Your Feeder Choices and Experiences

[cold blood]

I want to take look into horn worms. Those things are AWESOME as feeders. Starting a dubia colony next month.

The LPS by me sells them for $2 a piece...hells NO!

 

[cold blood]

I will tell you straight up I was against roach rearing as much as you, having grown up in not the best neighborhoods around so cal was always taught to hate the pesky 'water bugs' which I later came to know as American roaches.

They're actually German roaches.

 

[Estein]

Every single t I own eats mealworms without hesitation...same for wax worms, but those aren't something one can generally breed themselves. Even very large ts have no issue taking a mealworm or three.

I don't breed them, but I should, from what I understand, there's no easier feeder to breed.

Good to know! I definitely agree about the breeding. In fact, the only trouble I've seen in breeding a mealworm colony was operator error; I set one up for a nature center and they chucked it a few months later because "all the mealworms were gone." The mealworms had matured into beetles and reproduced--the new larvae were just tiny and burrowing...oops. In hindsight, I should have been clearer about what to expect during the breeding process.

 

[Trenor]

She did he made a rather soft landing on her chest if you get me. I have trained myself not to flinch with my spiders from having the same attributes from keeping reptiles, the roaches can still bring it out of me though.

Well, if I ever find myself being flung across a room I can only hope to be so lucky.

I hear you man, the crawly legs can sometimes make you shiver.

 

[Trenor]

The LPS by me sells them for $2 a piece...hells NO!

I got some for 50 cents apiece at the show the other week. They are so big that only my biggest girls could finish them. They did seem to like the but I'm not sure they liked the 2 dollars worth. That's like a yearly treat or something.

 

[cold blood]

I got some for 50 cents apiece at the show the other week. They are so big that only my biggest girls could finish them. They did seem to like the but I'm not sure they liked the 2 dollars worth. That's like a yearly treat or something.

lol, at 50 cents I'd pick a few up....at $2 they are a never treat.

 

[Sana]

They aren't too bad on pricing here. I grab a few on occasion for my larger tarantulas, especially MFs before introducing a male. My bottomless pit of a G. pulchripes MF will eat four or five of them and still be hungry. She's ridiculous.

 

[bryverine]

lol, at 50 cents I'd pick a few up....at $2 they are a never treat.

That sounds like the pricing at my LPS for dubia. Not quite as expensive per feeder though I'd venture to say these things are worth their weight in silver there. 10-15 adults for $12.

 

[Trenor]

That sounds like the pricing at my LPS for dubia. Not quite as expensive per feeder though I'd venture to say these things are worth their weight in silver there. 10-15 adults for $12.

I'll be glad to sale you a lot of them for that price.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

I'm in the very small minority that is absolutely creeped out by roaches.

I'm not what I would call creeped out by them , I just hate them . Crickets are easy and convenient . Never had a T turn down a cricket .

 

[EulersK]

That sounds like the pricing at my LPS for dubia. Not quite as expensive per feeder though I'd venture to say these things are worth their weight in silver there. 10-15 adults for $12.

Well, yeah, you're talking about adults. When I sell adults, I sell 10 for $20. Other pet stores don't even offer them. For reference, I sell 20 large nymphs for $10. People have the knee jerk reaction that adult dubias are larger than the nymphs... simply untrue. About a third of my females are massive, yes, but the other two thirds are about the size of the largest nymphs. According to my scale, they're just a fraction heavier as well (when they're not gravid). And don't get me started on males - they weigh about the same as a medium nymph. Adults are expensive because that's what you buy to start a colony.

 

[bryverine]

Well, yeah, you're talking about adults. When I sell adults, I sell 10 for $20. Other pet stores don't even offer them. For reference, I sell 20 large nymphs for $10. People have the knee jerk reaction that adult dubias are larger than the nymphs... simply untrue. About a third of my females are massive, yes, but the other two thirds are about the size of the largest nymphs. According to my scale, they're just a fraction heavier as well (when they're not gravid). And don't get me started on males - they weigh about the same as a medium nymph. Adults are expensive because that's what you buy to start a colony.

Ha! Adults my abdomen! These are "large" dubia and are barely .75". They are all far from maturity. It took me 3+ months to get these "large" to maturity.

In my "collection" I have 3 HUGE females and several smaller ones that I just leave in there. All much larger than anything offered at my LPS.

 

[cold blood]

My LPS sells dubia for 59 cents or 2 for $1. They only sell full grown males.

 

[EulersK]

My LPS sells dubia for 59 cents or 2 for $1. They only sell full grown males.

That's a much more fair price. For small NW collections, they're great - I feed my NW adults one dubia roach every six weeks or so, that keeps them plump. When my colony starts getting too many males, I sell them off for roughly the same price.

 

[Andrea82]

I can deal with crickets and roaches and worms just fine, but i recently bought a feeder that managed to freak me out, a locust. The tiny ones are not so bad, but the half grown seriously provoked a shiver! And they have some serious strength in those backlegs. Luckily they are not very fast, but still...won't be buying them again. The spiders had no objection though, especially the little ones were popular, even with my avic slings.
They could be good feeders, no smell, no sound.
Banded crickets seem to be less smelly than other species, could be worth a try

 

[8Legs8Eyes]

I enjoy my dubia colony. I think roaches are actually rather cute and have considered getting some of the "pet species." I also have b. lateralis because I wanted something smaller, and they breed very, very well. I also get a better feeding response with the lats for those who are picky over the dubias. Lats also go to my smaller guys. I have some that are just straight picky, and I still run down to the store to get crickets for them, and I do crickets once and a while exclusively if I need to give the colonies a break. I think the T's appreciate the variety (in my mind at least). They occasionally get superworms and waxworms as well.

Breeding doesn't have to be smelly if you are keeping them appropriately. I tend to find it is usually the food that will smell, not the bugs themselves. Breed whatever you are comfortable with is really what it comes down to.

 

[cr4igo]

Appreciate all of the responses! I repurchased a Discoid colony and have that tucked away while they populate. Hopeful my fear subsides!

 

[Jones0911]

I want to take look into horn worms. Those things are AWESOME as feeders. Starting a dubia colony next month.

I got three 20cts from here, they'll have more Thursday

https://dubiaroaches.com/products/hornworms

 

[Jones0911]

I'm in the very small minority that is absolutely creeped out by roaches. I can't handle working with them. Opening a container filled with roaches is enough to give me bad dreams for days. I use crickets kept in the same manner as Poec54. I don't technically breed them (I would consider breeding to be hatching and raising enough of them to steadily supply my tarantulas). I used to raise crickets but it was more trouble then it was worth to me. I buy mine several hundred at a time and they have access to a couple containers of dirt to lay eggs in if they are so inclined, which they generally are. I hatch just enough tiny crickets to feed my slings without having to buy them at a small size but not nearly enough to feed everyone. I also periodically buy meal worms, wax worms, horned worms and super worms to offer a little variety to my tarantulas. Any worms that I use get their heads crushed before they go into an enclosure. All of those worms have strong mandibles and will burrow as soon as they hit the substrate. They can injure a tarantula and if they burrow and disappear they can easily kill a tarantula that is molting later on. I do have several tarantulas that won't eat anything but crickets. Another fun feeder to try out are moths, especially with arboreals. Always a good time to watch a tarantula pounce a flying bug.

The place you buy your crickets from is there a website you can link me to? I'd like to get a dozen or more maybe

 

[Sana]

The place you buy your crickets from is there a website you can link me to? I'd like to get a dozen or more maybe

I buy mine locally from our exotic specific LPS or from bait shops. Sorry that's not a lot of help.