Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am looking to start a roach colony. I have been investigating all the different roaches.

My question is - does the type of roach to feed depend on the size of the lizard? My sav is about 3.5 ft, eats full size mice and 1 inch crickets like tic-tacs. So would lobster roaches be substantial for him or would 1 medium-large hisser do a better job than 10 lobsters?

Thanks for the help

Jeff

Jeff I feed hissers because I don’t like to keep crickets, however they much prefer crickets over roaches.
Crickets are a preferred food in nature while roaches are rarely taken (being nocturnal maybe?) anyway the transition from crickets to roaches is not instantaneous, at first savannahs want nothing to do with them, once they start taking them, you notice that they rub them extensively from side to side on the floor. This wipes whatever dusted supplements off and flushes out just about all the gut content of the insect. For these reasons roaches need to be fed along with rodents not as a staple.
I raised many albigularis on roaches without problems, but albigularis don’t take five minutes trying to kill the thing, they swallow it pretty fast compare to savannahs.

Thanks for the response. My goal is to provide more exercise, and a varied diet for my obese lizard. Lobsters look like crickets and they are cheaper, but hissers seem more valuable nutrition wise, although more expensive. I will still feed mice, maybe twice a week with roaches 3-4 times a week.

Hows that sound?

Sounds good to me.

Just wanted you to know that hissers alone may mead to metabolic bone disease. Fed with rodents all is good.

Lobsters breed easier than any of the others we have worked with, making them a great mainstay. hissers are also great to feed, but much tougher to get rolling breeding wise.

in our experience, the monitors react much more enthusiastically to the roaches over the crickets, apparently the opposite response of Jobi's : )

i would never bother with crickets again if i didn't have to.
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

gggggggg
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Mike's Monitors!

Mike,
Don't you feed your monitors (...and yourself) hissers? Do you have a colony? What would be the min to start with hissers? 500? How big do lobsters get?

Jeff
Yes, we all eat Hissers!

I have several colonies of all the Roach species I breed.
I currently have 5 species.
To start a Hisser colony I recomend at least 50 Adults.
100 Adults would speed things up a bit. If you over crowd your Roaches they will slow down in their reproduction. 100 adults in a 30 gallon bin works out good!

Lobster Roaches get a bit bigger then a cricket and alot meatier!!
Mike

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Mike's Monitors!

Mike,
Is there any difference between lobsters and hissers as far as difficulty in starting a colony? As far as I have researched, its give them a place to hide, food and water and they should thrive? Am I missing something?

Jeff
Nothing breeds like Lobsters!
The only thing your missing is to keep any Roach species breeding good is heat.
80 TO 95 degrees!
I used to keep them even hotter, they love it and breed faster.
Mike
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Mike's Monitors!

yes I agree with you, my savanahs have been fed crickets a few months before I optained them, they beg for them now.

no more crickets for me either!!

ps. wish I cauld find your roaches in QC

If in the states, I would HIGHLY recommend Mike's Monitors for your roaches. I started my colony with an order from him and now have three nice sized colonies going strong.

If in Canada, you might try some of the ones listed on this page.
http://www.frogfreaks.com/index.php?topic=449.0
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www.frogfreaks.com

Thanks for the links!

Hey the pixie frog channelling water for his babies was a pleasure to watch.
Every monitor keeper should see this video, amazing!!

a frog from my yard, thers 1000s of froglets in my yard this time of year. enjoy!