched over to lobsters instead of using solely crickets, they're just that good! They also are better than crickets because they don't chirp all the time.
> 
> 
> ...


but if one pregnant female gets loose, youre going to have a lovely time trying to sleep.  i had lobsters and i hate that theyre so fast.  i made sure my arachnids ate those pests b4 i went to sleep ;P


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## Cockroach (Nov 15, 2003)

I live in an area that is too inhospitable for any tropical cockroach species to survive for long, let alone breed. My house isn't like the tropics, so I do sleep very well at night, even if one gets away. Any escaped roach will die of dehydration in a couple of days in my house. They'd only take over a house if you live in the tropics, and I'm very far from the tropics.


laters,
Bill


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## chuck (Nov 16, 2003)

are you sure? last time i kept them i didnt monitor their temp or humidity and their population exploaded inside the 10 gallon tank.


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## Cockroach (Nov 16, 2003)

They don't exactly need a high level of humidity to live, just a lot of foods high in moisture. I don't monitor the heat or humidity in their enclosure either. I keep them nice and warm with a heat matt, and they breed like, well, roaches.
For them to survive and colonize a house, they'd need an ample supply of moist food to keep them from dessicating. I don't exactly have apples, potatoes, carrots, oranges, and other high-moisture foods lying around in my house(all those foods are kept in a refridgerator).


laters,
Bill


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## Immortal_sin (Nov 17, 2003)

I have a lobster colony and even with a few escapes, it's not been a problem. I really love them for feeders, and don't use crickets anymore at all, except for my communal pokie tank.
I am considering starting a B dubia colony as well, then it will be exclusively roaches over crickets all the way!


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## james (Nov 17, 2003)

*B.dubia*

You will be real happy with the dubia. They breed well for non-climbers and as adults the males make perfect feeders. Then you keep all the females for breeding and continue to grow the colony.
James


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## Cockroach (Nov 17, 2003)

What's the average size for a B. dubia? I have a toad that needs large feeders, and would enjoy a larger cockroach. How fast are they with breeding rate?


laters,
Bill


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## james (Nov 18, 2003)

*dubia*

They are around 2" as adults. Very good breeder for a non-climber, but count on it take much longer than your lobsters to get a good size colony. Alot has to do with the price. You can get 1000 mixed adult and nymph lobsters for 40-50 bucks, but that same $40-50 will get you maybe a hundred nymph dubia's. The dubia are a really good roach in my opinion and I would recommend them to everyone.
James


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## chuck (Nov 18, 2003)

*Re: dubia*



> _Originally posted by james _
> *They are around 2" as adults. Very good breeder for a non-climber, but count on it take much longer than your lobsters to get a good size colony. Alot has to do with the price. You can get 1000 mixed adult and nymph lobsters for 40-50 bucks, but that same $40-50 will get you maybe a hundred nymph dubia's. The dubia are a really good roach in my opinion and I would recommend them to everyone.
> James *


where the hell are you buying your roaches? :?


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## james (Nov 18, 2003)

*I don't buy roaches.*

I have thousands and thousands of them and I sell off my extras. I only have a small colony of geckos at the moment and was breeding the roaches for the frilled dragon colony I had. Now I just sell the extras to add a few more geckos to the collection.
James


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## Cockroach (Nov 18, 2003)

Good to know, thanks James. Sounds like I need to start a colony of B. dubia roaches soon. 


laters,
Bill


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## Michael Jacobi (Nov 18, 2003)

_Blaberus discoidalis_ - the Discoid, FALSE Death's Head, or Central American Wood roach.

Many have suggested _Blaberus craniifer_, but that is a much more expensive and larger cousin of _B. discoidalis_. Many discoids are falsely sold as "Death's Head" roaches. So, either many have the misidentified species and think they have _B. craniifer_ or they're using the more expensive of the two. True death's head roaches have a clear red "evil smiley face" on the pronutum, are about 25% larger, and usually have dark amber to black wings instead of the Discoid's light amber wings.

Prices on _B. craniifer_ NYMPHS generally run around $40 per dozen, while you can usually get large nymphs of _B. discoidalis_ for half that or less.


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## Wh1teshark (Nov 19, 2003)

I recently aquired 5.5 B. Dubia.

I give them a variety of food, both fruit and salad and dry cockroach food from the dealer. 

I have them in a pet-box and i wonder what requirements must be met before they start to lay eggs?
How much space do they need?

Do they, like crickets, require a box of moist peat-moss to lay eggs in?

Do anyone have any comparison between crickets and B. Dubia when it comes to nutrition, or are they equal?



Well,  alot of questions at one time,

Hope someone can answer  

All the best,

/Dave


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## Cockroach (Nov 19, 2003)

B. dubia are a cockroach that gives live birth, therefore doesn't lay eggs. Like most cockroaches, keep them warm and dark. Here's what I feed my cockroaches on a regular basis: a bowl of crushed dog food and apples for them to use for their water intake needs. You can give them just about any fruit or vegetable, but avoid Iceberg lettuce(give them leaf lettuce instead). You can give them a large rubbermaid tub, and that'll be enough room for a huge number of the little buggers. In the bottom of the tub, place some cardboard egg cartons for them to hide in. I have never fed B. dubia to any of my animals, so I don't know about their nutritional content. Like most cockroaches, B. dubia would most likely be way more nutritious than crickets.


laters,
Bill


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## chuck (Nov 19, 2003)

whats wrong with iceberg lettuce?


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## Wh1teshark (Nov 19, 2003)

Thanks for all the answers Cockroach!

What is a Rubbermaid tub?


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## chuck (Nov 19, 2003)

its a big rubber storage bin for clothes, linens and whatnot, with a secure top


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## Cockroach (Nov 19, 2003)

None of my roaches would eat it, so I thought all roaches wouldn't touch the stuff. If they won't eat it, isn't it a waste to get it for them only for them to refuse it? All mine will take leaf lettuce with zeal, so I thought it'd be better to give them leaf lettuce instead of Iceberg. Plus, there's more nutrition in leaf lettuce, where Iceberg is basically water and rotts easily. That's all I meant.


laters,
Bill


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## james (Nov 19, 2003)

*more*

I would not say that death's heads are any more expensive than discoids. I sell all my non-climbers for the same price. Maybe during the holidays while I have some time I will take some pictures for everyone. I was cleaning last night and those death heads are like roaches on speed. My distanti and orange heads are so easy to catch and move, but the death head are crazy. The dubia love to play dead. When you clean there cages the babies will act like they are dead, it is quite funny. I want to weigh them to show you guys the differance between the species. The distanti's are like tanks and are twice as heavy as some of the other species. Anyway off to do more and more cleaning. I'm not very exicted about cleang two bins with 10,000+ lobsters. Good feeder, but a pain in the rear. I am going to try no substrate and just have eggs crates. This will be a first for me so we will see how it goes.
James=D


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## Code Monkey (Nov 19, 2003)

> _Originally posted by chuck _
> *whats wrong with iceberg lettuce? *


Iceburg lettuce has almost zero nutritional value. It has one use: roughage, beyond that you might as well try to feed them cardboard for nutrition.


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## james (Nov 19, 2003)

*Code Monkey*

Here you go!!!!!!!

Click here: Bend Over bin Laden


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## james (Nov 19, 2003)

*whoops try this*

http://www.rock103.com/bin.html


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## Cockroach (Nov 19, 2003)

lol, that's a great game! Bloody and fun!


laters,
Bill


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## jaijjs (Nov 20, 2003)

Another item that none of my Roaches will eat is Cukes! Has anyone else had the same results?


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## Buspirone (Nov 20, 2003)

> _Originally posted by jaijjs _
> *Another item that none of my Roaches will eat is Cukes! Has anyone else had the same results? *


Remove all of the skins.....roaches have an aversion to something in the skins. I'm assuming Cukes is a slang word for cucumbers.


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## jaijjs (Nov 20, 2003)

Yup!! I have tried them without skins. They just shy away from them for some reason..


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## Cockroach (Nov 20, 2003)

My Discoids and Lobsters love cucumbers with or without skins equally, but my Hissers won't touch the stuff either way. 


laters,
Bill


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