My discoid roaches came!

[Impawsible_Squad]

They are exactly 1'' in length and are very active. I'm still so scared I'll mess it up and this is my only chance... Pumpkin tried her first one since we received one extra and she LOVED it . They're from Joes Bugs. How long do you think until they can start reproducing? How long do you think until I should start feeding them to her? I'm starting off with twenty. I read that they reach sexual maturity when they get their wings and that they get their wings at 1'' but these don't have wings just yet.

 

[Sadie]

They are exactly 1'' in length and are very active. I'm still so scared I'll mess it up and this is my only chance... Pumpkin tried her first one since we received one extra and she LOVED it . They're from Joes Bugs. How long do you think until they can start reproducing? How long do you think until I should start feeding them to her? I'm starting off with twenty. I read that they reach sexual maturity when they get their wings and that they get their wings at 1'' but these don't have wings just yet.
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I am not sure if the same go w/ discoid but if they are like dubia I have heard at least a year - some others on here might be able to give more difinative answer

 

[Bailey]

They aren't the same as dubias as far as breeding goes as far as i've researched, but you can feed them at any age as long as the insect is smaller than the space between their eyes. I think this typically goes for any insect we feed our babies.

 

[Impawsible_Squad]

I meant when the colony is established enough that she can eat some without depleting the colony too much.

 

[Bailey]

I meant when the colony is established enough that she can eat some without depleting the colony too much.

I see, not sure on that.

 

[Skybug]

They are exactly 1'' in length and are very active. I'm still so scared I'll mess it up and this is my only chance... Pumpkin tried her first one since we received one extra and she LOVED it . They're from Joes Bugs. How long do you think until they can start reproducing? How long do you think until I should start feeding them to her? I'm starting off with twenty. I read that they reach sexual maturity when they get their wings and that they get their wings at 1'' but these don't have wings just yet.

Can u go over how your keeping them? I'll do an indepth post for you on how I care for mine, just to be brief though, I wouldn't feed ANY till you have new adults emergeing , discoids from my understanding take longer to mature compared to Dubia but discoids have tons more babies compared to Dubia (I think dubias have 20-40 babies, while discoids have 40-80, I may be slightly off with numbers)
My adults are like 2almost 3 inches so idk what u read, (I would not trust any kind of care sheet they sent you) , humidity and diet are most important , female roaches need protein to produce, (dog food, broccoli) are two of my staples along with (potatoe, carrot) u basically want vegetables with low mold chances (keep all food in dishes to reduce chances of mold) , I mist one side of the tub(it has nothing but sand on the side I mist)(DO NOT mist the cardboard they climb on) if you get a mold outbreak u need to clean everything and everyone) bad molds=green , black, most molds are harmless but if u start to see some id get rid of it as soon as possible. Mites can also be a concern check the adults underside (some mites are beneficial so don't freak out if u do see some) , u might want to buy some smaller ones to just use as feeders while the adults and other roaches grow, if I can advise something, play with the roaches get familiar with them look them over, compare winged adults and your largest non winged, roaches can molt a lot of times 6-12 u need to learn which large non winged roaches are about to turn into adults, how I feed my beardie is , I'll feed the roaches that are 3-5 molts away from being an adult, the second a roach gets to the size of an adult I'll let that one be and let him molt, you want your largest to live while the smaller ones can be fed(cause they'll take 6-8 months to mature anyway) I've gone through 3 "roach starter kits" don't make the same mistakes I did, leave the roaches be, order some super worms in the meantime..

 

[Impawsible_Squad]

Okay. Thanks for offering your help! I keep them on a mix of exo terra planation soil, sand, and top soil. They seem to like the substrate so far and its holding the moisture well. I take all the cardboard out from one side and mist just the substrate then wait a minute before placing the cardboard in. I do that maybe every other day. They are fed Bad A** Bugs cricket and roach chow (They're loving it) and I switch between potatoes, collard greens, and oranges(these get fed the least often). I heat the temp up using a heat lamp with one of those night bulbs so they still feel comfortable walking around. The highest temp is around 95. I haven't seen mold yet. There are three nymphs that are buried ALL the way down in the soil and while they are still alive. they aren't leaving that spot as far as I know. I barely bother them but they are still almost always hiding. Could it still be too bright for them? Every day I only see three walking around. They are different sizes so they are different ones but is that a sign that something's wrong?

 

[Impawsible_Squad]

This is a picture of it btw:

It's a ten gallon tank but they'll be moving into a twenty gallon when they start growing in numbers

 

[Skybug]

I think you might be cooking ur roaches, my nymphs don't hide in the dirt, they're definitely getting to much light, they need 100% darkness to be prolific, I'd recommend one of those totes that are black with the yellow lids , I'll show you my setup when I get off work

 

[Impawsible_Squad]

Okay. I've seen many people use heat lamps before though. I can cut off all other light for sure but I can't really get a heat mat unless its really necessary

 

[Impawsible_Squad]

I cut off all natural light. The red light shouldn't bother them much, right? Its made so animals can sleep without being bothered.. One of the nymphs climbed out of the soil I think. Now theres 7 above the soil.

 

[Impawsible_Squad]

I do have a bin around the same size of the tank. Should I move them into there?

 

[Beardomania]

They are exactly 1'' in length and are very active. I'm still so scared I'll mess it up and this is my only chance... Pumpkin tried her first one since we received one extra and she LOVED it . They're from Joes Bugs. How long do you think until they can start reproducing? How long do you think until I should start feeding them to her? I'm starting off with twenty. I read that they reach sexual maturity when they get their wings and that they get their wings at 1'' but these don't have wings just yet.
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I would have done much more research before starting. From your 1" with wings comment, it seems that you're not familiar with Discoid size or insect life-stages (the size is far too small for a mature Discoid and the wings = adult part is correct but it's so basic that someone who is familiar wouldn't have mentioned it). Unfortunately, it looks like you got a sampler feeder pack instead of a breeder pack and even a breeder pack will take you a long time to establish.

You shouldn't have fed off that extra roach; there's no such thing as a freebie. All roaches that are yours are worth the same and have the same reproductive capability. I don't feed off anything except extra subadult/adult males from my Dubia colony (as you want at most 1:3 males, more like 1:4, so you will always have extra males to feed off).

Because you started from nymphs, it will take you several months to grow them into adults, then several months for their offspring to mature, then another several months for the offspring of the offspring to become large/mature before you can feed off. All this is under good care with ample food and heat. The rule is not to feed until the grandchildren of your original colony starters are your desired size or you will always be worried about depleting your stock. Also, you'd want them to be as large as your beardie can safely handle so he doesn't eat a ton of them per feeding. For me, 1 adult/subadult male Dubia is enough to fill up my 19 inch adult male beardie. I would never feed him 10 smaller ones.

Because you started with a few nymphs, I'd estimate 18 months under good care and good heat before you can feed off. If you started with an adult breeding pack, maybe a year. My most favorite way, however, is to find an established colony on Craigslist from someone who wants to leave the reptile hobby. This is NOT from a guy selling small splinter colonies from his major one as those are only a little better than starter packs but huge established colonies with hundreds sometimes over 1,000 for $80-$150 from guys who want to get rid of all of their roaches. Even if I have to wait months for an opportunity to pop up and even if I have to drive hours for it, it is worth it cus it would save me a year's worth of colony cultivation and feeder costs as a mature colony can be fed off of immediately. Discoids are much rarer to find like this than Dubia but Discoids are in my opinion superior because they grow faster, grow bigger, and breed much faster but they are almost impossible to find on Craigslist. Dubia are illegal in Florida though so if you're there, then that's that. For me, I waited for maybe 2 months to find the perfect deal; a guy wanting to get rid of his established Dubia colony equipment and all for just $40. I booked it out of work, drove 95mph the whole way there (first come first serve and they go FAST, especially at that price) and made the round trip in 90 min to pick up a tote teeming with Dubia and all egg crates for just $40 plus $8 gas. (I added a $10 heat mat from Amazon cus that wasn't included.) I finally did inventory on them this weekend and found I got 114 mature females, 98 subadult or close to subadult female nymphs, 89 adult males (59 removed into feeder bin), 48 subadult or close to subadult male nymphs (18 removed to feeder bin) and something like 200+ small nymphs. So immediately, I have my large colony that will keep producing and 77 excess subadult/adult males to feed off at basically 1 per day. That means I won't have to touch my reproducing colony for about 2.5 months before I need to get more male feeders from it. All the extras I can sell off to get my money back. That's how I would recommend getting a roach colony, not from a small breeder group and NEVER from a nymph feeder group. I would say at this point it's better for you to get on Craigslist and start over than to tough it out with what you've got. And this time around, I'd go with the biggest solid-colored tote that you can buy from Walmart/Goodwill because with roaches, you always wanna put them in darkness. I would not use a clear tank or tote because it makes them nervous all the time with all the light around them and things moving in the room.

 

[Impawsible_Squad]

Oh. I didn't know that. I don't know how I'd convince my family to let me buy a whole new set of roaches though. Still, thanks for your advice. I'll start looking now.

 

[Skybug]

Oh. I didn't know that. I don't know how I'd convince my family to let me buy a whole new set of roaches though. Still, thanks for your advice. I'll start looking now.

Beardomainas right, you're looking at least a year before you even have ur 2nd or even 3rd generation, definitely don't feed ur beardie anymore, i didn't put two and two together and realize you got sent the "sampler pack" as He said. where did you order your roaches if the May ask?


In my pictures u can see there's very little sand on the one side, those groves go down about an inch, I use this side to mist and I mist them about 1-2 times a week. On the other side I have dirt ,a handful of bark chips , some leaves , a handful of gravel , I mixed all this together, I replace their cardboard when it becomes dirty enough or it starts to deteriorate, as u can see I have two different food dishes one for the veg , one for the roach chow/dog kibble, if u have any questions don't hesitate to ask

 

[Impawsible_Squad]

Okay. Thanks a lot. Should I get rid of the heat lamp and move them into a bin? I can probably do that. I just need some help setting up a heat mat. I got them from Joe's bugs : (

Before then, I was looking at Luna's roaches for a colony starter but they were too expensive I thought. Hopefully I can convince my parents to let me get one and a heat mat soon. I doubt it though.

 

[Impawsible_Squad]

Also, I can confirm that they are very active at night. At least most are. When I flip the light on just to take a quick look, at least 8 are walking around in sight

 

[Beardomania]

Okay. Thanks a lot. Should I get rid of the heat lamp and move them into a bin? I can probably do that. I just need some help setting up a heat mat. I got them from Joe's bugs : (

Before then, I was looking at Luna's roaches for a colony starter but they were too expensive I thought. Hopefully I can convince my parents to let me get one and a heat mat soon. I doubt it though.

LOL Luna's Roaches are expensive because you actually have a good chance to start a colony within a reasonable time with them. A whole bunch of breeder adults/subadults vs 20 feeder nymphs is a very different price point.

 

[Impawsible_Squad]

I knoww. Still, I need to wait on a waiting list for them.

 

[Skybug]

I'd keep the light till you get ur heat matt (do u even need one? What's your house temp usually?) I only bust out the heat Matt in winter (anything below 50) if you want to raise roaches you need to advocate to your family it may take more funds , I got my roaches from Luna's, I can't particularly recommend anyone for bugs cause they're all so sexpensive (I will say I got a lot more bonus roaches from Luna's) maybe get some from them to add genetic diversity, that can be your position in the conversation. ,