T's Diet

[AubZ]

Hi to all,
I am a noob at the hobby and would like your advise. Can I feed my T's on ONLY crickets or do I have to vary their diet?? Please provide reasons for your answers.

Thanks

 

[P. Novak]

You can feed crickets as a staple food item, but there are also various roaches and the occasional pinky mouse. Some people have fed their Ts small CB fish as well. Roaches are the best choice because they breed fast, have big numbers, various sizes, and are very easy to care for.

Pinky mice should not be a staple diet because it is high in calcium and can cause the fangs to break during a molt.

Meal worms, Super worms, Wax worms are other variets, but don't always get accepted cause they burrow fast.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Variety is the spice of life.

But I know from my experience before I ever heard of the boards, I only fed crickets. Feeding roaches and wax worms, meal worms,all of that never even crossed my mind. A cricket only diet was what my Ts had for a majority of my time in the hobby. I never had a problem.

So while I practice feeding my feeders well now and know a bit more about what Ts need. I still think a cricket only diet will be fine for anyone.

Side note it may be a bit better to vary the diet, but your T will still live and thrive on crickets. It's not like they are going to die because of them.

 

[G. pulchra]

Is it worth the effort to breed your own roaches? I've thought about making the switch from store bought crickets because I get tired of them escaping and "cricketing" around the house.

 

[JMoran1097]

all my T's are vegan....




JAY KAY'ING!!!

 

[P. Novak]

Is it worth the effort to breed your own roaches? I've thought about making the switch from store bought crickets because I get tired of them escaping and "cricketing" around the house.

Definately worth it. Much easier to keep alive then standard crickets and don't smell bad either. YOu would never have to pay for T food again.

Just make sure you get a species that would be easily eaten by all your Ts, going by your name I take it you own alot of G.pulchra and probably more Terrestrials of different species. So you might want a big roach species that doesn't climb or burrow.

 

[G. pulchra]

What species would you recommend? You are correct that most of my 28 T's are terrestrials, I only have 4 arboreals. How many would I need to have a self sustaining colony? Thanks for the advice.

Definately worth it. Much easier to keep alive then standard crickets and don't smell bad either. YOu would never have to pay for T food again.

Just make sure you get a species that would be easily eaten by all your Ts, going by your name I take it you own alot of G.pulchra and probably more Terrestrials of different species. So you might want a big roach species that doesn't climb or burrow.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Is it worth the effort to breed your own roaches? I've thought about making the switch from store bought crickets because I get tired of them escaping and "cricketing" around the house.

It is soooo worth it. I switched from crickets to roaches last fall, And aside from the 50 bucks I spent to buy them I have not spent a dime on food since. Plus they die less, are easier to maintain, less noise, less stink, the pluses go on and on. I have dubia. No climbing, big and meaty, slightly softer outer shell compaired to other big hisser roaches, they eat ground dry dog food fruits and veggies. They sit in my closet on a lap heat mat in the dark and eat and breed like mad. They are easily now feeding around 200 juvi and adult Ts and tons of slings.

 

[G. pulchra]

Guess I need to buy myself a colony. What size would you recommend starting with?

 

[Talkenlate04]

I bought from DaveGrimm1 and started with 100 mixed juvies and adults, I did end up getting 100 more just to get things rolling faster so I would have feeders. From the to now, I had 200 now I have 600 plus not including the babies that are being produced at about 300+ every 2 weeks or so.

 

[P. Novak]

Guess I need to buy myself a colony. What size would you recommend starting with?

It really depends on how much Ts you have and whether or not you want to start feeding right away or willing to wait for the colony to breed up a bit. Also what type of roach your planning to get.

 

[spid142]

roaches as food

Im getting tired of the cricket stink, mess etc too. I bought a big hissing roach and threw it in with my big L. parahybana. She loved it, and had no trouble with it. Should I buy hissers or some other? I have 8 pokies, and various terrestrials.

 

[P. Novak]

Im getting tired of the cricket stink, mess etc too. I bought a big hissing roach and threw it in with my big L. parahybana. She loved it, and had no trouble with it. Should I buy hissers or some other? I have 8 pokies, and various terrestrials.

Most people say hissers aren't the greatest feeders because of the sharp spines on their legs and slow reproduction rate. I personally have no problem with feeding them to "larger inverts". BUT I would recommend something that breeds faster and less danger, like B.dubia or B.discoidalis

 

[chichi]

I feed my t's with Surinam roaches. They do burrow so what I did was that I "pinch" their heads so that they can't burrow anymore.

 

[AubZ]

I have heard about using roaches, but in my country the hobby is still new, so no one has roaches available yet. I will try to get my hands on them, but at least for now feeding only crickets won't do any harm. Thank alot for all the help.

 

[tabor]

A note about burrowing prey such as superworms: if you are certain your T isnt coming up on a molt I find its ok to just go ahead and let the prey burrow. 90% of the time my more terestrial species will actually dig them up after a few days when they get hungy. One of my adult L. parahybanas does this all the time. I love watching her "sense out" the hidden prety and then proceed to dig a few inches down in the substrate to get her tasty reward.

 

[IdahoBiteyThing]

Ditto

I bought from DaveGrimm1 and started with 100 mixed juvies and adults, I did end up getting 100 more just to get things rolling faster so I would have feeders. From the to now, I had 200 now I have 600 plus not including the babies that are being produced at about 300+ every 2 weeks or so.

I bought from Dave too, and I love my roaches. Got B. dubia as well. Quiet, not stinky, easy to take care of, and I like knowing where my T food is coming from, what it's been eating etc.

 

[AubZ]

Can your roaches out breed your feeding quota?? How many T's must one own to make breeding roaches worth while???

 

[Talkenlate04]

You can have them for any sized collection. You can control the breeding by lowering the temps if you dont want so many and raising them if you want more.
Or you can just sell off extras if you end up with to many. My feeding quota is easily met for my whole collection.

 

[138]

Can your roaches out breed your feeding quota?? How many T's must one own to make breeding roaches worth while???

10 adult T's @ 2 roaches each for 4 weeks = 80 adult roaches. so if you ordered say 100. even if they breed like if it were 1999, you won't have adult roaches again for a few months.