Roach questions.

[DragonBeards]

Put bluntly, I'm not a real fan of insects. Whenever I get crickets for my cresties, I have to have my dad put them in the tank for me. It kind of limits the reptiles I can keep, which is a bit annoying, but what is a person to do?

For some reason though, I don't think I would really mind keeping a colony of roaches. I just had a few questions.

Do they fly? Thats my big problem with crickets is I'm afraid they'll jump out at me.

Do I have to touch them? I mean, can I scoop them into a dish or whatever and into my animal's tank without really coming into contact?

How small of animals can they feed? There are some really nice smaller geckos that I would like to try my hand at keeping, but I'm not sure if these guys are small enough.

Thanks for any answers you can give me. Its greatly appreciated.

Dragonbeards

 

[gothra]

I think roaches are less scary than crickets too! I keep both dubia and lateralis, both have their pros and cons. Dubia is the least scary type of roach, they don't climb or fly, and move slowly. The only thing that I don't like about them is that they grow too fast and become too big for my geckos. The lats are much smaller in size, about the same size as crickets, have softer shell, but they are FAST. They can't climb smooth vertical surface though. If you intend to keep smaller geckos, then lats should be a better choice. I use tweezers to pick them out, so you don't have to touch them with your fingers all the time.

 

[ChickenChump]

I don't see why people state that dubias are too large. In an established roach colony there should be an aray of sizes perfect for any animal. The newborn dubia babies are about 5-6 mms, give or take one. There's more of an escape risk with lateralis...which is somewhat confusing. Some say theirs can climb plastic or glass whenever they want too. Some say the males can fly good. What ever the reason, they are pretty fast. Male dubia have wings but I've never witnessed one take flight. The most one can do is flutter while falling, or jump a couple inches, but the chances are low. You don't have to touch dubia, they are easily picked up with tweezers due to their slow movements. Again, if you don't have an animal large enough for adult dubias, then freeze and dispose of them. (You have a blue tonuge skink, so I don't think it would be a problem) The wild birds also like excess roaches. My chickens get the most, though.

 

[DragonBeards]

Thanks for the information! I'll start looking into Dubias. They sound more what I'm looking for. And I'm sure my blue tongue won't be too hard pressed to eat a few Dubias that get too large .

 

[ChickenChump]

I'd recomend looking around for a few weeks, to see if you can score a good deal. I scored a GREAT deal of 1000 mixed dubia for 60 shipped. In a month I had an established colony. If not, theroachguy is good, as is aaronpauling.

 

[jermh1]

here is my roach set up, they are 20 gal tall, with 11in heat tape under

Here is a good sort of babies from 1/4 to around 5/8

 

[sambenz]

I recently started feeding Dubia's to 2 leos and a beardie. I will never go back to crickets. They don't jump or make noise. They are also easy to breed. If you are looking for some I have some I could sell you, just let me know how many you want and of what sizes. They take about six months to grow to full size and then can live up to 2 years.
Scott
[email protected]

 

[ReptileWorld]

Dubia's are deff the way to go. i just learned about them and mentioned it to the misses and she said NO! and then I pleaded to her that they dont chirp they dont bounce fly or climb. and they do not smell nearly as bad as the crickets or super worms. and her response was. "you sure they dont smell as bad?" I said yes my friend has them and i open the bin to see them and it didnt smell bad at all. Right away she went for it.

I got my colony in the mail and looking at them i was a bit grossed out. i have yet to handle the adults but i have handled many nymphs. and i have even fed the smaller offspring to some of my larger dart frogs. I can't imagine smaller specie geckos not being able to take them.

10 years of raising and breeding reptiles and i just learned about this now... i look back and laugh! :main_thumbsup: