Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay... I may end up jumping into Roaches after my move from Ohio back to Vermont... what I want to know is... who you'd recommend as the cheapest source of feeder roaches (particularly non-climbing species that nymph stages would be small enough for Leopard geckos and adult stage would be big enough for a Savannah Monitor) With this move, I'm not going to have alot of money to spend out on starting a colony of these guys.. but I have to find something besides crickets for my Sav since I can't raise crickets to save my life.
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Lucien

1.0 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)
3.1 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzard and 2 het Blizzard)
0.1 Savannah Monitor
13 rats
12 Gerbils
2 Dogs
3 cats
1 Albino Corey (fish)

Oh, and if anyone would be willing to trade feeders for feeders that would be good too.. I raise Superworms and mealworms.. huge superworm explosion at the moment.. Probably have a couple thousand of all sizes now.
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Lucien

1.0 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)
3.1 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzard and 2 het Blizzard)
0.1 Savannah Monitor
13 rats
12 Gerbils
2 Dogs
3 cats
1 Albino Corey (fish)

I don't know the specific differences between the non-climbing roaches in terms of production, but any of them should do just fine. Here are a list of a few non-climbing species:
Orange Spotted Roaches (Blaptica dubia)
Discoid Roaches (Blaberus discoidales)
Death's Head Roaches(Blaberus craniifer)
Orange Head Roaches (Eublaberus prosticus)
4 Spot Roaches (Eublaberus distanti)

The biggest obstacle you will face is the time it requires to get a colony off the ground producing enough to feed your reptiles. If you purchase nymphs, it may take months for them to first reach adulthood then to start giving birth to baby roaches. If you buy adults, you can save yourself a few months of waiting, but most sellers are likely to be selling nymphs of various sizes and not full grown adults. Also, the number of roaches you start with can also affect how soon you can feed your roaches to your reptiles. The more adults you start with, obviously, the more babies you will end up with. They also seem to do better in larger groups than smaller ones when it comes to producing. So the more the better. Once you have enough babies, you also need to wait for them to reach the proper size to feed them off. In the long run, roaches can be a great replacement for smelly crickets who (when you try to breed them) have a high mortality rate.

Roaches don't stink, don't die easy, and grow bigger than crickets. They love their heat, so make sure to keep their cage warm and they will produce better.

I started with 12 Orange Spotted Roaches (Blaptica dubia). I got mostly adults which gave birth to their first batch of babies a month after I bought them. I have alot of nymphs running around now and growing up. I would guess that at 2-3 months old, they are the perfect size for adult leopard geckos. Since I need more adults so I can get more babies, I am not feeding any off. (Not like I have anything that can really eat them yet anyways.) I wish I bought more than 12...

I also recently bought 50 Discoid Roaches (Blaberus discoidales), but they were nymphs of various sizes. Since none are adults, it will take many months before I see any babies from them, but the number I started with is good.

I also included a link to a Roach site which has a forum also that might be of some help. Good luck.

AllPet Roaches

AllPet Roach Forum
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~ Juli ~
www.Polliwog-Design.com