How often do you feed your Roaches?

[ZooRex]

Just thought I'd ask because I'm amazed at how hungry my dubias are. I could give them 1/2 a head of romane and its gone in a day and a half. They also are eating cat food at an alarming rate. In August I had 200+ and would feed them once a week, I'm sure I have more now, but they seam to be gettin pretty ravonous.

Also on a side note, I know they need their protien, but has anyone tried a diet or low-protien dry food? I'm wondering if all the extra protine might have negative effects on my reptiles long term. Thanks ~ Rex

 

[Rochelle]

Dubia require high protein. Feed them all they will eat in a 24 hr. period - dog/cat food, veggies, citrus and other fruits; squashes, melons and such.
If they eat it all in less than 24hrs...give them more.
Withholding food will allow your colony to survive...but not thrive.
There is a difference between roach captors..and roach keepers.
It sounds like you've been doing something right.

 

[Matt K]

Dubia require high protein. Feed them all they will eat in a 24 hr. period - dog/cat food, veggies, citrus and other fruits; squashes, melons and such.
If they eat it all in less than 24hrs...give them more.
Withholding food will allow your colony to survive...but not thrive.
There is a difference between roach captors..and roach keepers.
It sounds like you've been doing something right.

:barf:

If I only feed them once a week, and they thrive and multiply to the point that I wind up having to burn the extras (I have to incinerate a couple hundred each month to maintain my population), then what does that make me ?? Adolph roach Hitler? Roacheph Mengela? Do I live in the Sudanese area known as Roach-Darfur?

 

[Sr. Chencho]

Matt,
Just my two cents, I'm pretty sure someone out there is interested in starting a roach colony but doesn't know how many or from whom to buy them from. Offer your hundreds that you incinerate to that someone that's willing to start a roach colony for themselves. Just have them pay for shipping, priority mail at the most. It'll be a good way to spread the "roach wealth", so to speak. My primary colony of 200 roaches has grown so much that I've separated them into three colonies, so far. I would give my roaches away, before anything else. But then, that's just me.

No disrespect intended.
Fredster,
Lean, not as Mean
Still, US Marine!

 

[Rochelle]

:barf:

If I only feed them once a week, and they thrive and multiply to the point that I wind up having to burn the extras (I have to incinerate a couple hundred each month to maintain my population), then what does that make me ?? Adolph roach Hitler? Roacheph Mengela? Do I live in the Sudanese area known as Roach-Darfur?

*see For Sale section of this board. If you are doing so well with them that they are multiplying exorbitantly - they could be paying for themselves and helping out other keepers.

Imagine how many pesky extras you'd be saddled with, if you fed them all they wanted! OMG!

We supply the suppliers - so taking pains to keep ours well and hearty is it's own reward.

Your post still made me laugh out loud, though. That was truly funny..... *walks away giggling...*

 

[arachyd]

It makes you "Dubious At Best".

 

[Rochelle]

Nope!
Among the "Best at Dubias".....

 

[Matt K]

OMG people, really?

Ok. "Sr Chencho"- if someone wants to start a roach colony all they have to do on Arachnoboards is use this funny thing called a search function and type in 'roaches'.
I do not give away tropical roach species nor will I sell them (ordinarily). I function more like a research lab than a typical hobbiest. ALL biological matter gets converted to ashes. No matter what the species is.... do what you will with your extras.

Ok, "Rochelle"- see above statement. No selling. Nor do I need the money. Roaches cost almost nothing in the first place, so the cost of keeping them is irrelevant. Though I am glad that you (hopefully) caught the humor I was going for in my post! (I would still bet money that your roaches and mine reproduce at the same rate, regardless of food offered.)

Ok, everyone else- I have a dry sense of humor, and my posts tend to come across a little more blunt or harsh than I intend for them to. Sorry!

 

[equuskat]

I work at a restaurant, and I bring home more food than my roaches can eat. lol They also get dog food about 2x a week...whenever they eat it all, I replace it. They get ENDLESS veggies and fruits.

 

[kingfarvito]

OMG people, really?

Ok. "Sr Chencho"- if someone wants to start a roach colony all they have to do on Arachnoboards is use this funny thing called a search function and type in 'roaches'.
I do not give away tropical roach species nor will I sell them (ordinarily). I function more like a research lab than a typical hobbiest. ALL biological matter gets converted to ashes. No matter what the species is.... do what you will with your extras.

Ok, "Rochelle"- see above statement. No selling. Nor do I need the money. Roaches cost almost nothing in the first place, so the cost of keeping them is irrelevant. Though I am glad that you (hopefully) caught the humor I was going for in my post! (I would still bet money that your roaches and mine reproduce at the same rate, regardless of food offered.)

Ok, everyone else- I have a dry sense of humor, and my posts tend to come across a little more blunt or harsh than I intend for them to. Sorry!

no need to be harsh bro they're just saying you killing roaches someone else could use is pointless why not help spread the hobby?

 

[Matt K]

no need to be harsh bro they're just saying you killing roaches someone else could use is pointless why not help spread the hobby?

Why is it that I type in a post but nobody ever reads the whole thing?


So, dark_abyss0 from my previous post:

"Ok, everyone else- I have a dry sense of humor, and my posts tend to come across a little more blunt or harsh than I intend for them to. Sorry!"

Further-
"I function more like a research lab than a typical hobbiest. ALL biological matter gets converted to ashes. No matter what the species is.... "

Having been visited by the USDA/APHIS agents once already, I had learned that containment at my location is what life is all about.

 

[dolphnslvrsea01]

Questions of my own...

Not to but in on someone elses thread, but I didn't want to start another that would be pretty much the same subject....

I read over and over about how you all (and others) feed your roaches and they go nuts. I don't know if it's because I have so few (about 28 adults, and a handful of nymphs), or what, but mine just don't eat like that.
They always have a supply of food which is a mixture of cricket grub, dog food, fish food, and beardie pellets (got the pellets free and beardie won't eat them so I thought I'd see if the roaches would). I occasionally see them eating out from this, but not too often.
I also supply sometype of "treat" everyday. I know it may not be necessary but I end up with extra from the beardie and my bird anyway, so might as well give a bit to them too! Again, I occasionally see one or two chowing down but they don't go crazy. There obviously not going hungry because they are reproducing and overall doing good - I think.
I do have them on a very thin layer of crushed walnut shells. I know they don't need substrate period, but I was using this for my beardie and found out it was unhealthy to use for him. I have 1/2 of a 50lb bag left, so I thought I would just use it for them instead of just totally waisting it.
I do see them occasionally munching on this as well.

So what do you think? Are they just munching here and there as above, or is something not right and should they be going "crazy" over the food?

 

[Xaranx]

It's just the numbers, as the numbers increase they will need/eat more food. Mine devour an entire apple in a few hours now, when i first got them it took them about 2-3 days to finish off a half.

Now that I have 1k+, feeding time turns into a diving/shoving match.

 

[kingfarvito]

agreed its your numbers when I got mine I fed them a leaf of lettuce


they polished off a whole head of iceburg in the last 24 hours and I havent even had mine for a year

 

[Digby Rigby]

Feeding for production

If they are swarming food everytime you put it in then you are not feeding them sufficiently to provide for maximum production.

Digby Rigby balboa28279@mypacks.net

 

[Xaranx]

I know, it's because I have too many, I also took off the heat so they are at room temperature now. Now that fall is here, I'm gonna clean it out soon, kill all the males except for a few, and split the rest of the colony with a friend who recently lost his colony. Got too many adults in there because I feed mostly scorpions, of which most aren't big enough for an adult roach on a regular basis. I need a smaller species like lobsters, but don't want the hassle of dealing with climbing species. I'm also gonna try selective breeding, and take out all the smallest dubias, and put them in a separate colony. I'll make that my feeders in a few months. I've seen some really tiny males and females in there.

 

[Digby Rigby]

Appropriate size feeders

When choosing a colony one wouldd be better served by picking roaches that they can feed off at adult sizes that way your colony doesnt end up with too many breeders. Blaptica dubia, Blatta lateralis and Byrsotria fumigata might all fit your need better. Run away from the lobster roach!

Digby Rigby balboa28279@mypacks.net

 

[gh0001356]

I top off the food when it gets down to the point I can see the bottom of the dish. I also give my dubias a slice of fruit every two-three days. My roaches are pretty fat and I've noticed a lot of molted exoskeletons at the bottom of the cage, but no dead roaches.

Am I overfeeding?

 

[Xaranx]

I agree digby, and dubia's are what I have now, lobsters would be the perfect size feeders but there's no way I'd keep climbers that could possibly infest my house since I live in the south. I have 7 tarantulas and a few big scorpions that eat my adults, so it isn't completely out of control but it's still a big meal so they only eat every 2 weeks or so.

If I could get the dubias down to 1.25" adult size they would be the perfect feeder for me, I think I can do it with a few generations of artificial selections. I've seen the oddball tiny one running around but my colony is in a fixed motel style with corkboard so I can't really go digging through it. I have a few tubes in there that I shake into a KK as my feeder bin. Going back to egg flats for easier pruning/cleaning.

Here's what i'm using now.

Edit: Close-up, sure are kinda pretty.

 

[arachyd]

That's almost exactly how mine are set up. I've noticed that if I leave out something they are used to (for example I ran out of fish flakes last week) when I add it a few days later it is the first thing to disappear out of the food dish for the next few days. I don't have enough yet to swarm the food all at once but it is a noticeable disappearance of a specific kind of food within about 30 minutes.