feeders. what do you like to use. anyone else prefer red runners (Blatta lateralis)

[ThatBugGuy]

I was wondering what everyone used for feeders I personally like the red runners they have really soft bodies and all my insectivores take them really well. easy to culture with little care too. drop a reply below with your favorite feeder(s) and why you use them im looking to maybe start another culture of feeders to add diversity to my inverts diets.

 

[fried rice]

I use tropical house crickets and mealworms. Tropical house crickets are so much better than the normal crickets they sell at pet stores. Tropical house crickets are also called banded crickets. I like mealworms because they can’t jump or run, which makes them very easy to feed to pets. They also can last for months if you put them in your refrigerator.

 

[ThatBugGuy]

I use tropical house crickets and mealworms. Tropical house crickets are so much better than the normal crickets they sell at pet stores. Tropical house crickets are also called banded crickets. I like mealworms because they can’t jump or run, which makes them very easy to feed to pets. They also can last for months if you put them in your refrigerator.

That’s neat I also herd mealworms are easy To culture with a plastic 3 level file cabinet

 

[Arachnoenthusiast]

I'm a fan of Dubia roaches, and super worms. With the rare earth worm for spice

 

[ThatBugGuy]

I'm a fan of Dubia roaches, and super worms. With the rare earth worm for spice

Dubias are a common favorite for lots of people whenever I see feeding videos I understand they are larger but aren’t they tougher on the outer shell than most feeders?

 

[omni]

I keep lateralis, a small colony of 100 for my 15 T's. they are smaller than dubia, but then all my T's are 4" or less. don't need big roaches. I like them bcs they are fast to grow and prolific. they also don't burrow. one drawback is they are fast and not easy to catch just one so I take a section of egg crate tap it hard in the empty tub to single out a roach to trap with a cup. if one runs from my adult T. albo, she will dig it out of the moss furiously to catch it haha
I don't like mealworms that much, they do dig in if you dont squish their head, but they are easy to culture, and easy to keep alive in the fridge if you have to store feeders. I had them for a few months with oatmeal substrate and fed fruit too.

 

[draconisj4]

I use red runners for my small slings and other inverts and for the first feed after a molt for all my T's. I use Dubia for my adult and larger juvenile T's otherwise.

 

[Poonjab]

Crickets. Cheap, just buy what I need. I do feed a variety of other options though

 

[Marika]

I use mealworms and dubias, they are easy to keep and breed (I like to breed my own feeders). Plus I like roaches, so the dubias are also kinda like pets to me.

 

[ThatBugGuy]

I use red runners for my small slings and other inverts and for the first feed after a molt for all my T's. I use Dubia for my adult and larger juvenile T's otherwise.

im getting a T today so I might get some dubias. you know a good breeder who has a deal on them?

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

I use the good old fashioned domestic cricket Acheta domestica. Plentiful, spiders never refuse them, and sold in a variety of sizes. I've tried all other types of feeder insects, but always return to the domestic cricket. I won't even try the red runner roaches due to how prolific they are. The last thing I need is to maintain thousands of roaches for a small tarantula collection. Too much work for me.

 

[ThatBugGuy]

I use the good old fashioned domestic cricket Acheta domestica. Plentiful, spiders never refuse them, and sold in a variety of sizes. I've tried all other types of feeder insects, but always return to the domestic cricket. I won't even try the red runner roaches due to how prolific they are. The last thing I need is to maintain thousands of roaches for a small tarantula collection. Too much work for me.

Lmao not too prolific if you keep the males separated and only throw them in when you need to up the colony a bit. And I thought a solitary diet of crickets is bad for your inverts and other pets?

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Lmao not too prolific if you keep the males separated and only throw them in when you need to up the colony a bit. And I thought a solitary diet of crickets is bad for your inverts and other pets?

There is always a catch with roaches it seems. Over the years I've used lobster roaches, dubia roaches, mealworms, super worms, flightless fruit flies, banded crickets, and domestic crickets. They all have their pros and cons, but everything but the domestic crickets require an extra step when feeding, or when it came to the roaches, some extra work to prevent a population explosion. Last year I used baby red runners for spiderlings which a tarantula dealer provided to me for free and I liked them fine. All the information I could find on keeping red runners say that they reproduce more easily and in a wider range of environmental conditions than other roaches used as feeders, such as the dubia roaches, and I just don't want to deal with that. Especially since I live in an apartment where I can not take any risks on accidentally letting some escape.

I only keep tarantulas so I can't speak for all inverts or insectivorous animals, but at least tarantulas don't require a varied diet for proper growth and development. I take good care of my crickets and feed them regularly on commercial cricket feed and offer fruits and vegetables which provide all the fat, protein, and other nutrients they need.

 

[Jesse607]

They all seem to have their positives and negatives. For the last few years I've relied on red runners (lateralis) and mealworms, supplemented with store bought domestic/house crickets. I moved, and it is now inconvenient to get crickets and my lateralis colony seems to go through seasonal cycles frustratingly. I used lobster roaches for almost 10 years before getting rid of them years ago, but just got a new starter colony, as I miss using the babies as feeders and having all stages all the time without worrying about ooths. I also just got a colony of "Little Kenyan", and I'll try them for my tiny slings....oh and I have dubia roaches, but more so as pets lol.

 

[pannaking22]

For anything small I pretty much exclusively use little Kenyan roaches. Fantastic feeder. Larger things depend on what I've got, typically it's a male chrome or porcelain roach, though I've used the nymphs as well.

 

[The Mantis Menagerie]

I was wondering what everyone used for feeders I personally like the red runners they have really soft bodies and all my insectivores take them really well. easy to culture with little care too. drop a reply below with your favorite feeder(s) and why you use them im looking to maybe start another culture of feeders to add diversity to my inverts diets.

Over the past few years, I have used a variety of feeder species. I attempted breeding crickets several times, but every attempt has failed rather quickly, although Gryllodes sigillatus lasted far longer than Acheta domestica in my care. My first feeder roach was Panchlora nivea, but they are quite flighty and at that time, they were USDA-regulated (this was before August 9, 2019) I also found that the adults were not very meaty. The subadult nymphs were the best feeders. The next feeder roach I tried were lobster roaches. They did not fly, and the adults were more nutritious. I have a large colony or those, but their climbing abilities limit the usefulness. The red runners are my most recent addition, and I think they are my favorite, except for the external oothecae. The other species were ovoviviparous and did not have eggs laying all over the tank. If your animals are in sealed tanks, then I think lobster roaches are another good feeder to try. I have also been wanting to try Thermobia domestica as I have heard that they are great feeders.

 

[draconisj4]

im getting a T today so I might get some dubias. you know a good breeder who has a deal on them?

I ordered my original Dubia from the invertshop.com ( nice healthy roaches), I wasn't really planning on starting a colony but some of them got too large to feed to the T's I had at the time and the rest is history, lol.

 

[ColeopteraC]

Has anyone used silk moths or hornworm larvae as a feeder? I’m aware(from personal experience) that silkmoths aren’t exactly a hardy, easy to raise feeder but what of other caterpillars and larvae. As someone who breeds beetles and silkmoths I’ve occasionally fed my animals the larva but have never considered them as a primary feeder. Are they too ‘rich’, making them unhealthy for t’s and other people inverts as pinky mice do...?

 

[ColeopteraC]

Currently I use a combination of mealworm and roaches (exotics like porcelain or Cuban burrowers), I used to keep red runners but they became far too prolific for me. They also kept me up at night with the prospect of the chaos that would ensure if a gravid female were to escape...

 

[Jesse607]

Has anyone used silk moths or hornworm larvae as a feeder? I’m aware(from personal experience) that silkmoths aren’t exactly a hardy, easy to raise feeder but what of other caterpillars and larvae. As someone who breeds beetles and silkmoths I’ve occasionally fed my animals the larva but have never considered them as a primary feeder. Are they too ‘rich’, making them unhealthy for t’s and other people inverts as pinky mice do...?

i would think the main reason they aren't a popular feeder to rear at home is because of the regular maintenance and the different life stages have different requirements. Also the need to grow/harvest leaves or make media/diet. Way too much work for most I would suspect.