Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a growing Nile and hes always loved roaches, so Im thinking of starting a colony. I also have a few smaller geckos (pictus, leopard) that id like to have a smaller food source for if possible.

Im thinking hissers, as my monitor has munched them before and loves them. They climb, correct? That can be remedied with that Bug-Stop stuff, right?

What are they like in the younger stages? Viable food for smaller species?

Im just gonna get a large sterilite tub, with a small framed in egg crate deal. Around 500 is a good number to start with yes?

Whats a good site for buying these guys from?

Much appreciated.

I don't know to much on hissing roaches as I breed Blaptica Dubia (Orange Spotted Roaches) for my bearded dragon. The classified ad here on king snake has some great deals with people selling all kinds of roaches. 500 (to me) sounds like alot to start a colony. I'd personally say try 100 first and see how that goes.
The nymphs of any roach its a good food source for smaller animals.
Sorry if this hasn't helped much
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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)

The blaptica dubia is a better species to feed to multiple types of herps, The hissers would well for the monitors but not as well for your other animals. 100 is a good start 500 is a great start.
James
www.blaberus.com

Anything smaller than the extra large hissers dosnt seem like it would really be of any interest to a large Nile. The big hissers though, hes loved for quite some time, so Im looking at them.

Anyone know a reputable place to buy some of the xtra large hissers? Ive seen a number of sites, but many are abit shaky.

Also, though its not actually an insect i dont think, whats the law situation regarding giant african land snails within the US? Every site I see offering them if international, so Im guessing there is some kind of law restriction on them? My Nile used to munch tiny water bound snails that were in his enclosure and I know Niles prey on land snails in their native Africa. Any thoughts?

As far as roaches for your Nile monitors, hissers are fine. They don't breed quite as fast as Blaberus sp. You can try Blaberus discoidales-which breed at a decent rate.

The giant African land snails are illegal in the USA as far as I recall. You can check out the department of agriculture's website or APHIS.

You need to be aware that snails & other molluscs are known carriers of parasites.

If you want to use snails as one of the components to your Nile's diet, you can possibly order some parasite-free American snails which are used as "escargot" in restaurants. Again, there are websites that sell & indicate how-to raise snails (so you can raise your own). Another option would be to feed boiled crayfish, crab or similar crustaceans.

Hope that helps out...

Thus far Ive been feeding crayfish as his invert diet. I usually freeze them til needed, then remove 1 day prior to feeding. I do this because it loosens the shell up abit and, sick as this sounds, my monitor refuses to eat them until they stink like blazes.

But once he gets a whiff of rotting crayfish? WHEW, watch out! He comes in like a tornado and just rips em apart.

The problem here being 2-fold:
1. rotting crayfish STINK LIKE ASS!... now just imagine the poo...*shiver*

2. crayfish are expensive.... compared to a one time cost on a breeding colony of roaches that is.

Thanks for the info. For now im focusing on getting him into his new enclosure, then Im gonna come back to a roach colony of some sort.

How do smaller hissers serve as far as feeders go? I have a pair of small geckos (pictus and leopard) and they are pretty hardcore, so Im thinking they can handle a small roach- they LOVE superworms, which cant be much bigger than a tiny roach, right?

Yecch! I wouldn't use crayfish, even if you monitor loved it in the rotting stage.

Have you tried prawns, large shrimp?--Unfortunately, it can be quite expensive. You may want to still check into raising your own land snails. You can probably get a starter colony of parasite-free snails.

Hisser nymphs are fine for smaller reptiles/amphibians as long as they aren't too hard-shelled. Freshly molted hissers work well. I feed my Leo gex Naupheta (Lobster roaches) as part of the menu. You can slow the Lobsters down a bit by putting them in the refrig for a few minutes==makes it easier for the Leo to catch. My adult Leo gex takes 3-inch superworms without any problems.

Yeah, my Leo just started on 1" superworms and hes doing good, so i think nymphs should work great for him and his lil Pictus buddy.

Why would you think against crayfish? Im sure they arent the cleanest animals, but i doubt any dirtier than shrimp/prawns.

A question on this: A saltwater shrimp/prawns ok to use? i read somewhere that saltwater shrimp often contain high levels of iodine, which I cant imagine being good for a human, let alone a monitor.

Crayfish are, thus far, the easiest invert for me to get by hands on that my animal will even look at. He LOVES em too, eats em like lobster- grabs a claw and shakes till it comes off, swallows it down, once hes eatten both claws, grabs the base of the tail and posts a claw on the head- a good pull later hes got the meaty tail in his mouth and down the gullet. All he leaves are the heads and sometimes the underbelly/legs.

I'm not against using crayfish as feeders. I'd be a bit worried about the smell, and the possibility of parasites that can be passed to the monitor.

I'm not sure of the iodine levels in saltwater shrimp & prawns, but I don't believe they would be a problem if used as one of the many components in your monitor's diet.

Well, I dunno bout parasites but you hit the nail on the head with the smell thing, lol

thats pretty much why im looking for a new invert item- seafood tends to start stinking after awhile. Roaches can roam around abit and he can get em at his leisure.

I tried putting live crayfish in his water dish.... yeah, apperantly they all decided to shed, after which the monitor ate em- the result being a nasty cess pool of monitor poop, shredded crayfish/shed-exos and mud. That room stunk like stinky crayfish for like 2 days.

The monitor didnt seem to mind, lol

I breed hissers for my black throat monitor and my green trees. 500 hissers would likely cost you around 500 dollars so I'd advise you to instead start with around 50 hissers. let them breed for 6 months unhindered and you'll be ready to start feeding out. I suggest using a large sterilite container with a tight fitting lid with very small air holes drilled in it (1mm diameter) coconut fiber as substrate and lots of peices of cork oak or milk cartons for them to hide under. Make sure you setup a shallow food dish to keep the substrate from molding. Also be sure to have a lid on the top of the container and a few inches of vasiline or olive oil near the top in a ring to prevent escapees. The tank should be humid and about 85F-90F. Hope this helps.