How often do you feed your Roaches?

[ShellsandScales]

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.

Seriously??? Just do a little population control and burn some of you adult females. Keep them under control and you will have way way way less roaches to "burn". You're just making extra work for yourself. And I realize they are just roaches but I'm not all about the wasteful mentality. Even on a renewable reasource like roaches. It just doesn't make sence to throw stuff away if it can be put to ANY use.

 

[reverendsterlin]

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.

I feed mine once or twice a week and have even gone a month between feedings and always have more than enough to sell off a couple of hundred or more a month to the pet store on top of what I feed out and I never once fed them protein because I think it encourages cannibalism. I started with 50 and now have over 2000 hows that for not thriving

 

[james]

B dubia

I have been keeping and breeding this species for a very long time. I feed mine usually twice a week and my goal is to have all the food consumed within a day. Excess food and moisture usually only lead to bad things such as mold or mites. I usually throw in a handful of a mixture of dry cat,fish, and dog food. I pretty much use carrots and apples only as my other food. With carrots you can feed a little more because they hold much better but I like apples because I've always got my best production from females using them. I pretty much only use water crystal like shown in the pictures of the other post if I know I'm going to miss regular feedings and want the roaches to have hydration until the next timne I can feed. I have some new set-ups that make getting your feeders out very easy. I thinks it's best to disturb your breeders as little as possible. If you produce to many there are several ways to deal with this.
1. Yopu can pull all your males out for some time. Females can't keep producing without the males!!!
2. You can cool them down but this will cause them to also eat less(less nutrition).
3. It is very easy to freeze them to kill some off. I even hear of people using them later on as feeders although I have never tried this.
4. Myself and other do buy excess dubia all the time. Typically tarantula keepers don't need nearly as many of them compaired to someone keeping dragons eating many of them every day.

My last comment would be under no circumstances should you ever consider releasing them. I have been taking a number of calls recently from reporters and other agencies asking about roaches infesting and populating everywhere. Now I feel that most of these species would not survive well in the wild, but it's up to all of us to be responsible so we don't have to deal with bans like some of these snake keepers do.
James Tuttle
www.blaberus.com
james.blaberus@gmail.com