Roach decisions

[Pokersnake]

I've had the sneaking suspicion that starting a colony of roaches for my leo would be a good idea. I'm sure it would outgrow her food needs very quickly and ten I would have some extra on my hands.

The question is: What type?

My original idea is to get Dubias. There are meany benefits to a Dubia colony. However, a friend of mine works at a natural history museum and they seem to have an overpopulation of hissing cockroaches. He said he could probably get me some for free. Now I'm not sure what to do. I could buy a starter Dubia colony from the roach guy for $35 or so and have the food for my leo now. Or I could invest only in feed/water crystals and have a hissing colony in a however long it takes them to start producing. I know that hissing roaches are a bit rougher than Dubias; for example they can draw blood. Not sure if I'm willing to deal with that *or* let my leo eat that.

Thoughts?

 

[Tony C]

I would go with lateralis roaches if you are only going to keep one species. The adults are slightly larger than a cricket, perfect for leopard geckos, and the nymphs are great for younger geckos. Dubia are great roaches too, but you will wind up with a lot of nymphs and adults that are too big for your gecko.

 

[Pokersnake]

Interesting. I never knew that. No one has mentioned that before.

 

[Tony C]

I posted these in another thread recently, but just in case you didn't see them:

Adult male B. dubia

Adult female B. dubia

 

[MiamiLeos]

OMG Tony you touch them!?!!!!?!?!??!?? :sick2:

 

[Tony C]

They don't bite... :main_laugh:

 

[Pokersnake]

Ahh. Yup. Those are the ones. I remember having to dissect one of these guys in a Biology class in college. It was gross. I swear they are composed of "crunchy" and "goo" (some very technical terms).

Those do look huge. Maybe if I had a monster sized leo, he could eat them. However she is still a juvy.

 

[fuzzylogix]

lol, my friends freak out when i pick up my extra dubia males by hand to feed to the beardies and BTS. they dont smell, don't bite, and some people actually keep them as pets. but tony is right, lats don't get that big but they are very fast. but for me having multiple types of reptiles, dubia is the only way to go.

 

[thegeckoguy23]

I have used dubia and red runners i like the re runners like tony they don't look as gross too.




Jake

 

[Pokersnake]

I'm kinda turned off by the Turkistan's speed. If it is as legendary as it seems to be, I'm not sure if I want to go that way. I don't like the idea of them getting out of my grasp and desperately trying to find the runaways. Also, do they fly? They have some impressive wings.

I could in theory keep a few breeding female dubias and feed the small ones off. Then when I'm overpopulated with females or too many adults, I would probably either give them to friends whit critters to feed or to the museum to feed their reptiles.

Oh yeah. And I'm only feeding one Leo. My tub of 1000 meal worms is going strong after a month of feeding her every night.

 

[Tony C]

They're fast, but not so fast that you or a gecko can't catch them. I keep four roach species and they are the ones I feed off the most.