Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So... um... yeah... feeder roaches.... I think thay are gross... but that's not why i'm here.
I was wondering what people think about feeder roaches beacause i was actually thinking about getting some for my beardies. Something new and not crickets. Crickets are too noisey for me and smell. To my understanding roaches are quiter and not so smelly. But in the line of nutrion, what's the diffrenct between roaches and crickets. and which type(s) of roach should I get for my boys?

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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Rex- "normal" orange fire)
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Glutany- German Giant Mix)
0.1.0 Okeetee Corn (Okatee)
1.1.0 Spotted Python (Hotdog and Shoelace)

Roaches on average are much better than crickets. They definitely get larger, especially species like lobster and hissing (madacascar) roaches. Discoids, orange head, death head, banana and other species of roaches, all are considered great feeder insects for all insect eating reptiles and other animals. However, some do get large, thus adults won't be good to use as feeders for dragons (some can be as much as 4-5 inches long), however their offspring are perfect for dragons.

Most roaches live many years, unlike crickets which, once they reach adulthood, have about a week or two left to live. Pretty much grow up fast, breed, die, repeat. Roaches have several years to live and breed.

Many roach species are non climbing and/or wingless, so won't fly away when you open the cage, or climb all over the glass and escape your dragon's cage or their own cage. Most can be fed everything you can feed dragons, plus some like table scraps too, including cooked chicken etc. (though with meat, any uneaten will have to be removed or they will start to smell).

I am far from an expert on roaches, but if you check the feeder forum here on kingsnake, (in the upper left of the list of forums, if i recall correctly) there are many posts about raising, keeping and what sort of roaches there are out there now.
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PHLdyPayne

Sure hissers are fun, but they arent the best as far as feeders. They have a rather tough chitan exoskeleton thats difficult to digest. For your size dragons I would go with false death heads or orange spots.
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- Mike Fourquet

Cloaca Herpetoculture
www.CloacaHerps.com

are the 2 you mentioned climbers or flyers at all? opening a cage and having roaches swarm out would freak the hell out of me lol
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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Rex- "normal" orange fire)
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Glutany- German Giant Mix)
0.1.0 Okeetee Corn (Okatee)
1.1.0 Spotted Python (Hotdog and Shoelace)

I have never tried the roaches, I know that crickets escape into the house I wouldnt handle it if roaches were running around the house too..........either would my houseguests..

I think I will stick with the hornworms, silkworms, supers, crickets and waxies, the supers are the easiest and least smelliest and the life cycle takes forever but over time I get the black beetle (adult supers) and baby supers.....

the hissing roaches are cool, saw them at the reptile show.
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Life is what happens when you are making other plans.......

if youd like to know more about roaches go here www.blaberus.com

discoids i think they are call, orange spotted they are also called, are the best for dragons i have found. these are non-flyer and non-climbers good size and fast breeders. 1 adult roach like that is like 10 crickets in nutrition factors. you can feed your dragon 2-4 roaches vs 30 crickets and they will be full. the activity of roaches also catches your dragons eye alot better too. my dragons love them. keep them in a large dark rubbermaid tub with egg crate, food and water gel

also another good roach is the lobster roach. they are cheap and breed fast as hell. you can start with 100 and have 1000 in days. they are smaller than the orange spotted but work just as well. only downfall to these is they are very good climbers. all you need to do is use "bug boundry" around the top 2-4 inches of your roach keeper...and they wont get out. vasaline also works as well, but is a bit messy

i HIGHLY suggest roaches over crickets, or any other insect. yes they seem nasty but they arent. they are not your typical dirty house roach. and you can use gloves to pick them up if you really need to. my fiance hates them
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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)

As we are feeding many beardies my suggestion would be either the Discoid or the Dubia. These species don't fly or climb glass.

The big question is just how often you plan on feeding roaches. Our beardies eat approximately 8-12 medium to large (just before wings) at each feeding, and we feed roaches three times a week.

I suggest you start with 250 mixed and see how that works. You have to keep track of your adult roaches. Let me explain. we started a second colony of sub-adults as soon as we got them and added more to this second colony each month. The reason is at some time your adults will start to die off from old age. So as your second colony starts getting wings and producing then you start feeding off the older adults from the first colony. A little extra work, but it guarantees that you have a constant supply of roaches.

Roaches need to be kept at 85-95 degrees and they like total darkness. Under tank heaters work the best for us and we use the large plastic tubs for our colonies. Just add veggies every other day, some gutload, and water crystals and that it. As these roach species have wings it works well if you lightly mist them and keep the humidity up.

Hope this helps

Reptayls

Since I only have 2 dragons and i plan to feed them 2-5 a day, I don't need/want something like lobsters where i can end up with way more than I really need. So a slow breeding roach would be best for me. I feed mine everyday cause I don't like the idea of every other day or something like that.
And mine don't hold too much interest in veggies unless i put supers in there... (beardie salads with worm bits lol)
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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Rex- "normal" orange fire)
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Glutany- German Giant Mix)
0.1.0 Okeetee Corn (Okatee)
1.1.0 Spotted Python (Hotdog and Shoelace)

well 2-4 lobsters wouldnt be enough since they are smaller roaches. they are about the size of adult crickets. basically i give my dragons enough to eat until they are done. i do this for a week or so and then i can figure out how many they will each eat. its always good to have more than what you think you need. id start by getting like 100 lobsters if thats what youd want.

if not then id go with dubia. these are orange spotted roaches. bigger roaches when fully grown. i give 3 or 4 full grown dubias to my adult dragons at a time. fully grown dubia are about an 1 1/2 inches long some maybe 2 inches. these are slower breeders but bigger roaches. more expensive roaches too.

then you could do discoids too. smaller than dubai, bigger than lobsters. ive never used em myself but i know they are good too. www.discoids.com you can get 250 of them for like 50 bucks plus shipping. im about to get these myself.

either way with dubia or discoids you want alot of them at once. like the 250 for 50 bucks on discoids. dubia are more expensive. like 40-50 bucks for 100 of them but most of the ones you'll get are smaller nymphs. if wanting to breed your own colony of roaches then you need more adults.

and you NEED to get them to eat their greens. try some fruits like blueberrys, rasberrys, strawberrys on top of their greens. the colors attract them to it. they love the berries. also some shredded carrot on the greens work too. an adult dragon needs 90% of their food intake to be veggies and fruits. babys are the opposite they need 90% insects