Live feed locust breeding - save myself from the horrible costs!

[Dark Raptor]

Ok., Ok., we don't need any arguement

I keep crixs (now 3 species), roaches (4 species), superworms, mealworms and other 'stuff', so I see (and use) every good and bad side of every feeder I have.

 

[Raqua]

Havings slings or not doesn't have anything to do with wether dubias or crix are more easy to raise

It has If you raise them as feeders ... ;P

 

[Cirith Ungol]

It has If you raise them as feeders ... ;P

I give up! Crix are best!





...unless you raise B. dubia ofcourse!

But in order not to clutter up this thread with too much silly talk I'll agree on that it sure must be handy having those baby crickets for slings!

I'll get one or two slings soon and will start off trying to feed them pre-killed and cut in half roaches. I'm gonna use a very small container and that way the sling will hopefully find the dead roach very soon and start sucking.

However practical it might be, I'll never raise crickets ever! If one day I'm in great need for slingfood I'll raise wingless fruitflies instead. That way I cut down the entire production chain and just get what I'm asking for: tiny prey that doesn't involve stinking, cannibalistic, too-whitty-for-spiders, crazy, jumping cricket buggers.

 

[Raqua]

I think fruit flies are too small for T's. Of course you can feed them 100 to one spider, but I somehow dislike that idea ... I feed those crix when they are aprox. 0.5cm. That seems to work best for me.

Anyway, I have friend here, who has a lot of dartfrogs and other small frogs. He feeds those with regular flies. Since I keep only arboreal T's they're great feeders for my slings. Right now I have like 50 slings P. fasciata. I keep them in one tank together. Imagine that mayhem, when I drop 100 flies in .... Crazyness! Great fun to watch too ... Every sling munching 2-3 flies at once, jumping around to catch them ... For arboreals they work much better than crix. And the costs are none - my friends give them to me for free, because he has thousands of them for aprox. 30 cents ...
The only problem is, that they smell wery bad. They live on milk and rotting meat ... No chance to raise them for me. My friend has special air conditioning system to keep the smell out.

 

[Randolph XX()]

Ok., Ok., we don't need any arguement

I keep crixs (now 3 species), roaches (4 species), superworms, mealworms and other 'stuff', so I see (and use) every good and bad side of every feeder I have.

Can you state bothe the good side and bad side, i'd be very appeciate,
in terms of ,ovement preferences of ts, nutritient value, difficulty for ts to catch, efficientcy to culture, and mantinence of the feeders colonies, and price?
i can't think of anything except crix after combined every aspect together
sometimes Roaches are too flat , and their movements don't atract Ts much IME, my lobsters even escaped through the widow's web by their paper-thin body.
i've think of some larger moth sps, locusts, katydids, morman crix, mice, racts, or even baby guniea pigs

 

[Andy]

So is it worth seeing if my leopard geckos will eat roaches?

 

[Cirith Ungol]

So is it worth seeing if my leopard geckos will eat roaches?

I'd say, buy some and see what happens. Don't forget to try B. dubias

 

[Andy]

My mum and dad wont let me have roaches.

 

[Dark Raptor]

Can you state bothe the good side and bad side, i'd be very appeciate,
in terms of ,ovement preferences of ts, nutritient value, difficulty for ts to catch, efficientcy to culture, and mantinence of the feeders colonies, and price?
i can't think of anything except crix after combined every aspect together
sometimes Roaches are too flat , and their movements don't atract Ts much IME, my lobsters even escaped through the widow's web by their paper-thin body.
i've think of some larger moth sps, locusts, katydids, morman crix, mice, racts, or even baby guniea pigs

With my language skills, it will be difficult

I can't tell you anything about all feeder's nutrient value Maybe that all beetle larvae have more lipids than other invertebrates.

I've found roaches (B. giganteus, B. dubia and N. cinerea) the best food source for medium-sized and large T's. Generally they are prefered by underground and ground spiders. I don't need to say anything how easy is breeding roaches... I started with 20 adult N. cinerea. After a few weeks I had almost 1000 specimens. Larger species breed slower, but if you have a lot of them... you don't need to worry about that. Also, very important thing, I've never had any problem with diseases. All species (except P. nivea) are very resistant to dry environment, mould and lack of food.
Sometimes it is good to smash or cut roache's head. They won't burrow and also will atract more attention to T's (for egz. when moving without coordination). The bad side... N. cinerea has 'chemical defense' and some T's don't eat them (but my spiders never refused eating them )
B. dubia, Blaberus spp. aren't glass climbers, they shouldn't escape... N. cinerea and other... yes, they are masters in escaping. I'm lucky because I live in country with 'cold' climate ... I've never had any problem with roaches breeding outside tanks.

Crix, especially newly hatched larvae, are the best for spiderlings. My arboreal spiders prefer this type of food, because crix are more active (and easier to catch). Sometimes crix can turn into predators, I had one accident with B. albopilosum (I've never had any problem with roaches).
Mealworms and superworms are also good for smaller spiders. I give them only to small or medium-sized T's. Of course, sometimes they can be also dangerous to spiders.

If we are talking about the costs... I use only one heating cable (25W) to heat tanks with my crix. I keep tanks with roaches in upper part of my room (warmer air) or close to tanks with crickets, so It is much cheaper. I use food from my cottage, so I don't spend money on that I'm sure it is 'clean' from chemicals. At least, I sell all 'overproduction', so I earn more money on feeders than I spend on them ;P

...and the truth is that I give my spiders different types of food... I believe it is good way to keep them healthy.

 

[Dark Raptor]

I've just found some info about nutrient value of Tenebrio molitor larvae:

"Tenebrio molitor larvae; 2.99 kcal/g, containing ~55% water, and 30% fat, 60% protein, 10% carbohydrate by dry weight"

Source: http://ajpregu.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/286/4/R734

I will try to find more about other feeders

 

[Dark Raptor]

Ok. I hope this link will be very nice

http://nagonline.net/Technical Papers/NAGFS00397Insects-JONIFEB24,2002MODIFIED.pdf

 

[JohnxII]

Ok. I hope this link will be very nice

http://nagonline.net/Technical Papers/NAGFS00397Insects-JONIFEB24,2002MODIFIED.pdf

Great link, thanks!