cock roaches

[chris67]

thinking of starting a coloney of the dubia cock roaches (when the little monster starts eating properly) is this a good idea fed up with the locust dyiong on me

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

One of the best moves I have made since dealing with reptiles was starting our dubia roach colony They are a far superior live prey, extremely easy to setup and care for and once your colony starts reproducing you will be set with a virtually self-sustaining food crop for mere pennys a week if that.
Plus if you are producing too many there are always folks looking for stock to start their own colony which you can provide and make a few bucks of pocket change or you can give out starter colonies to your friends and family for birthdays, anniversaries and Christmas...lol
I would recommend you starting out with 400-500 hundred of mixed sizes and to that add about 30 adult females and 10 adult males. (The ratio of Adult Females to Males is important) With that amount and keeping your colony 85-89F you will establish quickly and should have enough to feed out of from the start.
There is a thread devoted to exactly how to start a colony on the forum so be sure to check that out too.
As far as where to get your starter stock I would check your local Craigslist listing...I was able to find my initial colony locally from a fellow reptile and tarantula enthusiast for dirt cheap because he needed to reduce the size of his colony.
Good Luck with it

 

[dbarks88]

How often do you have to maintain them so to speak? I was told not to disturb them as this may prevent them breeding, but then surely they need to be cleaned out?

 

[Ozzie&Dino]

I would also like to know because I am fixing to buy 500.

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

You don't have to or want to clean out your dubia bins very often under normal circumstances. What I was told when I started my colony was no more than every six months UNLESS you find mold. Mold will kill off the colony. Otherwise the dropping or Frass is needed because the nymphs use it as both a hiding place and food source. I have replaced a few of my egg flats that had become flimsy but that is about it. Even when doing a big clean I have been told that again unless there are signs of mold then you only want to remove 80-90% of the frass so that some is left for the nymphs to feed on until it can build up again and that when removing the frass you need to sift through it carefully so that you don't throw the babies out with the frass so to speak
My colony pretty much runs on auto-pilot except for feeding and watering(crystals) and at present I am estimating there are a couple of thousand mixed easily if not more and more of them each time I go into the bin.

Enjoy!

 

[Ozzie&Dino]

Oh I don't give water crystals? I give orange and apple slices? I have also been throwing high quality dog kibble because I had some left over since we are feeding all Raw to our dogs now, is that ok?

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

I use good quality dog food to feed the colony but the ones that we separate out for feeding our reptiles and tarantulas are placed in a separate bin for at least 48 hours and fed a super high grade gut load that I blend up myself before they are used as feeders. I also feed the colony and feeder bin orange slices a couple of times a week as well as left over greens and other veggies that we usually have around whenever we have

 

[sean8172]

@Mungi's Buddha. My birthday is August 1. Just sayin.

 

[Henry X Stella]

Sorry! * I don't know where better to post this. *very excited.

I said I was getting my roach colony Monday and I finally did. Had to drive almost an hour to pick them up but it was nice to meet the breeder and get his personal tips and advice. These things are so simple to maintain reproduce like crazy. That bottom picture doesn't look like much but that's 400+ roaches set-up for the cost of a couple months crickets..and I'll never have to buy crickets from petsmart again!! :$ Yessss!!!!

So if you were considering getting roaches as feeders I got:

~330+ 1/2" and smaller. $30
~20 Female 10 Male adult. $10
~Med. heat pad. (non-shut off) $18
~Heavy-duty (dark color) storage tote. $6
~Lifetime of bugs for my lizards. $PRICELESS!!!

*will be adding proper egg crates soon, making my own chow from the breeders recipe, and planting an orange tree.