Need some help with roaches

[ez2animate]

Ok, so I decided im going to start a colony instead of paying 5 bucks to feed my leo for a week and a half. Im going to use dubia roaches, so i have a few questions that i hope some of you can answer.

What are the stages of their life or whatever nymph etc.

So I heard im supposed to use water crystals for water, well what exactly are those and how long do they last.

Do i need to seperate the babies?

How many would i need to just have a constant supply for 1 gecko (i guess if i have excess i could give them to my friend down the street who has a skink[would they eat those?])

Instead of egg crates/flats what else could i use thats cheap incase i couldnt get a hold of some? or where could i get egg crates?

How long does it take until the babie roaches turn into adults?

what size should they be before i feed them to my leo?

Oh, and where can i get them from (in breeding pairs) for cheap?

And where is a good website on how to breed them?

 

[LizMarie]

Roaches are easy you really can't screw it up, lol.

- I haven't heard of different stages just nymph (young roaches, they ALL look the same) and adults (they tend to be shinny and females tend to be bigger and round while the males remind me of smaller waterbugs). While they have wings females can't fly and males seem to flutter but can't go far.
http://www.angelfire.com/planet/roach/roach/blapticadubia/

- These are water crystals, http://www.progeckos.com/supplies/water_cyrstals.htm .They're little rock looking things that absorb water and prevent roaches from drown. I ordered an Ounce of the large ones over 2months ago and have more than half left so they last awhile. Other people on here have use a product my Flukers that is similar but I think it's blue.

- No need to separate the babies from the adults. They can all co-exist and to my understanding the babies benefit from the droppings of other roaches.

- Um. Has for the constant supply I rather leave that up to someone more experienced, because I'm not sure. I started out with 117 mixed, which included 4 adult pairs so i know I have MORE than enough roaches at the moment with new babies all the time.

- When I first got my roaches I tried paper towel/toilet roles and it was a pain. They'd all hide in the middle of the tube and I'd have to knock it around to get them all out, they also rolled around. Egg crates can be found online, at resturants and even at BJs or Costco. They are easier because they sort of interlock so they're pretty stable. If you place them vertically all the droppings fall to the bottom. When its cleaning time you just pick up the stack of flats and move them to a holding bin and all the roaches tend to stay within the crates.

- How long does it take until the babie roaches turn into adults? I knew this answer but its not coming to me right now, lol

- Small nymphs to adult males can be feed to your leo depending your leos size and preference.

- Honestly the best website to breeding is this feeding section. When I got my roaches I searched this section and found all the answers. but then again theroachguy.com has a nice caresheet. He also has a sale where you can by adult Trios (2females and 1male) for $1.50.

My set up.. It's a little messy but they're roaches what do you expect and I need to refill the water crystals and food tomorrow but this give you a rough idea as to whats need

18gallon rubbermaid w/ undertank heater that reach 94-95 degrees under the egg crates. Red lid has some water crystals and the 2 petri dishes are filling with ProGeckos gutload. And obviously some eggs crates. I also had half a potato in there but it kind of disappeared.

 

[ofek]

I don't even use water crystals...instead i give them fresh fruits and vegis, and they really enjoy it....
I can assure you- they're EASY to grow.

 

[robinson]

i to am looking into starting a roach colony...

one of the things im really wondering about is feeding the roaches to my geckos or more getting the roaches out of their home.

For example if u have the egg crates stacked vertically do u just shake the crates knock off a bunch of roaches and collect up what u want to feed to ur lizards? I was just worried this would disturb the colony and perhaps cause problems if i was doing it on a regular basis? just wondering lol

also liz u said u started with 117 roaches and 4 breeding pairs and that is more than enough to supply ur geckos but how many geckos do u have? I have 3 one adult male and two five month old females (which will obviously be adults in some time) so would ur setup be enough to feed 3 adult AFT's?

Thanks

 

[LizMarie]

i to am looking into starting a roach colony...

one of the things im really wondering about is feeding the roaches to my geckos or more getting the roaches out of their home.

For example if u have the egg crates stacked vertically do u just shake the crates knock off a bunch of roaches and collect up what u want to feed to ur lizards? I was just worried this would disturb the colony and perhaps cause problems if i was doing it on a regular basis? just wondering lol

also liz u said u started with 117 roaches and 4 breeding pairs and that is more than enough to supply ur geckos but how many geckos do u have? I have 3 one adult male and two five month old females (which will obviously be adults in some time) so would ur setup be enough to feed 3 adult AFT's?

Thanks

I have one leo at the moment and I'm thinking about getting another one so for me it seems to be enough. In your case I'm not sure and don't want to give out false info especially if I'm not certain. You could possibly ask Paco, Clear, Nigels4Less of the Roach Guy.. they're all members on here.

I don't shake out my crates because I read somewhere that too much movement/stress, something along those lines will cause the females to abort their babies. Normally when I open up my bin its at night so its pretty dim in here and a lot of roaches are just sitting around eating or drinking so I either use my tweezers or scoop them up in a cup. If they're all in the crates I just pull them apart and pick them out one by one. I leave the females alone and try not to bug them much. If your brave enough you can just grab them with your hands a feed them to your gecko,, obviously I don't do this because I'm a Chicken. I've used index cards, cups, tweezers, lol anything to scoop them in and throw them into my leos tank.

 

[LizMarie]

I don't even use water crystals...instead i give them fresh fruits and vegis, and they really enjoy it....
I can assure you- they're EASY to grow.

How long do your veggies last? i thought about using fruits and veggies alone once I finish my Water Crystals BUT they eat EVERYTHING. I can put in a whole carrot and in less than two days its GONE! Same with Cantalope, Potatoes, Melons, etc.

And do you have any problems with them shedding?

 

[clear]

Veggies tend to rot pretty fast so you need to change them often! I always have water crystals in with my colonies but also throw in some veggies.

 

[ez2animate]

Woah, thanks for all that information liz. I was checking out the roach guy and saw that deal. And do i feed my leo only males or can i feed females or would that mess up the colony or something. And how do you know if a female is pregnant?

 

[ang3l3s]

u can only tell the sex when they are grown a lil and i feed males to control my colony but at that size i would only give them to full grown geckos. I really don't know when my females r prego, maybe someone else can answer that but when u least expect it there are nymphs all over .

 

[robinson]

ok i now have another problem lol

i see that the feeder store in clear's signature doesn't ship to canada...

I am in need of a website that will ship dubia roaches to canada does anyone know any?

 

[clear]

None to my knowledge. You will have to find someone local to buy from. Sorry
Also you can sex them from babies you need magnifier.