Want to breed food: Roaches or Crickets?

[jimmyx36]

Soon I will be a jobless college student with very little money to feed pets. I want to start some sort of feeder colony to feed Ts, emperer scorp, small pixie frog, small American bull frog, and a chameleon.

I've been debating between roaches and crickets. I hear people swear by roaches. However, I hear they take a while to get a solid breeding colony going. Crickets seem to get colonies started ealier, but they make noise.

What are your thoughts? What kind of colony should I start? If you suggest another food (mealworms, waxworms, etc.) please share.

- James

 

[Shayna]

I was looking into it too and I think roaches are going to be my route as well, the best sp. looks like B. lateralis.

 

[Danielson659]

I'm a college student as well, i started a colony of B. dubia last year during school. It is really easy to do but i would suggest starting out with a large number of adult males and females because it does take some time. i think i started out with about 75 roaches and only 10 or so of them were adults. It took a month or two to really get the colony going. The best thing to do is to put them in a dark container in your closet and only open the container to feed them. just leave them alone and they do the rest.

 

[pinkfoot]

This is an easy question - crix will cost you more than roaches over time. Initial outlay for roaches will seem high, but they are easily husbanded and with all of the help in the relevant insects forum, 'INSECTS & OTHER INVERTEBRATES', they are a breeze.

If the issue is one of cost (or noise, smell, danger to moulting Ts, mortality rate, et. al.!!) go the roach route, man!

 

[kingfarvito]

id say roaches and silk worms both are easy

 

[jmhendric]

I have been breeding roaches for almost 3yrs now and yes they are far better feeder than crix. Not to mention all the parasites crix harbor can't tell you how many people infect their reptiles with parisites from feeding nasty crix. But roaches can take some time to get good numbers I started with 50 B.dubia and took about 2yrs to get the numbers into the thousands same with my discoids.
But that was ok cuz my lobster colony went from 250 into the thousands in less than 8 weeks. I had some lateralis but I did not like them the secrete a sticky glue type substance as a defense and I did not care for them If you don't care about keepin climbers then I say lobsters 100% .I use a band of vasaline to keep them in the rubbermaid and have never had a single escape besides they rather stay in their enclosure then try to get out.

 

[WARPIG]

The question for me is, is it worth/economical/labor intensive starting a roach colony to feed lets say 20-30 T's. I see if you have lizzards to feed which I believe need to be fed alot more than T's then its worth it.

But if you have 30 T's which are fed once or twice a month, then will your colony be worth it? you may end up with alot more roaches than you need, will they then become your pets

 

[IdahoBiteyThing]

Roaches

I'm a college student as well, i started a colony of B. dubia last year during school. It is really easy to do but i would suggest starting out with a large number of adult males and females because it does take some time. i think i started out with about 75 roaches and only 10 or so of them were adults. It took a month or two to really get the colony going. The best thing to do is to put them in a dark container in your closet and only open the container to feed them. just leave them alone and they do the rest.

Good advice. I started a roach colony this year and I love it. Takes very little work (water crystals, crushed dog food, fresh veggies/fruit), and is totally worth it. No more stinky crickets, no more driving to the store every week for food, always have just the right size on hand. I don't have a ton of T's, but even with a small collection they are worth it. Initial outlay cost a little, but if I think of the cost of crickets for a year (include gas!), it's a no-brainer. I do occasionally supplement with other foods for a little variety (mostly mealworms). BTW, mealworms are pretty easy too, and keep for weeks in the frig- I start a colony, let them get to just the size I want, then refrigerate them in little cups to keep them from maturing. When I get low, I let a few of them mature and repeat the cycle. Nice for slings.

 

[Shadow Tongue]

I have definitely decided to start breeding my own roaches and am going to purchase some of the necessary materials from here.

Can someone recommend the number of ounces of water crystals I should purchase/keep in my container? I will only be feeding my single Cyriopagopus sp with said colony.

 

[rosehaired1979]

If you have 1 T a colony really wouldn't be worth the time. If you had a lot of Ts and other creatures that would eat them it would be.

 

[boaboytony5]

Hi there,

I really hope you don't mind me jumping into this conversation but I've also been thinking about breeding roaches, I was just wondering about whether they can infest your house if you get some escapee's? I think everyone's had some escapee crickets at one time or another but I'm worried about a colony of roaches being able to breed all over my house?

Tony

 

[Danielson659]

Hi there,

I really hope you don't mind me jumping into this conversation but I've also been thinking about breeding roaches, I was just wondering about whether they can infest your house if you get some escapee's? I think everyone's had some escapee crickets at one time or another but I'm worried about a colony of roaches being able to breed all over my house?

Tony

I have never had an escapee, but i know, with b. dubia at least, that it will be very hard for them to survive in your house because they need a good water source and they also need higher temperatures to really start to multiply. plus unlike crickets, roaches are pretty easy to catch b/c they do not jump all over the place. b. dubia cannot climb walls and if you decide to get a species they can climb a ring of vaseline around the top of the enclosure will keep them in.

 

[boaboytony5]

I have never had an escapee, but i know, with b. dubia at least, that it will be very hard for them to survive in your house because they need a good water source and they also need higher temperatures to really start to multiply. plus unlike crickets, roaches are pretty easy to catch b/c they do not jump all over the place. b. dubia cannot climb walls and if you decide to get a species they can climb a ring of vaseline around the top of the enclosure will keep them in.

Thank you so much for your reply,

I really appreciate it :worship:

 

[Okitasoshi]

I ordered and started a colony from Blapticadubia.com really fast shipping, never had even 1 dead roach from an order, and they're flourishing with the feed that comes with it, I occasionally throw in a slice of orange, cause I heard citrus helps them breed, plus a little variety never hurts a diet.

 

[kingfarvito]

I have definitely decided to start breeding my own roaches and am going to purchase some of the necessary materials from here.

Can someone recommend the number of ounces of water crystals I should purchase/keep in my container? I will only be feeding my single Cyriopagopus sp with said colony.

hey bro i thought youd like this 1 gallon of crystals for a dollar you just have to mix it your self (pour the powder in a gallon of water) http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=28&de=511806