Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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All these big fat dragons I have...

primarily... I have raised them on the lobster/dubia roach colony that I have setup with two undertank heaters in a 10 gallon aquarium.

That again is a 10 GALLON aquarium!

I feed from that 10 gal roach colony 95% of the time for all 14 of my dragons.

Now that my friends is.... ROACH POWER!!!!

Lots of greens too though.

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nice roach colony!

What exactly is in the mix of the "greens" you feed your crew?

I use some of the typical stuff (mustard green collard greens green and yellow squash or zucchini) I also mix fruits and veggies in their mix too. Carrots, apples, pears finely diced up.

I also have some hibiscus plants that I take leaves and flowers from and dice those too into the mix.

I feed the roaches organic dogfood and oatmeal blended in a blender and lots of other fruits and veggies.

Healthy robust roaches keeps the dragons thriving. The best food-soruce ever for dragons IMPO:

lobster roaches
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Grated winter squash, like butternut squash, is also great.... My dragons and iguanas love them. Plus it has a lot of carbohydrate and fiber necessary for normal, everyday, bowl movement. The beta-carotene in yellow and orange color veggies gives them healthy skin, which also helps them in nice clean shed.

I don't see any difference between feeding roaches and crickets to tell you the truth. One of my female was raised on crickets and when she was big enough, I give her fuzzies and small hoppers every now and then, and she is slightly bigger than all the others. I don't think she got bigger by eating crickets. She's just bigger than others.... But the reason I keep roaches is I save a lot of money. I have thousands of dubias now and the colony is growing! That's a lot of free food. I used to spend a over $11 on 500 crickets every two weeks...!

Crickets are not hearty they dont consume the food nor reproduce like roaches. Crickets stink and make noise a lot of noise, they are dirtier and need to have their enclosures cleaned more often. One roach is the nutritional value of say three crickets.

I could go on and on.

Crickets dont eat like roaches... they are finicky and non ravenous. The roaches consume more and provide more nutritional value. Crickets are also hard to raise.

One 10 gallon tank has provided me with literally an endless supply of free insects (roaches). Use vasaline around the upper lip with a wire mesh top. Two undertank heaters... ceder or aspen chips with lots of toilet paper and towel rolls.

Buy about 75 - 100 dollars worth of roaches. Say 300 - 400 hundred worth. Let them colonize for say a month or two then walla.

Give them ample supplies of veggies and fruits with dog food and oatmeal. Nothing could be easier... believe me... I have tried everything else.

One day I may expand! And have two 10 gallon tank colonies. Then I will have to sell them off.

Lobster roaches are the best kind. I have tried them all.

Proof is in the pudding good sirs.

I will take some pics. Tape off all the outside of the tank they dont like light.

Could not be easier seriously.
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I don't know about that, though.... When I kept those stinky little crickets, they ate like crazy, man! They eat and eat and eat.... I find that: if I ground up the low-fat dog kibbles for them, they would swarm all over it, and I had to refill the dish. these things get so fat and juicy...that...when i picked them up, water oozed out the rear end and mouth. I'm not kidding! I've always been able to keep most of them alive until most of them got fed off and it was the next couple weeks to buy more....

Crickets are a better feeder than Roaches. Their body is full of the gut load they are fed, so they are more nutritious. Roaches don't eat nearly as much so they are high in shell and indigestible parts. I feed my crickets a dry grain food and house them in containers with almost a complete screen top. This keeps their environment dry and they don't stink. Moist and dead crickets stink. I only buy crickets every 5 weeks or so to save on freight. I buy from 1/8" up and all of the crickets survive to adults with very little cleaning hassle.

I can tolerate a few escapee crickets running around my house. Escapee Roaches no way, I take pride in where I live. No matter how careful you are sooner or later you will have escapees. It's a myth that the cannot survive in your house. I kept Dubia's for years in New Jersey at room temperature. They wouldn't breed in the winter but they survived to breed like crazy in the Summer.

Crickets can be kept so they don't stink much, but it does require regular removal of uneaten vegetation, dead crickets and cage cleaning. Keeping humidity low is also important. Too high humidity will kill of crickets and cause mold/fungus to develop in any greens in the cage.

I don't consider roach colonies odorless either, as any that i have encountered tended to smell much like a compost heap which is a pretty foul smell in my view. As for nutritional value between crickets and roaches...I did some research and found the following link (scroll down to see the nutrition chart) which gave the value of several roach species and crickets. Unfortunately there isn't any value for calcium or phosphorus content though I have seen that listed before (I think the calcium/phosphorus ratio between roaches and crickets is about the same).

doubleds.org/contactus.html
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PHLdyPayne

Forum Princess

Yes, I always have good ventilation which keeps the cage dry and provide it with good air flow, so the mold and fungus spores don't kill the crickets and roaches.

Providing enough space for the roaches, so they can establish their own territory, also keeps them from fighting each other and allows them to get right down to business to make babies....

I only feed my crickets a dry grain food and use apples for moisture. 3/4 of an apple in 6 slices and 2 heaping spagetti jar lids worth of food works for up to 2,000 3/4" to adult crix. In 2-3 days all of the food is gone and most of the apples.

I use to feed them other vegs. and greens but it made the cricket poo moist which caused odor etc. When I clean my cricket bins now all the waste is like a dry powder that I scoop up with an old credit card. There is no moisture to the waste at all and I rarely find any dead crickets. The apples will be OK for 3 days in the winter when temps. are cooler and 2 days in the summer. I scoop out the waste in the adult cricket bins about once a week. For smaller crix. (1/8 - 1/2) I only do it every 2 weeks or so.

When I used to keep roaches (Dubia) I fed them the same way, except I used oranges for moisture. Dog food, vegs. etc. gets rancid and makes their enclosure too dirty and smelly.

Since I feed my dragons a salad, the grain food the crickets eat makes a good addition to their diet as well.

Believe me I don't love crickets and they are not my primary food. My primary food is Silkworms. Silkworms require more care and expense than any other feeder. I also now breed superworms.

I think from my own observation and experience that crickets make the fastest growing healthiest babies and put good weight on a sick dragon better than any other feeder.

This may all be mute anyway since crickets may not be an option next season.

Raz is.... I got nothing but WOW!!!

Has he taken to his lady crew yet?

Thanks for posting pics brother. Cheers!

I wanna know a little more about your roach colony can you show some pics and give a little bit of knowledge on how to start and keep a colony? If you have some free time.

Well, they need moisture.... that's very important in keeping any species of roaches and crickets alive. Dubia is a moisture dependent species.... I give them water by giving veggies...lots of them. The orange and yellow colored veggies like carrots and winter squash seems to help them shed because they have beta-carotene. I give them low-fat dog kibbles once a week, all they can eat for protein. I was able to raised a little over tiny dubia nymphs up with a hundred percent survival rate. Now, i have thousands of roaches and the colony is still growing. I like to provide them with as much space they want, so they don't stress each other out and, thus, die.

Dreamworks you really have personal issues don't you? You always think someone is attacking you. I really could care less about you.

You are also very naive to believe that roaches die a few hours after they escape. Except maybe in fantasy land. Or more likely it's just a reflection of your inteligence.

Roaches have a much longer life span than crickets and roaches can and do live in the wild and in homes. So why would you possibly think that they would magically die in your mom's house?

I've never bred crickets, that's not worth the time compared to how cheaply you can buy them. If you are unable to keep and care for crickets that is a personal issue with you since I and others have been keeping them for years without the problems you mention.

I play you like a fiddle sir.

always gives me a smile
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