the pros and cons of the use of roaches over crickets...

[rex_arachne]

people have been saying good things about using roaches instead of crickets. what are your experiences so far and the pros and cons? also, which species of roaches are the best to use?

 

[Vixvy]

I have been using surinam roach for quit some time and all of my pets are healthy. for me there is just no difference between crix and roaches.

 

[dGr8-1]

I heard that Naophoeta cinrea's are great feeders.

 

[PIter]

Roaches burrow, crickets tend to climb up to the highest point in the enclosure.

 

[final-sting]

crix pros:
>cheap
>easy available from pinhead to adult
>easy to breed and much faster grow rate than roaches
>5mm scorplings, maybe only pinheads are the rigth size to feed it.

cons:
>adult males very loud (feed the males first or cut the wings)
>clean crix box its a must, because bad smell
>the badest,you buy much crix boxes include mites


roaches
iam no have, next please for pro and cons

 

[Scarp172]

I only have a B. Dubia colony, so I will comment on them.
B. Dubia roaches
Pros:
Relatively fast reproducitve rate
Long life span per roach
Extremely easy to keep and breed (they almost thrive on negligence)
early nymphs are 1/16th of an inch long thereby making them perfect for any sling or scorpling.
Adults can be anywhere from 2" to nearly 4" for larger critters.
Quiet.
No smell!!!!
By raising them you know where they've been and what they've eaten- unlike store-bought crix that could have eaten who knows what, have mites, etc...

Cons:
They can burrow if you don't watch them in your animal's enclosure/ your animal doesn't eat it right away. (I've noticed they have a very difficult time burrowing in the sand of my scorps' enclosures though)
Higher startup cost, but colony becomes self sufficient after about 6 months (if you start with an adequate number, say 100-200.)



If the burrowing is really a problem for you, I would suggest some Blatta lateralis, most on the boards have had good luck with them- they're faster, don't burrow, and are much smaller.

Hope this helps- there are also numerous threads already dedicated to the pro and cons of roach feeding/keeping and I suggest you read those- use search function or browse the Insect forums.
-Steve

 

[Mister Internet]

There are absolutely no cons to using roaches instead of crickets.

I know it sounds like I'm exagerrating, but I'm not. I prefer B. dubia, but many species are great feeders. As long as you keep roaches very warm, well fed, and keep their enclosure dry, they will produce like crazy... I know it sounds horrible, but I've actually had to simply destroy several hundred at a time, I just don't have enough critters to eat them all... They do not smell (again, if kept dry but well fed and hydrated), the non-climbing species are quite easy to contain, and they eat anything. There are no downsides...

I, for one, do not miss the rancid ammonia smell of dead crickets if you don't feed them immediately, and the ridiculous noise.

 

[SOAD]

I have lobster roaches.

Pros:
Fast growers.
Easy to keep and breed.
No smell.
Scorpions seems to like eating them.
Don't fly.

Cons:
Climb.(but if you cut some legs or a piece of each leg they still walking and can't climb anymore)

Crickets die easy, smell bad, hard to breed, you can't keep the youngs with the adults...

 

[jojobear]

Roaches vs Crickets

Roaches

Pros:
Don't smell
Don't chirp
Easy to breed
Fast growing
Cleaner than crickets
Most feeder roaches don't climb
Nutrionally better than crickets
The right ones don't burrow


Cons:
Some species climb


Crickets

Pros:
There are none IMO

Cons:
Smell
Make noise
Short life span
Hard to breed
IME always had some type of unwanted bug in box with them

I got rid of all of my insect-eating critters (leopard geckos, bearded dragons, day geckos, banded geckos, scorps, T's etc.) at one point because I got so fed up with crickets. Now that I gotten into roaches it is so much easier

 

[DavidRS]

I switched over from crickets to dubias and lateralis about a year ago. Best thing i've ever done.

My favorite is the lateralis, as they are most "cricket-like" in behaviour, except without the filth, smell and chirping. They breed like crazy, and you will have a size range similar to crickets.

My dubias are reproducing like gangbusters, and again, no smell, no die-off, & no noise. I generally use these for my larger T's. There's nothing like the sound of crunching by my L. parahybana chomping on an adult dubia.

 

[Alakdan]

Until my B. dubia colony is established I will continue rearing and feeding crickets to my inverts. I'm also currently breed Pycnoscelus surinamensis (Surinam roach) so based on my experience I will give you my opinion.

Crickets

Pros:
-they are rather dumb so once you put them in the enclosure they will wander around clueless. This activity will alert your invert, you get the picture.
-they reproduce fast
-pinheads are good feeders (but I am inclined to use termites often)

Cons:
-they stink!
-they're noisy!
-they have the potential to attack your slings
-they are short lived


Roaches

Pros:
-they live longer than crickets so culturing is not a problem
-breeding and feeding is the same as crickets
-good shell to meat ratio

Cons:
-they burrow and climb (this can be solved by pinching the head or clipping the legs)
-nymphs are hard to catch (that's why I still use pinheads and termites)

 

[CopperInMyVeins]

I have a B. dubia colony, and have used several species of roaches as feeders, in general I really prefer them to crickets in every way. My only issue is that even the smallest nymphs are too big and too hard to subdue for some of my second instar scorpions. So I've still had to resort to buying pinhead crickets for them, I'll be glad when they're bigger, I hate having crickets around.

 

[kahoy]

Until my B. dubia colony is established I will continue rearing and feeding crickets to my inverts. I'm also currently breed Pycnoscelus surinamensis (Surinam roach) so based on my experience I will give you my opinion.

Crickets

Pros:
-they are rather dumb so once you put them in the enclosure they will wander around clueless. This activity will alert your invert, you get the picture.
-they reproduce fast
-pinheads are good feeders (but I am inclined to use termites often)

Cons:
-they stink!
-they're noisy!
-they have the potential to attack your slings
-they are short lived


Roaches

Pros:
-they live longer than crickets so culturing is not a problem
-breeding and feeding is the same as crickets
-good shell to meat ratio

Cons:
-they burrow and climb (this can be solved by pinching the head or clipping the legs)
-nymphs are hard to catch (that's why I still use pinheads and termites)

hmm... i think not that much... my surinams abdomen is the only part that my scorps eat.

and the legs are a bit spiky...

try madiera roach... they stab!!! they smell!!! they scream!!!

 

[Nazgul]

Hi,

I´m breeding Blaptica dubia as feeders for years now. The only con I can think of is that they are burrowing and are therefor not the best feeder for climbing scorpion species which tend to hang on cork bark, like barkscorpion spp.

 

[Snake_Eyes]

I would love to try roaches but being I can't go down to the LPS and buy'em as needed I'm stuck using crickets oh well I only go thru a dozen or so a week anyways.

 

[PIter]

I would love to try roaches but being I can't go down to the LPS and buy'em as needed I'm stuck using crickets oh well I only go thru a dozen or so a week anyways.

Start your own colony.

 

[Vixvy]

Congrats! rex_arachne for a very good thread! nice topic you have here!

 

[Snake_Eyes]

Start your own colony.

Honestly the thought of having a colonly of roaches in my living room kinda freaks me out...lol My luck they would end up getting out and taking over the apt.

 

[~Abyss~]

[
Crickets

Pros:
There are none IMO

Cons:
Smell
Make noise
Short life span
Hard to breed
IME always had some type of unwanted bug in box with them
I got rid of all of my insect-eating critters (leopard geckos, bearded dragons, day geckos, banded geckos, scorps, T's etc.) at one point because I got so fed up with crickets. Now that I gotten into roaches it is so much easier

I never see these unusual bugs everyone talks about. What exactly are we looking at here?

 

[DavidRS]

Honestly the thought of having a colonly of roaches in my living room kinda freaks me out...lol My luck they would end up getting out and taking over the apt.

The chances of most tropical roachs being a household pest is slim to none. I've been keeping lateralis and dubias for a year here in southern California with no problems. I had way more problems with escaped crickets in the past.