Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am new to dragons and am starting my feeder breeding colonies before I get my 2 babies. I will be feeding crickets and would like to like to breed them. Any tips? I am also very interested in feeding and breeding roaches. Which type would you reccomend? Thanks, Matt

Hm..
Blaptica dubia (Perhaps the best, more prolific than most and extremely easy to sex) I don't yet breed them myself, but I want to.. this roach should do you well and prices have gone down significantly since I started breeding roaches in March '05

Blaberus Discoidales/Fusca/Craniifer All winged, non climbers, meaty roaches which all of my animals enjoy

And.. (God help you) Lobster Roaches..
A roach I wish I never got into, but I can't drag myself to get rid of them.. A climber, extremely quick breeders, and at the size of crickets, my beardies can go through a hundred easy in a day.
They're really good feeders, just an annoyance. On the plus side, if you keep animals smaller than beardies, they're likely some of the best roaches for you, my leopards can't get enough.

-----
2.3 Leos
2.0 Beardie
1.1 Common Boa
0.1 Sav (Bosc) Monitor
1.1 Ackies
0.1 Giant BW Tegu
Thousands of Roaches, T's, and Scorps.
Wish for: Candoia Sp, Frilled D

i have been feeding my beardeds dubia for awhile. i usually give my adults 2-3 large ones at a time. when it comes to lobsters, how many of those do you usually feed an adult dragon? i know with dubia, like 2-3 of those is like 25 crickets basically. i want to make sure they get enough but not stuff them on nothing but roaches where the wont eat their greens. i want to be done with crickets all together, i hate them
-----
Beach Beardies

3.4.11 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

Hi Matt,
I amjust getting into Roaches and recently got 100 Lobster, 20 Orange spotted and 20 Orange head. I am thinking about getting a few other species to see which I prefer and which my reptiles prefer. So far with what I have, I love theOrange head and orange spotted, which do not climb or fly. But they are bigger in size where as the Lobsters are not( about the size of crickets) but they can climb. I think I might try also the false death head and a Hisser too. But my goal is to raise up Roaches so I do not have to have crickets at all! Crickets are smelly, some are noisy, the escape all the time( good thing I have cats) and not as easy as roaches to breed.

Hey Judson, How many Dubia did you start out with when starting your colony? I need to get more but not sure how many. I just wanted to get a few to see what they were like before I decided which type(S)I wanted to raise. I didn't know how I felt about Roaches but I think they are pretty cool!!! Do you have more than one species? Is your email working yet? Good Luck Matt and talk to you later, Judson. Deb
-----
Beardies: 11.13.32

Pyro-Red Flaming Tiger x Orange German Giant Male
Kai-GG x Orange GG Male
Skyla-GG x GG Pastel Female
Voodoo-Yellow Red Desert Male
Banshee-Orange Sandfire Female
Puff-Citrus x Red/Orange Sandfire Male
Cera-Citrus x Sunburst Female
Moon- Snow x Hypo Female
Jewel-Yellow Sandfire x Orange Sandfire- Female
Ace-Sundial Coral x Snow Male
Sundra-Sunrise x Red/Gold Sandfire Female
Nitro(Stubbs)-GG x GG Pastel- male Juvy
Rainbow-GG x GG Pastel Female Juvy
Wicket-Sundial Coral x Snow Male
Sedona-Blood x Red/Orange Sandfire Female
Seven-GG Orange x GG Pastel male Juvy
Flame-GG Orange x GG Pastel male Juvy
Cinder-GG Orange x GG Pastel Female Juvy
Kiowa-GG Orange x GG Pastel Female Juvy
Flurry- Snow x Hypo Female Baby
Jinx- Snow x Patternless Pastel x Hypo Orange male Baby
Jazz- Snow x Patternless Pastel x Hypo Orange female Baby
Jet- Snow x Patternless Pastel x Hypo Orange male Baby
Joker- Snow x Patternless Pastel x Hypo Orange female Baby
More Beardie on the way

Leopard Geckos 6.17.43

Blossom- Patternless Tremper Albino Female(Animal Dreams)
Blaze- Jungle Bandit Female (Bruckman's Reptiles)
Bonzai-High yellow Jungle Leo Male Juvy(Bruckman's Reptiles)
Basil-High Yellow Jungle Leo Female Juvy(Bruckman's)
Ebony-Dark Phase Normal Female
Snowflake-Line bred snow Female
Twister-HQ Red Stripe Leo Male
Swayze-HQ Red Stripe Bold Jungle Leo Female(Hot Geckos)
Eclipse-HQ Red Stripe Bold Jungle Leo Female(Hot Geckos)
Ayesha-Outcross JMG x HQ Red Stripe Female(Hot Geckos)
Solar-High Yellow Leo Male
Sunspot-High Yellow Leo Female Juvy( Bruckman's Reptiles)
Phoenix-Super Hypo Tang Carrot Tail Baldy Male (Hot Geckos)
Cajun-Super Hypo Tang Baldy Leo Female(Hot Geckos)
Calypso-Super Hypo Leo Female
Bijou- Super Hypo Tang Carrot Tail Female( Pro Geckos)
Inca- Super Hypo Tang Female (Pro Geckos)
India- Super Hypo Tang Female(Pro Geckos)
Arwen-Rainwater( LV)Jungle Albino Leo Male (Hot Geckos)
Aries-Rainwater(LV) Banded Albino Leo Female (Hot Geckos)
Ice-Blizzard Leo Female Juvy (Bruckman's Reptiles)
Winter-Blizzard Leo Female Juvy (Bruckman's Reptiles
Shiver-Banana Blizzard Leo Male Juvy (Bruckman's Reptiles)

Leo Hatchlings~

Tortoises 1.1

Velvet-Leopard Tortoise 2 years old male
Isis- Blond Leopard Tortoise 16 mos old female

4.3 Ball Pythons

Stripe Male 05
Black Back Female 05
Het Pied Male 05
Axanthic Female 03
Reduced with Blushing Female 03
Chocolate Reduced Male 04
Banded Male 04

Tarantula's

1 Chaco Golden Knee Tarantula(my husband's)Baby
1 Curly Hair Tarantula(my husband's)Baby

Other Pets:

CFA Reg. Manx Cats
Too many to name here (Adults and Kittens)
2.1 German Shepherds
Danzig(Red Sable)male Search and Rescue Tracking
Onyx( Black) Female SAR Air/Ground Scent retired
Sakotah(Black Sable)Male Pup ( Danzig/Onyx's Pup)
1.0 Hedgehog-White Wicca(old man)
2.2 Chinchilla's-Breezy, Stormy Nights, Myst, Black Velvet
0.1 Eastern Gray Squrriel-Paws (Squrrielee-o)
0.1 Ferret-Jumanji(daughter's)
1 White New Zealand Rabbit(rescue)-"Callie"(daughter's)
1 Brown Bear Hamster "Brownie"(daughter's)
1.1.6 Dumbo Rats (daughter's)

hey deb
i started out with 30 dubia then bought 100 more. www.blaberus.com is where i got them from. i am now lookin to get some lobsters, cheaper and faster breeders for the smaller dragons. just trying to find out how many to feed vs crickets. the dubia are great, my opinion the best roaches, but the take awhile to grow. pretty quick breeders, not as fast as lobsters tho.
-----
Beach Beardies

3.4.11 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

Thanks to all for the great info. are the Blaptica dubia nymphs appropriately sized for baby/juvenile dragons? If not which roach breeds are good for babies? Do you think babies reared on roaches only would transition easily to crickets in thier new home? You have all been a great help, Matt

feeding a variety of insects and veggies is always a good idea, but most are feeding roaches to get out of crickets. crickets are 90% water, reason why dragons eat so many. roaches have a much higher meat to shell to water ratio. just stay away from the mealworms and superworms until they are about 4-6 months depending on their size.

small baby dubia are fine for baby dragons. lobster roaches may be a better choice for baby dragons though, softer shell, faster breeders.
-----
Beach Beardies

3.4.11 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

>>Thanks to all for the great info. are the Blaptica dubia nymphs appropriately sized for baby/juvenile dragons? If not which roach breeds are good for babies? Do you think babies reared on roaches only would transition easily to crickets in thier new home? You have all been a great help, Matt

Lobster are a great all around roach. They can be used to feed any sized Dragon. The only problem you may have is separating out the newborn Lobsters for small dragons. I use plastic tubs with small holes in them to capture the small lobsters in a coffee can below. They can climb at the speed of light so you will have to deal with that. Vasiline around the top of the breeder cages solves that problem, and calcium dust around the top of the plastic tub or coffee can solves the problem when you are capturing them. You just need to reapply the dust every once in a while, which you will be doing anyway.

I also have colonies of Hissers and False Death Heads. It is nice to be able to feed a few half grown or smaller Hissers to adult Dragons instead of a bunch of Lobsters, but Lobsters will work find for adults as well and you will always have enough. You can scoop out a handful of lobsters and drop them into the greens bowl, and the Dragons will circle it and chow until they are full. I don’t see how that is a problem. I haven’t used my Death Heads yet. I have just been letting the colony grow. It is getting pretty huge now, and I can definitely see advantages to them over the Hissers. Non-climbers are always preferred over climbers if you ask me.

I started this season with a huge Lobster colony and was planning on raising my baby Dragons on Lobster and greens alone. It is amazing how much 100 baby dragons can eat and more are on the way. It is a little time consuming to sift out enough baby Lobsters to feed them. The Dragons can take a pretty good sized Lobster in no time so that helped, but I did buy some small crickets which are much easier to feed baby dragons to help out. If you have enough babies to feed, you will not waist any crickets. That is the only advantage I see with crickets. You can buy large quantities when you need them, and feed them off right away. I would not even consider trying to raise them if I only had a few Dragons. Roaches are definitely the way to go for people who only have a few Dragons to feed. Don’t even mess with Crickets. Roaches are wonderful and pretty much take care of them selves. You won’t hardly know they are there, except you do have to feed them and offer them some type of water source. Crickets on the other hand always let you know they are there, and if you only have a small colony of Dragons, you will end up producing 1000’s of crickets and most of them will grow up and die in a couple of months and you will have done a lot of work for nothing.
-----
Joe Pierce
Snakes Alive!
"Home of the guaranteed feeders"
"If it won't eat, it is not worth a dime!"