Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am considering trying to switch my dragons diet over from crickets to roaches. Crickets are to stinky to raise and from what I have read Guyana Orange Spotted roaches seem to be the ticket. Less smell, easier to raise a colony, lower maintenance, etc. Does anyone have experience with these? If so, how do they rate vs crickets?

Dragons love them and they are so easy to keep. Go with dubia as they are the softest shell, slow moving, and non-climbing. Just a few compair to dozens of crickets.
James

Thanks James! Do the Dubia stink? And how long does it take to form a colony? I was thinking of starting out with 40 or so.

I have just recently started feeding mine lobster roaches. Apparently they have a soft shell aswell. The meat to chitlin (shell) ratio is higher meat in roaches then in crix which are mostly water and chitlin.
With lobster roachs the females justation period is a month then they give birth to about 30 to 40 live young. There smell is almost none. the one negative thing is that they are climbers so you have to smear vaseline or some sort of cooking oil around the top of the tub your going to have them in.

Either way roachs are the better choice as far as im concerned because they have more meat on them!!

Good luck with the colony!!

M
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

where can you get the roaches? I know of one local place that sells "hissers" but they are huge and expensive, also what happens if you have a few escapiees? will they infest your home like the roaches most of us know and hate?

If you dont have them in your area just look them up online and order some and just dont feed them to your animals let them build a colony first.

As far as I understand about the lobster roaches is that they come from tropical areas so they liike and need the warmth. From what I have read on other breeders web-sites is that if a few do escape unless you live where it is warm all year round they will not survive. Im trying to be as caustious about escapees as possible because i would rather not find out how long they will live given the chance and the girl friend isnt real stoked abotu that thought either! LOL

Google Lobster Roachs
http://www.nyworms.com/lobsroachcare.htm
http://crunchy-critters.com/ncinerea.php

Those are some good sites.
The only pain the butt that i have noticed is that if you feed in your beardies enclosure and he doesnt eat them all right away they can and will climb the glass so you have to feed in a seperate container or smear some vegetable oil around the top. Kind of a pain but for me having a young beardie and 2 leo's the money that i will save in breeding my own is going to be well worth it!

Good luck man, take care!
M
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's