Feeder options. Red runners?

[Moonohol]

Well, it's feeding them to the Ts I find a PITA

Are you crushing their heads before you give them to your Ts?

 

[Trenor]

Stop using a hammer to crush the heads.

I'll often still have them wiggling about on the evening of the next day if they are not eaten. I use my tongs to just crush the head and not pull it off. If you don't fully crush the head they will sometimes still do their hide by not moving normal behavior. If you press until you feel their noodle pop then your usually good.

 

[ThisMeansWAR]

If you press until you feel their noodle pop then your usually good.

Haha, you sound like a serial killer

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Can you post a picture or two of your setup to house them

No need for substrate, just give them:

- Cardboard/egg cartons to hide in
- Food (I use ground up dog biscuits mixed with goldfish flakes, should cost you less than $5 to make up over a kilo)
- Bug gel

You don't need several hundred to start a colony, I got roughly 150, separated the adults into one bin (breeding stock, you want roughly 1 male to every 5 females) and put the rest in another (feeders), when I clean out the breeder bin I put any oothecae into another container, I have 24 Tarantulas to feed and I still had plenty left in the feeder bin when the nymphs started hatching (I breed mealworms as well and buy superworms for my biggest Tarantulas though).

This is my bin for breeding stock



General population/feeders



Oothecae tub (I got lazy and couldn't be bothered to pick them out individually, there's a few nymphs running around in there but I don't think you can see them)



They do smell but not as bad as crickets do and, to be honest, crickets don't smell that bad unless you don't clean their enclosure/remove any dead regularly, my only problems with crickets are that they outgrow my slings and the MMs ****ing chirp constantly (even the so-called "silent crickets" do this).
You'll stop noticing the smell after a while anyway, I can only smell their food now and that's just because dog food stinks lol.

Takes a couple of months before you end up with any nymphs though so be patient if you try breeding them.

Climbing is not a problem, these can not climb smooth surfaces (I initially thought they could which put me off breeding them for ages), just make sure you store your bins somewhere they can't be knocked over and be careful not to lose any when cleaning them out (males are more likely to escape as they have wings, they can't fly but they are able to glide short distances).

 

[Phases]

Ugh after several back and forths with capecoderoaches it turns out they are out of stock with red runners. But after explaining my needs and wants/dislikes, they recommended, in this particular order:

Red Goblin
Pallid
Lobster
Red Runner

So I ordered 50 of the top three. I was really wanting to try red runners but, I'm sure I can make do. If not, I am willing to bet I'll need more one day anyway.

@The Grym Reaper I am storing my dubias much like that, but I don't separate. I don't think I feed enough to matter. They seem to be growing. They're certainly doing fine. It's been a few weeks and none have died and they are all bigger so, I assume they'll mate too. If not, I'll work on it. So, I will do these all similar and see how it goes!

Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Red Goblin
Pallid
Lobster
Red Runner

So I ordered 50 of the top three. I was really wanting to try red runners but, I'm sure I can make do. If not, I am willing to bet I'll need more one day anyway.

I don't know about the top 2 but lobster roaches can climb smooth surfaces so smear a thick unbroken line of vaseline around near the top of the container to stop them from getting out and reapply as needed.

**Edit**
After a quick search on the other 2, red goblins can supposedly jump/climb and pallids can supposedly fly.

 

[Phases]

Yah all three climb or fly.. or adult males do. I figure I'll try em as I have a couple Ts up high.

 

[Randomjoe]

Adult and nymph lobster roaches can climb and out of the 3 I'd bet will breed the fastest. Only adult goblin and pallid can climb smooth surfaces and pallid may be able to fly.