Feeder roaches and Leopard Geckos

[ClosedBook]

Hey, I usually hang around the tarantula section of the board but have a question pertaining to roaches as food for my leopard gecko. I have about 8 tarantulas and crickets in my house are really starting to make the place smell. I was wondering if there were any kind of feeder roach that would be good for my leopard gecko. Thanks in advance.

 

[8 leg wonder]

Blabica dubia

 

[Eclipse]

B. lateralis (Kind of fast)

 

[ClosedBook]

Thanks for the responses. Looks like it's time to start breeding roaches.

 

[gecko_keeper/KBfauna]

We use dubias, but they tend to stop moving then the geckos lose interest. Something that's more mobile will do it.

GK

 

[equuskat]

I use dubia, and I smoosh their heads...my geckos eat them fine like that. Sometimes, I do buy crickets as a "treat" for the geckos, but they are not the staple.

 

[Takumaku]

Discoids will do the trick. I switched my leos over to them after having the same issue gecko_keeper reported.

 

[Acro]

I feed off my extra "cricket sized" hisser nymphs all the time! My leopard geckos love them!

 

[RoachGirlRen]

Just a note on hissers: the nymphs are generally OK but bigger/older hissers especially are not the best staple for herps as they are very high in chitin, which is difficult to digest. Not an issue here though since leppies aren't about to down a full sized hisser. B. lateralis is good because they are active, similar in size to a cricket, and very soft bodied. They're also a less fatty (as in % fat, not girth) than dubia roaches. Dubias are fine, but as others have mentioned, there are sometimes acceptance issues, and if you are keeping on a particulate substrate they may burrow - though if you are keeping on sand you really ought to be tong feeding to avoid impaction anyways.

 

[maxident213]

I tong-feed mid-size dubia to my leo all the time, she loves 'em. Sometimes I'll put the roaches in and let her chase them & catch them herself, good exercise.