Roaches instead of crickets

[radicaldementia]

Lobster roaches can climb smooth surfaces, and it is also possible for them to infest your home. I know many people keep lobsters without problem, but I live in an apartment building and absolutely cannot take the risk of a few getting out and giving my neighbors trouble. I feel much safer with the dubias and have had no escapes. But lobsters are a very good feeder and they are slightly easier to breed from what I've read.

I bought my roaches from James Tuttle (blaberus.com), a very reputable breeder of many species.

 

[ballpython2]

Lobster roaches can climb smooth surfaces, and it is also possible for them to infest your home. I know many people keep lobsters without problem, but I live in an apartment building and absolutely cannot take the risk of a few getting out and giving my neighbors trouble. I feel much safer with the dubias and have had no escapes. But lobsters are a very good feeder and they are slightly easier to breed from what I've read.

I bought my roaches from James Tuttle (blaberus.com), a very reputable breeder of many species.

did you type the name of the link right? I clicked it and it didnt find the site.

 

[radicaldementia]

did you type the name of the link right? I clicked it and it didnt find the site.

whoops, fixed it

 

[jeepinwu2]

I really wouln't worry about escapees or infestations of lobsters if you give them a large container, a good barrier and a good place to hide-- don't use cardboard egg crates they just collect feces and fall apart.

 

[ballpython2]

whoops, fixed it

so where did you type the right name of the link at? lol..

 

[radicaldementia]

so where did you type the right name of the link at? lol..

lol I editted my first post. But here it is again!

http://blaberus.com

Also, here are some other breeders with lots of good care information

http://blapticadubia.com/

http://www.nyworms.com/roaches.htm

 

[Heather]

I have a colony of b. dubia that I purchased from blapticadubia.com.... I now have so damn many I don't know what to do with them! If your gonna crank the heat up make sure you are ready for the mulitude of roaches you will get! I had 9 T's from tiny slings up to adult female l. para. My slings are now big enough that I don't need the smallest roaches... yet they keep reproducing, (even without any extra heat!) :wall:

I just cleaned out my tank and sepated every male, female and all the rest are in another container. (Yeah, it seems I lack a 'life' right now!)

The females are in a 20 tall, the males in a 10 gallon and the assorted in a tote... Good Lord! What have I gotten myself into!

Females:

Males:

Assorted nymphs:

 

[Xaranx]

Good grief, thats a lot of roaches.

Here is mine, has about 600 in it. I started with 50 4 months ago and they finally are starting to ramp up production to where I feel comfortable feeding them out now. I feed ~40 inverts a week. Well some every other week, the roaches are a big meal for some of the scorpions. They love apples too, takes about 2 days and they'll eat the whole thing to the skin. I use water crystals as well, but please don't buy the stuff from the petstore, it's a complete ripoff and you can 2 pounds of the real stuff for like 17 bucks shipped, and one tablespoon of that will fill one of those 5 dollar jars from the pet store.

www.watersorb.com
Large polymer is what you want.

I feed them a staple of dog food/oats and water crystals which are always in the container, and an apple once or twice a month.

Be careful if you keep them in an aquarium like someone else suggested, the babies can definitely climb the sealant in the corner, it's just wide enough for them to fit on it.

 

[hairmetalspider]

So do you just feed the according size of roach to the correct size T? (ie- the new born roaches fed to slings, etc etc?)

 

[Xaranx]

Yeah, I have a little kritter keeper with a couple egg flats that I keep all sizes in, enough to feed out of for a month or two so I don't have to bother with getting the breeder bin out. I feed according to body size mostly, depending on post-molt, premolt, no molt, etc.

 

[Dillon]

My girlfriend is so against the idea of roaches...I think im going to have to order them secretly...

 

[Xaranx]

Go for it, they will be there long after she is gone I promise

 

[crixalis]

cool dubia roaches,..^^

 

[SugrSean]

I haven't had anything but crickets and B. dubia's, and I've got to say the roaches are a thousand times better. I got tired of crickets dying, chirping, stinking, etc. So I bought (I think) 50 roaches from somebody in this site's For Sale/Trade section. They're perfect! I know for a fact that they're healthy, and that they've had a good diet (I could never make that claim with store-bought crix), and they sustain their population easily.

When I feel like I need some more, I slide them up next to the hot side of my Sulcata Tortoise's pen. When I have a batch or two nymphs running around, I pull them away from the heat and they hang out at about 75 degrees and don't breed much at all.

They're a piece of cake. Just take a little something to them from dinner every other night or two nights, feed the adult males to your T's, and they take care of themselves.

(I only actually have 2 T's at the moment, but luckily my Gecko's are becoming fans.)

 

[Stylopidae]

You know...it always amuses me how much people talk about sexing roaches.

There really isn't any need if you have a properly sized, mature, and properly heated colony. I feed my adult lobsters out indiscriminately and I still have a colony big enough to feed 50-100 spiders with no problems whatsoever. With my Blaberus/Blaptica colony, I simply feed out the nymphs.

If you use the search function, you will find all the information on roaches you need. This is a well trodden area here on AB and with even a minuscule amount of effort, you can answer any question you have on this subject in a fraction of the time it takes a thread to garner three pages of replies where half of them are questions or answers from those who don't have very much experience with roaches.

The most popular species are lobsters and dubia. Many people use two species, a climber and a non-climber for different types of tarantulas. I find that the non-climbing species will generally try to burrow as soon as they can (thus you may need to head-pinch). However, the exception to this may be Bystoria ssp.. I've been told these will seek shelter before burrowing and often times run straight into your T's hide before finding this shelter.

I've never owned this species, so I can't tell you if that's true. However, I have been meaning to pick this species up for quite awhile now just to test this rumor out.

I use lobsters for my arboreals and I use Blaberus and Blaptica for terrestrials.

Water gel can be found at www.watersorb.com. Get the large crystals. They're expensive, but one purchase means a lifetime supply.