Most Rewarding

[Brett B]

What is the most rewarding feeder insect to breed? When I mean rewarding I mean
A. Efficient
B. Diet i.e. protien, ect...
C. Ease Of care
D. Hardyness

I am looking into breeding crickets and buying mealworms fro my local petshop. I would raise mealies but it doesnt seem worth it because I have 1 gecko at the moment and am planning on getting another tp start a mini breeding project.

 

[robin]

dubias, they are easy to breed, hardy, reproduce VERY good. even though i do not like roaches because they have the eww factor i have to pick them for this

 

[thegeckoguy23]

In the long run your gonna like mellies WAY more.

 

[Brett B]

I probably will wind up doing that... But I'm going to start off raising crickets and buying meallies now and when I start to expand my collection I would most likely raise meallies. I never though meallies were such a prised feeder until I joined this forum. I always assumed Crickets was where it was at!

 

[Brett B]

dubias, they are easy to breed, hardy, reproduce VERY good. even though i do not like roaches because they have the eww factor i have to pick them for this

I would NEVER use roaches. I absolutely HATE them. I have no problem touching crickets, spiders, snakes, lizards, frogs, meal worms, wax worms, ect... But roaches just creep me out. Dont know why, I just cant stand them. Maybe because they are a symbol of dirtyness and disease? Dont know but I have always had a fear of them. and cats...

 

[thegeckoguy23]

I would NEVER use roaches. I absolutely HATE them. I have no problem touching crickets, spiders, snakes, lizards, frogs, meal worms, wax worms, ect... But roaches just creep me out. Dont know why, I just cant stand them. Maybe because they are a symbol of dirtyness and disease? Dont know but I have always had a fear of them. and cats...

LOL rpachs are actuly pretty clean.

 

[thegeckoguy23]

I probably will wind up doing that... But I'm going to start off raising crickets and buying meallies now and when I start to expand my collection I would most likely raise meallies. I never though meallies were such a prised feeder until I joined this forum. I always assumed Crickets was where it was at!

Your geckos well most likly get hooked on crickets then they won't want to switch over to mellies later on.

 

[Tony C]

Crickets are disgusting, by far the worst choice to breed. They stink, take up a ton of room, and are very high maintenance. Roaches are so much easier to deal with, I really look forward to the day that my roach colonies are enough to sustain all my animals and I can stop buying crickets.

 

[T-ReXx]

Crickets are disgusting, by far the worst choice to breed. They stink, take up a ton of room, and are very high maintenance. Roaches are so much easier to deal with, I really look forward to the day that my roach colonies are enough to sustain all my animals and I can stop buying crickets.

Big +1 on that. The day I left crickets behind was the best feeder decision I ever made. Beyond the stink and care factor, there's the NOISE. I cricket colony is ridiculously noisy. Also, the life span of crickets is a lot shorter than that of any roach species, crickets live weeks, roaches live months, or years in some cases. Not to mention non-climbing roaches will actually stay in food dish, unlike crickets, who seem to need something tricked out Fort Knox style.

My advise, put aside your society-induced prejudice of roaches(most of which are clean, quiet forest dwellers) and give them a try. They make EXCELLENT feeders and are very low maintenance. I doubt you will be disappointed.

 

[robin]

i hate roaches too. i use tweezers. i do not feed crickets and i feed meals and supers but only raise roaches

 

[NRG]

Dubias all the way for me. I have even developed quite an interest in roaches now and breed quite a few species.

 

[Brett B]

Thanks for all your input guys. I will drop the cricket idea and go for Mealies. Roaches however.... I dont think I could get over that fear. For some reason roaches scare me to death.

 

[ajkry2]

i love my dubia colony. always have, always will. give em some food, heat, and darkness and you'll never have to deal with another feeder (unless you'd like to give your herp variety )

i have so many dubia i can feed my 18 month old beardie, and still have some left to feed to my leo (which will be here by the end of the month i hope)

 

[Brett B]

What about earth worms? I am raising some Red Worms they get 1-2" max and breed like crazy. They will be raised with all organic matter so it cannot herm the gecko in any way. Plausible?

 

[Stl_Greaser]

+1 for Dubia! I start my colony at the end of December last year and by mid April I never had to buy a cricket again. It fully supports my 2 one year old Bearded dragons, 7 Leopard geckos, 1 Water dragon, 7 fire bellied toads and 2 gray tree frogs. Dubia all the way.

 

[thegeckoguy23]

Thanks for all your input guys. I will drop the cricket idea and go for Mealies. Roaches however.... I dont think I could get over that fear. For some reason roaches scare me to death.

For me I would breed them if I had more lay back mom lol SHE HATES ROACHS

OMG JACOB I FOUND UR ROACH@!!!!!!! @#%$#$

 

[ajkry2]

the cool part about dubia is that they arent an invasive type of cocroach, like german cocroaches that you and i hate. they need over 80 deg f and high humidity to breed...

i had a massive escape plotted by my dubia, and i kept finding them belly up in all corners of the house. most of them stayed by the heat mat, and no escapes since. for dubia just order 100 more every so often so theres not too much imbreeding -- gotta make sure you have clean buggies

 

[leogecko88]

I wonder if excessive inbreeding would have any effect on insects. Now I am curious.

 

[ajkry2]

well any inbreeding can't be good

how i figure it is that if theres a recessive genetic defect and imbreeding happens over and over and over again its bound to show its ugly face... i could be being overly cautious

 

[leogecko88]

If I ever do see a mealworm beetle with a defect, I always get rid of it. Don't want beetles with obvious problems breeding. Maybe I should introduce some new beetles to mix things up a little.