Found some of the best dry food for roaches tonight :D

[pinkfoot]

Great pics, to be sure, and a great collection , too!

Do you have no egg crates or subs in there?? Presumably the refreshment station is below the seething mass, but those doobs are in very fine nick!

 

[funnylori]

Mike and I just cleaned out our colony last night. Cheerio's while great for kids, are not so great in a colony. We had at least 100 meal moth larve writhing in the bottom of the tank, and we are still tracking down all of the moths. You know you have a problem when you have to vacuum the larve off the ceiling every night before bed...

Chicken feed eh? I think I still have about 10lbs left from when I had chickens... I'm gonna have to check the shed when I'm in town this weekend...

Has anybody tried rabbit pellets? I have loads of those.

 

[Rochelle]

Really? This for the dry kibble or is it the semi-moist chews? Are you misting the enclosure or does it have high humidity? I tend to avoid the mold and other flying pests by keeping the enclosure dry, providing only light, occasional, fine misting and using moisture locked foods like the Bok Choy or the occassional overnight grape or small tomato that I can easily remove the next morning.

I also mist away from the food which i cover with the egg crate so the dry stays mainly dry. Its funny to see the whole colony empty out of hiding from within the egg crate and flow like a brown wave of destruction to drink when I mist the wall. It may a bit dry for them sometimes, but they're roaches, they'll be ok.

We use dry kibble only. Water dish at each end of the tank is always full. Mist the racks once or twice a week. No substrate. The tank is kept dry to avoid molds and volunteer flies.
Hissers require good humidity to thrive and produce at optimum. Ootheceas will be aborted if the females are not properly hydrated.
They will survive on much less ~ they will not THRIVE on much less.
If you keep a well hydrated colony; you will have significantly faster molting/growth and drastically higher numbers of nymphs.
Washed, organic veggies and fruits are also required.
We leave the kibble in their dish until it's completely gone and then we give them "wet" food (veggies) in their dish. We never mix the two sources. In this way there is almost no food "hiding" and molding in the tank.

*on a side note ~ Yes; rosemary is a natural insect repellent.
*Purina does not make a truly holistic pet food and they will certainly not admit to any pesticides being present in their food. (Or even being used on the grain that makes their kibble). Besides that fact; the lovely looking ingredient list pertains only to the support and maintenance of muscle bearing, higher nervous system owning mammals. Not the chitin wearing bugs we are feeding this product to..

 

[Arachnomore]

I received an email back yesterday and Naturals One by Purina does contain all natural ingredients from farms, they are sure there is very little trace of insecticides in their brand, but they can't guarantee that its all gone in the process of making it.

 

[Rochelle]

.........

 

[pato_chacoana]

I also give Purina (it's a piece of crap for dogs) to my B. dubia, Blaberus spp., Nauphoeta cinerea and crickets colonies. They like it even more if it is put in water for a while, it's like a paste, that way you give them water and food at the same time
But beware for the leftovers, they stink. I give them ocassional apple and lettuce too.
I've seen B. dubia in the wild, I don't know what the hell do they eat, they are always starving when you give them anything to eat. Also they have a very strong winter (no snow though) and they still survive.
I don't know why there's people out there who doesn't like roaches!!

PAto

 

[arachnocat]

I heard roaches love pond sticks. Has anyone tried those. I think they're for aquatic turtles or koi. They seem pretty expensive but I might get a box to try if roaches really like em.

 

[Pink-Poodle88]

For the dry food dish, I generally mix whatever cat and/or dog food we have currently. We generally don't always buy the same brand for our dogs and cats, so yeah. Plus I often mix in certain types of cereal in there too.

Then I have another separate dish for fruits/vegetables/etc. They seem to like these a lot more, the fruits and vegetables are often eaten very quickly, while the dry food will stay around for weeks or months.

As for water, I have yet another dish, I use Fluker's cricket gel or whatever it's called, they seem to love it and it eliminates virtually all the problems with a standard water dish.

By the way, would it be safe for me to put a heat mat under one side of my B. dubia colony? I'm trying to get them to breed(if they haven't been breeding already, only had them for a few weeks) and it's generally a bit cool in the room that I keep them in, so I worry that they may not breed. The room is usually like 68 to 70 degrees farenheight.

 

[Xaranx]

Yes perfectly safe, I use one of the cobra heat mats that are designed for plastic. Also look into water crystals, you can get a couple years worth for the price of 2 of those little jars of cricket quencher crap. https://water-sorb.com/store.php?crn=207

 

[Rochelle]

It's fine, depending on the size of your tank. If you're using a 10 gallon, make sure at least half of it is not over the mat.
They breed best at about 89-90'.....
Water crystals are not strictly necessary, either. We quit using them two years ago.
Wash out an empty jar of medium size; punch several holes in the lid and fill it with water. Place upside down on a small plate with a section of chicken fence in between. (large washers work in a pinch).
Now you have a gravity fed water system that never gets deep enough to drown anyone, but always provides adequate moisture.
*My hubby is more useful than duct tape...lololol

The Vlasic watering System.....

 

[arachnophoria]

Having raised 9 species of roaches at one time or another,I have found some things that seem to be useful.I used to hate the idea of the silicone watering crystals,but there is a natural agar product available at www.baskinglizards.com , that can be used in stead or one could use gelatin from the grocery.I also have had success with using fresh food as the only moisture source and utilizing coco peat/coir/bed-a-beast as substrate.I currently make my own roach food by blenderizeing lots of wholesome goodies into a dry food,but on kingsnake.com , one can find a product called roach coach,that works well and nutritous.I think it is a bit pricey,but $60.00 for 20# last a long time in the fridge.

 

[GailC]

I like that idea for water, may have to try it with my lateralis.

I used to feed chicken food until I really looked into the ingredients, now I wouldn't even feed it to chickens. The laying mash or chicken mash usually has large amounts of antibiotic and other additives in it to help the chickens grow faster/produce more eggs. I don't particularly want any kind of hormone in my roach feed, especially since I feed them to reptiles.

I do like using koi food and the local pet store gives me any outdated fish food/parrot food they have and I grind it all with some catfood. I've also been using purina cricket food, comes in 40LB bags from the feed store, the bugs like it ok but seem to do better when given more protien.