Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone use Roaches as a staple for their BD? If so which ones, Lobster, Death Head, Hissers, etc...?

Supers seem to have a very large mortality rate for me, even thoughthey are about 4 inches of a special bran mix and have fresh potato slices.

I should get my Ectoterm DB food today, hopefully that goes well. My BD seems to dislike pellets all of a suddend, until I soaked them in apple juice then she would selectively pick at the pellets. Supers are also not getting her attention the way they used to. But, Give her a bettle (previous super) and she's all over it.

Thanks.

I am a monitor and snake person, but i can tell you that roaches are fantastic feeders. they are prolific, nutritious, and aparently tasty. I have never had a lizard decline roaches. Now, lizards are like people and have different tastes, so im not saying yours will definitly like them. I would suggest trying them out though, because they are pretty easy to maintain, and dont smell a 1/4 as bad as crickets.

Truth

My BD's sole insect staple is Lobster Roaches. I got sick of the smell and high mortality rates of mealies and crix, so I ordered a starter colony of 100 lobster roaches.

As the previous poster replied, the roaches smell a LOT less than other feeder insects. I also find them a lot easier to take care of. I use the Fluker Cricket Quencher, as I haven't found a bug yet that can swim. I feed mine a mix of: Rep-Cal Adult BD Food Pellets (as my BD won't eat them), dry tropical fish food (Hikari Cichlid Gold), dry ferret food, and carrot peelings when I have some.

Roaches eat just about anything, and are prolific breeders. In the 3 months that I've had mine, I've got a container full of adults all the way to newly hatched young. I'd estimate around 600 individials altogether.

As long as they are well fed and kept warm, you'll soon have more than you bargained for. I would also recommend getting a product called Bug-Stop, a teflon based paint, due to the fact that lobster roaches can climb anything including glass.

A starter colony of roaches cost about the same as 100 crix or so, but they're worth it in the long run, in my honest opinion.

Best of luck to you.