Dubia roaches vs. Blatta lateralis (Rusty Reds)

[yellermelon]

I have both. my Dubia roaches just sit up on a shelf and dont breed as much as I need. i dont know why lol, but they dont. They are kept at all the right specs, just not many babies. However My latties..i started with 100 a few months ago, now I have upwards of a few thousand. It took longer than that to even see my first dubia baby. The latties are fast, but Every adult I have fed them too has caught and ate them.

 

[nicks]

I would recommend the dubia roaches for geckos because I have also found the rusty reds to be to quick. That and they are supposed to be non climber but I have found them outside of their aquarium. Which is why I no longer keep them!

 

[nats]

theroachguy.com i think is cheaper
and sells a starter kit....and it really reliable.

Thanks Sam for that info :main_yes:

If I just get 50, how long do you think it will take to start seeing babies?

 

[thekooliest]

well i got 40 mixed sized nymphs. and 2.4 adults. and the first two months and a half went REALLY slow. got maybe 5 babies. But in the last month i have almost doubled in size. So if you got 50 nymphs with 10 adults. I would give you a month or two to get above 100. as for when you would feed them i would say 500 is a comfortable size if you breed geckos. but i only have 2 so ima start feeding them soon. ask any questions if i didnt make sense (i tend not to )

 

[nats]

Well, looks like Theroachguy.com is sold out! :main_angry:

Can anyone recommend another online dubia supplier??

I am going to give them a try, so only want about 25 or 50 to start.

I'm sure my little girl will eat them, she will eat anything! but my boy is a little more fussy.

 

[thekooliest]

i hear its hard to get them off of dubias once you start.
pm ultrakd. i bought a starter kit from him for a good price.
i am sure he has more.

 

[nats]

i hear its hard to get them off of dubias once you start.
pm ultrakd. i bought a starter kit from him for a good price.
i am sure he has more.

I just bought 50 small dubias from Worm Man for like 36$$$ !!:main_rolleyes:

WOW!! I hope I have enough money left to feed myself!! :main_laugh:

I'll let you guys know what my leos think of them :main_yes:

If I could get rid of crickets, I would be very happy.

 

[thekooliest]

i would hate to have crickets, good luck.
u know how to breed em?

 

[nats]

i would hate to have crickets, good luck.
u know how to breed em?

LOL! Sam, I do not know how :main_no:

Can you give me any advise?
I know they need warmth, and my basement is kind of cool (60 to 70ish) but
I have a spare UTH I could use.
Anything else I need to know about?

 

[thekooliest]

Lol. thought that might be the case...I LOVE HELPING PEOPLE , lol (such a good feeling even though ive had leos for 2 weeks only ).

OK.
It is pretty easy...very easy.
Get a plastic container from a walmart or target.
It would be better if it was 60 quarts +, and if it wasn't see through (they HATE light).
get some egg cartons and you have to cut them up and stack em so you have them covering half of the floor space, and all the way up 4 inches from the ceiling (they love these, it is like a house).
then on the other half of the container try and get 2 5 inch in diameter lids from cans (they should be less then 2 cm high so they can get in/out) for food and water.
You can get some kind of gut load for food, or you can make your own (havent done yet but they need stuff like proteins breads and stuff).
Then for water you need water crystals so they dont dry.
If you want you can feed them fruits (these have to be replaced daily in case of mold so they dont die.). this will cover food and water.
They can breed in 70-80...but its better if you heat it with a uth, they breed faster. I think that is it...if i think of anything ill tell you.
I was really rushed, sorry.
good luck, sam

 

[Tanner505Geckos]

To be truthful i like lobster roachs more than both of them

 

[SFgeckos]

...

I also prefer the dubia roaches over lateralis.

I've been keeping geckos for 10+ years, but I've only raised the last 2+ generations of geckos (mainly leos, but also fattails, cresteds and nephrurus) only on dubia roaches without any different results compared to other feeders (mealworms, supers, crickets, waxworm/silkworms, and other roaches- turks, discoids, orangeheads etc)

For available dubia roaches, you can check out the feeder classifieds section for different vendors. Remember to check references/trader ratings.

I posted an ad a while back, the link is below:

http://www.geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=32843

Jon

 

[Lizard Lair]

I really like the lateralis roaches. The only loose ones I would find in my room are the males, they can flutter around a little. No problems now that I've put a screened lid on my roach bins. The adults are comparable to an adult cricket in size - perfect for geckos. All my baby geckos last season fed & grew very, very well on baby roaches - until my aging roach colony stopped producing I also like the convenience of collecting the egg cases verses sifting out different sizes of babies from live bearers. I have my roach eggs in a bare container with a piece of egg-crate on top and every day shake the new hatchlings out into a sterilite drawer. I usually put about a weeks worth of babies in one drawer then start a new drawer. This gives me lots of feeders pre-sorted for size. For their dry food I give cricket gut load boosted with ground up dry cat food for extra protein.

 

[spykerherps]

I do have to say now that I have had some experience with the lateralis I do prefer the dubia. lateralis are good I like them and will continue working with them as a varied feeder for my gecko/herp projects.

BUT they are fast I don't have too much trouble catching them and hand feeding them but the threat of them escaping is looming. it only takes a few mistakes at the wrong times. A male here a female there, in a nice warm house with a nice heated herp room sounds wonderful for a loose colony of lateralis. but I do take the small extra precautions. well worth the risk, if your careful.

I am getting on average 50 egg cases a day from my lateralis colony and they make a great small supply of pinheads for my dart frogs.

AND NIGEL... they can chew through fiberglass screening. ha-ha-ha.

 

[charlie476]

To me I would say rusty reds are better. Dubias will bury into substrate where as rusty reds wont.

Sources online say rusty reds and dubias can't fly. Completely false MALES can and will fly seen it time after time again.

But dubias sure do look much better vs rusty reds that look like an average house rouch. But honestly you cant go wrong with either

 

[Fatal_S]

At one point I had colonies of dubia, turkistan, discoid and hissers. I hated the turkistans. They're small, fast, and just creepy. It's basically the roach version of a cricket. They creeped me out, and were too fast for my blue-tongues, so I ditched that colony. For geckos though I could see them being useful. They breed amazingly well, and they're bright and active.

I loved all my other roaches. Dubia and discoid were fantastic feeder-roaches. They bred steadily, and got to a decent size for my blueys. They can't climb, aren't really creepy, and they're slow and easy for my lumbering skinks to catch. I plan to get more of these soon.

The hissers were pretty useless as feeders, but made awesome pets. Mine just didn't breed well, and they can climb, so I gave up on them as anything more than amazing critters to keep and watch. Eventually I sold them off as pets. I still miss them though, they're so neat.

So how is your new colony going?