Whats easiest to make a colony

[ez2animate]

I dont like going to the petstore and paying a load of money of mealworms, so i was wondering. Whats the easiest, and most cost efficient feeder to start a colony with?

 

[ofek]

if you ask me, dubia roaches and mealworms...

 

[mainelygeckos]

Myself I haven't done roaches but have tried crickets, mealworms and super worms. Hate crickets bcause of the smell and them getting loose. Supers I don't care for but I guess with more time they might be ok tho having to seperate the worms to pupate is a pain. I have been working on mealworms since March and tho time consuming they are wonderfully easy to breed. I say time consuming only bcause I only recently have found baby mealies. They take a long time to grow up tho more heat they may grow faster. The weather in Maine so far has been less then seasonable tho finally temps are picking up lol. Mealies are easy to feed, clean, seperate and handle so in my opinion mealies are the best. Good luck no matter which you try to colonize

 

[LizMarie]

Dubias Roaches, if you start off with a few adults pairs or trio's you'll see babies in like two months. Meal worms are a pain in my opinion. They will have you waiting there forever so you must be very patient and they take forever to grow up.

 

[hoppslover]

"if you ask me, dubia roaches and mealworms... "

I 2nd this.

 

[ez2animate]

Oh, and i forgot to mention... I have only 1 leo, lol. So im not looking for something very big. And where would i get dubia roaches?

 

[clear]

Dubia roaches! Make sure you check classifieds you can find some good deals

 

[Condaman74]

http://theroachguy.com/ Really good prices and great quality.

 

[LizMarie]

Oh, and i forgot to mention... I have only 1 leo, lol. So im not looking for something very big. And where would i get dubia roaches?

I have one leo as well and started off with approx 117 mixed size roaches and approx. 4 adult couples. I don't I'll ever need to buy feeders ever again unless I'm looking for variety. I also breed some meal worms and thought I'd try supers, they're my little projects. If you ever get overwhelmed you can get more leos or sell off your excess.

I bought my colony from theroachguy.com, but I've also purchased roaches from Nigels4Less on the forum and I've heard good things about Clear too..

 

[ez2animate]

I wonder if my mom would let me keep roaches... Well, im still deciding but im leaning towards roaches. Does anybody have a really great link on how to breed roaches or mealworms? And whats cheaper mealworms or rooaches? and how many roaches would 1 leopard gecko eat in a day?

And thanks everybody for the info.

 

[LizMarie]

Theroachguy.com has a caresheet for roaches. They are really easy to breed. All you need is a bin, egg crates, and a heater with some water crystals and food and they do the rest. For my mealworms I just threw a bunch of beetles together in a bin with oatmeal like 1/2 deep and left them there for like 2months and changed out the moisture (carrots) every few days.

 

[ez2animate]

Oh and what is faster, i heard mealworms take around 2 months before you start to see anything, so how long does it take for roaches?

 

[LizMarie]

Oh and what is faster, i heard mealworms take around 2 months before you start to see anything, so how long does it take for roaches?

Depends. It took my 2-3months to see any newly hatch mealworms but those things were microscopic. Weeks later they're still not big enough to feed off so I duno how long its going to take until I can finally feed them off. My roaches on the other hand starting breeding in a little less than two months but that's because I set them up with the heat from the beginning and already had a few adult pairs. If you don't have adult pairs your going to have to wait until a few of them mature which will take longer. For the past two months I've been feeding supers and a few roaches here and there until my roach colony takes off a little because I don't want to deplete my colony.

When you breed any feeder it'll seem slow at first but I've seen results a lot quicker with roaches and will very little effort. Each time I open the bin my little new born nymphs are twice as big as before. Mealworms aren't a bad staple but you need patience.

 

[ez2animate]

Ok, now do i have to use water crystal/gel or can i use a shallow dish with water with the dubias, and has anyone ever had a gecko that doesnt eat htem? I have y leo on mealworms, so would it be hard to switch him to dubias?

 

[LizMarie]

I wouldn't use a shallow dish with water because they'd possible drown. Water crystal/gel last a LONG time. I have an Ounce and have a BUNCH left and I replace it almost every week. I haven't heard of a leo refusing them but before I started my colony someone was willing to ship me a "trial verison" of about 12-15 nymphs, they were all gone by the end of the week. My leo was on a cricket/mealie diet until I got her and kept her strictly on mealies for a few months then started roaches and supers and I had no problems. The movement should sway the leo into eating it especially if you place it on its back it'll move its legs trying to get upright again and the leo will usually attack.

 

[ez2animate]

Alright i think im going to do roaches, unless my mom wont let me.