Which do you prefer for feeders?

[SonsofArachne]

Red runners. I've never had a single invert refuse them. I do however crush their heads for centipedes and some scorpions (Heterometrus/Pandinus) as they are a bit too agile for them.

 

[Matt Man]

I still do crickets and dubia but lateralis are my faves

 

[zeeman]

Serious question, I am getting an ackie monitor in a few weeks and have around a bakers dozen in T's, so my current setup of buying crickets every week won't work for long due to the amount of food an ackie needs in inverts... doing a lot of reading on dubias or mealworms as the B lats worry me on getting out and breeding, even in PA, and I read a lot about the eventuality of developing an allergy to both the dubias and mealworm frass (whatever that is).

What are you guys doing to avoid the allergy or respiratory issues, or is that a
Load of bullocks?

 

[mantisfan101]

Best way is to basically not keep them...but alternatives are wear gloves(rubber kitchen gloves to cover ad much exposed skin as possible), use tongs, wear a mask and goggles, maybe tie long hair back into a bun, and have some spare change of clothing. Rinse hands, arms, and face thoroughly with hot water after to get rid of any lingering frass.

 

[Kichimark]

I use two different versions of crickets (banded and field) which are the main for the T's. I also have toads, crested geckos and bearded dragons which get dubia and orange head roaches which I have 5 colonies going on. Some of the T's will go for the dubia and my B. emilia hits everything that enters the tank. My AF B. hamorii will not touch dubia whatsoever but she will definitely go for crickets. I am thinking about ordering some lateralis roaches to give that a try and spice things up a bit. None of my T's go for superworms.

 

[Craig73]

Serious question, I am getting an ackie monitor in a few weeks and have around a bakers dozen in T's, so my current setup of buying crickets every week won't work for long due to the amount of food an ackie needs in inverts... doing a lot of reading on dubias or mealworms as the B lats worry me on getting out and breeding, even in PA, and I read a lot about the eventuality of developing an allergy to both the dubias and mealworm frass (whatever that is).

What are you guys doing to avoid the allergy or respiratory issues, or is that a
Load of bullocks?

You get a plastic storage bin with some depth and a lid, drill holes in the lid, add some egg crates, a food dish, a water dish with water crystals and let Them do their thing. They can’t climb smooth surfaces and if you’re super paranoid put a line of clear packing tape around the area the top of the egg crates end (Inside the container of course). Allergies can be developed at any time, don’t worry too much about it. Wear a mask and gloves if you are concerned and place the container in a remote area.

As for “harvesting” the feeders you just shake the egg crate over a smaller container while in the big bin and use the smaller container to pull your feeders from.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

What are you guys doing to avoid the allergy or respiratory issues,

Nothing, I've never had an issue with any of them in like 4 and a half years of keeping

 

[Kichimark]

Serious question, I am getting an ackie monitor in a few weeks and have around a bakers dozen in T's, so my current setup of buying crickets every week won't work for long due to the amount of food an ackie needs in inverts... doing a lot of reading on dubias or mealworms as the B lats worry me on getting out and breeding, even in PA, and I read a lot about the eventuality of developing an allergy to both the dubias and mealworm frass (whatever that is).

What are you guys doing to avoid the allergy or respiratory issues, or is that a
Load of bullocks?

At first, I did not have any allergies but over the years I have developed a mild reaction from the dubias. My allergy symptoms are some eye swelling/redness. When I clean out their bins I wear a mask and gloves/eye goggles (so glad I had lots of those before this virus situation hit). When wearing those, I don't get a reaction at all and that is working with 5 bins full of thousands in them. When I use my bare hands, I just wash right after I grab the roaches and nothing becomes of it since I just grab a few at a time for feedings and don't have my face close to the bin. I still keep the roaches though since they are easy to raise and don't have to buy feeders.

 

[Sterls]

Dubia. I would feed b lateralis but I'm also in the infestation-paranoia camp. Started to debate them more, but it'd probably be a tub within a tub situation, lol.

I generally keep a cup of mealworms around for variety or to dice up for slings too.

 

[Venom100]

To each his own, I have never developed allergies when breeding. Not saying it’s not possible but just simple steps and common practices should void that or atleast limit it.

 

[Rigor Mortis]

Crickets and mealworms are easiest for me to get, so those. I have a small collection that would make it silly for me to start breeding any feeders so I just take a trip to the pet store when I need feeders. Not ideal, but hey it keeps the beasts fed.

 

[Almadabes]

Ideally red runners; nice sizes, fast and attention-grabbing, good breeding for maintaining a colony.
But I'm much too clumsy and I'd be scared they would be able to thrive in my kitchen if I spilled their container over.

Right now, dubia is my favorite. No smell, and super clean for roaches.
They don't die easily and if they do die their comrades clean up the body very quickly and move the shell out of the living area.
Frankly, I almost see my dubias as another pet. Sure I gotta feed them off to my spiders but just the fact that they are so clean and compliant I almost have a high level of respect for them.

I'll admit the burrowing and feigning death is annoying - If you crush the head and only the head they'll walk around slowly and that usually works for me.

Hate crickets. Smelly, Noisey, drop like flies no matter what I do to keep them alive, insist on cannibalism, and don't even clean up the corpses.
also just a pain to grab for me compared to dubias. But I keep them cause I like the feeding response by some of my T's

Worms are worms - not much I have for or against them. I only really use mealies for slings.
I rarely get a good takedown from any worm so they're mostly there for utility or just to change up the diet a little.

 

[Matt Man]

You get a plastic storage bin with some depth and a lid, drill holes in the lid, add some egg crates, a food dish, a water dish with water crystals and let Them do their thing. They can’t climb smooth surfaces and if you’re super paranoid put a line of clear packing tape around the area the top of the egg crates end (Inside the container of course). Allergies can be developed at any time, don’t worry too much about it. Wear a mask and gloves if you are concerned and place the container in a remote area.

As for “harvesting” the feeders you just shake the egg crate over a smaller container while in the big bin and use the smaller container to pull your feeders from.

I have a bin, inside of a bin so I have double wall security. The outer bin is big so I can grab one of the pieces of egg crate and just shake some into the outer bin

 

[Keenmetal]

Locusts. Whilst I do get good feeding responses from both crickets and red runners compared to locusts, I just find they stink (crickets from the dead ones and red runners to me give off this sickly sweet smell which is especially noticeable when you come back to the house).

Locusts so far have smelt the least to hardly at all from all feeder animals.

 

[bobbibink]

Dubia, superworms and crickets

 

[kingshockey]

super worms 50 count cup last 2 months for the 5 ts i have

 

[l4nsky]

Lateralis by far. Fast breeders, can feed anything from a 1/2" sling to an AF P. rufilata (multiple adults of course), always elicit a feeding response, dont burrow, dont smell, and the list just goes on. I was in the fear-of-infestation camp for a bit as well, but I developed a strategy that helped alleviate those fears. The colony is kept in a 10g with 6" of packing tape around the top portion of the glass. The 10g has a fine screen lid that clamps on. The tote the 10g is kept in is a gasket tote with clamps on all 4 sides, similarly taped like the 10g, and ventilated on the top with vent inserts. I thought I might have an odor problem due to lack of ventilation, but I'm a few months in with no issues. Further, I dont feed off adult females, only males (females get sold to a friend who keeps beardies whenever I downsize). That way there's no chance of an ootheca getting layed in one of my Asian enclosures and hatching. I have to give the colony a break every now and then to replenish the males because I dont want to keep an XL colony, but I usually keep 100 dubia around for my Blue Tongue Skink and I'll just dip into those for a few weeks. All this might sound like overkill to a lot of people here, but it keeps my mind at ease, keeps them out of sight from any guests, and enables me to feed my collection with high quality, gut loaded prey for pennies on the dollar, no matter the size of my collection.

 

[TheInv4sion]

Lateralis by far. Fast breeders, can feed anything from a 1/2" sling to an AF P. rufilata (multiple adults of course), always elicit a feeding response, dont burrow, dont smell, and the list just goes on. I was in the fear-of-infestation camp for a bit as well, but I developed a strategy that helped alleviate those fears. The colony is kept in a 10g with 6" of packing tape around the top portion of the glass. The 10g has a fine screen lid that clamps on. The tote the 10g is kept in is a gasket tote with clamps on all 4 sides, similarly taped like the 10g, and ventilated on the top with vent inserts. I thought I might have an odor problem due to lack of ventilation, but I'm a few months in with no issues. Further, I dont feed off adult females, only males (females get sold to a friend who keeps beardies whenever I downsize). That way there's no chance of an ootheca getting layed in one of my Asian enclosures and hatching. I have to give the colony a break every now and then to replenish the males because I dont want to keep an XL colony, but I usually keep 100 dubia around for my Blue Tongue Skink and I'll just dip into those for a few weeks. All this might sound like overkill to a lot of people here, but it keeps my mind at ease, keeps them out of sight from any guests, and enables me to feed my collection with high quality, gut loaded prey for pennies on the dollar, no matter the size of my collection.

Feeder roaches are the gateway drug into the roach keeping hobby. I started with one huge lateralis colony now my whole closet is full of roach enclosures xd

 

[basin79]

I primarily use morioworms and crickets. Waxworms now and again and locust rarely.

 

[HdLazarus]

Roaches all day, I prefer red runners over dubia because of how active they are. I can't stand crickets and only use them in a pinch and only if I know I'm gonna feed them all off the same day, they are the worst.