What feeders do you breed? What feeders do you buy?

[crypticdragons]

Well I thought it would be interesting to see what feeders everyone keeps/breeds. Personally I have a extremely successful Turkistan Roach colony(red runners), of course they are extremely easy to keep and breed. I also have a fairly successful dubia colony (full rebuild due to problems from a previous group). And I have recently started up with supers (currently have about 15 beetles though these are my test run I will start doing the supers with many more worms to morph after the move). So what do you keep? What do you purchase instead of breed? I still purchase tons of crix every season for my babies but I am able to largely supplement their diet with my Turks.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Breed dubia and turks and still buy crickets by the thousands.

 

[crypticdragons]

Breed dubia and turks and still buy crickets by the thousands.

Im toying with the idea of adding hissers to my lineups but I havent firmly decided yet.

 

[beardielover17]

I breed Turks and occasionally silkworms.


I buy PWs, Hornworms, and supers. After testing one of my forum members did on crickets I choose not to use them anymore unless its like an emergency.

I'm tossing the idea of breeding pinky/fuzzy mice for Frank but I'm undecided on that right now.

 

[staylor]

I am trying to get over my fear of roaches and once I do that I think I am going to try to breed them. So for right now I just buy my crix and worms. I have also toss around the idea of breeding crix in the summer months since I live in an area that is warm 9 months out of the year and can set up an area in the storage room or garage(((has to be outside, they stink too bad to keep that many inside)))

 

[ladyknite]

oooooooooooooooooooooh lemme see
I raise dubias
crickets (spring and summer only)
supers
mealies
hornworms on occasion
silkworms on occasion
Rats
mice
sow bugs
flightless fruit flies
silver slips


And.............I don't buy much.

 

[staylor]

is it hard to breed crickets? I have seen mixed reviews on this.

 

[ladyknite]

Not really. It takes practice and a nice space to keep them. My house isn't the space, I can't stand the smell of them. So i raise them in a shed.
But the weather has to be decent in order to do that easily. Once those temps stabilize nicely.......I think it's easy.

 

[Craiger]

I am trying to get over my fear of roaches and once I do that I think I am going to try to breed them. So for right now I just buy my crix and worms. I have also toss around the idea of breeding crix in the summer months since I live in an area that is warm 9 months out of the year and can set up an area in the storage room or garage(((has to be outside, they stink too bad to keep that many inside)))

I have the solution for that. I tried talking my wife into letting me breed roaches after I found out how much cleaner, less noisy, and easier to breed they were than crickets. Not to mention, they're not the cannibals that crickets are. She said NO WAY!

Then, one time, I ordered 1000 adult crickets for Frodo and Sam. The online store actually sent me 2 boxes. So I had 2000 of them. I could only get them all to fit in a spare 55 gallon tank I had laying around. No lie....they filled up the entire floor....and about an inch thick at that. My wife freaked out! It wasn't just the smell, either. You know how noisy crickets can be. Try 2000 adults all at once. Not fun! She hated crickets to begin with, but this pretty much topped everything.

I told her, "You know, we wouldn't have to put up with this if you'd just let me breed roaches. They don't make noise and they definitely aren't supposed to stink like this." I think the crickets creeped her out so much that she told me "whatever it takes for me to never have to worry about crickets again." LOL!

So....a week later, I started my first roach colony.

I started with lobster roaches, but came to not like the fact that they can climb anything (plastic, glass, you name it). I had to use Vaseline and olive oil a lot to cure this problem. The Vaseline was put inside the tub I kept them in and olive oil was spread around the trays I used to feed them to Frodo and Sam. It was just enough to keep them from climbing out. Still, it just kind of bothered me. So I bought my first 100 Dubias for $50.00. They were a bit more expensive back then than they are, now.

Once I got my Dubia colony up to speed to where I could feed off them (about 6 or 8 months), I got rid of all the lobsters. In the last year, twice I've given extra Dubias to my local petstore in order that I could reduce my colony to a more manageable level. I believe I gave them three to four thousand each time.

But enough about roaches. I also breed supers....and quite effectively. I just got done turning another 20 of them into beetles. So I'm waiting for them to reproduce. But I think I have a good two to three hundred of them in two other separate tubs.

I used to keep silkies, but came to realize that they require way too much time and attention. More than I'm willing to give. So that didn't last long.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Those of you who know me, know I haven't ever fed my animals crickets....
I raise Dubias, and now am venturing out into supers...

Tried the Lobsters... Never again.. Still have some Turks.. pretty colors! I see why they are called "Red Racers".

I will on occasion will order Horns, and waxies...
Thinking to start a mealworm farm, for the geckos..
Also plans are in the works... for flightless fruit flies.

Oh, Craig ? You can't ever have enough Dubias.

Now Brian, to address your question, behind the question...
Hisser nymphs will make a good feeder, but the adults are going to be problematic. Their size alone means more space is needed for the same amount of roaches as the dubias.
They only reproduce every 2 months, not 28-30 days.
They might have mites.. not sure if this is something to be concerned over..

I do have two huge females, but they are only pets... Yes I do keep them with my dubias, but no cross breeding has been noted.

Hope this helps you make the decision... Kristin.. The things you put up with for that husband of yours' Hobby ! lol
Janie

 

[crypticdragons]

I just purchased 300 adult hissing cockroaches. Should be an interesting project lol.

 

[egg 80]

just started lobster roaches, been doin super/morios for a while tried crix but didnt work out when dog knocked their tub over lol and was thinking about doing mice for my corn snake

so never buy supers and soon wont be buying crix well after this lot i just got cos didnt think i was gonna be able to pick up my roach colony ahh well give them more time to breed lol

paul

 

[corrine]

I breed dubia. Still new to it. I am starting to see alot of new babies and now Yoyo won't eat crix. He will only eat roaches and supers. I still purchase supers, and crickets.

 

[staylor]

I think the only way to get over my fear of roaches is to just get them. I was thinking about dubia. I have been reading on the care and how to breed. Just to ease my mind, they can not climb out of a glass tank right? I have a 10 gallon tank I am no longer using, is this big enough or do they need bigger. I was also planning on putting an under tank heater.

 

[Sarz_Puff]

Hey guys kinda new to all this but is it hard t breed crickets and roaches and all?

I mean most of you seem to live in a warm climate......

Seen as i live in Ireland weather reli isn't great so keeping them outside wouldn be possible without them dying.....

My gf doesn like the idea but i mean im payin €4.50 for a box of about 40 or so crickets (cheapest i can get them here)....

Was just wondering do you guys have any suggestions?

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

I live in Philadelphia PA. Not warm in winter...lol
Heating pads are your friends.
Crickets are not hard to raise but to do it right I feel you need more space and ventilation than you do with roaches.

 

[Sarz_Puff]

O ok cool.......

Is it easy to keep a small colony? By small i mean at most about 100 crickets/roaches (whichevers easiest) or so.....

Wat im kinda afraid of is it gettin to a stage where ill have no place to put them

 

[Craiger]

Honestly, breeding roaches couldn't be easier. They do all the work. You just have to provide a food and water source. I use potatoes for a water source and an oatmeal/potato flake mix for food with a bit of fishfood mixed in on occasion for some protein. I no longer provide heat under their tub as it caused them to breed to prolifically. Without it, they're still breeding like crazy....but not as fast. My house tends to stay around 68 to 70 degrees and they do just fine. When providing heat (especially at first to get the colony going), I kept the floor of the tub around 90 to 95 degrees.

Other than that, cleaning the tub of frass is about all the work required. Simple as can be. For me, anyway.

Sandra,

I agree. The only way you're going to get over the fear is to just get some. You'll soon find that your fears were overrated. And no, they cannot climb glass. They can't even climb the smooth plastic tub I keep them in. You'll need something bigger than a 10g tank. Might be okay at first, but they'll soon outgrow that. I use a 20 gallon tub and it works fine. Just make sure to provide enough ventilation to keep moisture from building up. I cut a large rectangle out of the lid and hot glued screen to it. Works perfect!

 

[Craiger]

O ok cool.......

Is it easy to keep a small colony? By small i mean at most about 100 crickets/roaches (whichevers easiest) or so.....

Wat im kinda afraid of is it gettin to a stage where ill have no place to put them

A small colony is kind of hard to keep. I mean, one female alone produces about 30 babies. If you had just two females and one male, you're already over halfway to 100 with the first production. Imagine that you have 10 females. You now have around 300 babies. And of those 300 babies, you have a really good chance of half coming out female. So, no, not real easy unless you have a lot of lizards to feed that eat a lot. But then....it's usually a problem of having too few.

 

[Sarz_Puff]

Ok thanks ill ask pet shops around me and ask if i started breeding would they take well by the looks of things a couple of hundred even a thousand roaches......

Just seems so much cheaper than buying tiny little boxes of crickets.......

Oh ye do they stink?

Stupid question i suppose haha