Reptile & Amphibian Forums

why are all these roaches (i.e. orange head, death head, cave) like a dollar a piece or whatever if they are as prolific as some say. it doesnt seem like there is anything special about them as far as being a feeder is concerned. as pets, i am not sure, but any clarification is appreciated, thanks

It's all about the laws of supply and demand...

There's more demand than there is supply. If and when more people get into breeding them for retail sale, the prices could drop. The demand is huge right now and I have a hard time keeping up with it myself.

Dan Haas
Owner / Manager
Crunchy Critters Roach Farm (and pet supplies)

Well look at it this way...

Feeding large colonies of (healthy) roaches is far from cheap! It is costing me 10X more to feed my roaches than it does to feed crickets or mealworms...and roaches don't grow to adults like crickets do in 6 weeks. These insects are fed for months before someone purchases them.

Also...you get what you pay for. Properly cared for, these food items are AWESOME for your herps...can't be beat IMHO.

10 times more to feed them??? what do you feed them?? i usually give my 100 or so adult hissers and 500 lobsters about 6 carrots and the stems of my greens that i make salad with for my herps and about 25 cents worth of dog food. thast about a dollar a week. which brings me to another question are there things that grow in the wild that could feed your roaches to cut down on price like grass, common plants, etc. ??? thanks

Crickets reach adult size in 6 weeks...roaches take one heckuva lot longer than that to get to adult size...which means more expense. Roaches do eat a lot more than crickets do, at least my own do...and I feed them fresh oranges, fresh apples, etc. I have several thousand roaches...I can toss a large orange in one bin and have it gone to the peel in less than 1/2 hour.

I guess it depends on what you want to feed them...I keep mine on the best diet possible...which right now includes a 10 pound bag of oranges per week...5 pounds apples, 10 pounds of carrots...high protein kitten food...(Iams) and whatever else I decide to toss in there. If you want strong healthy roaches and you are dealing with a lot of them...you are gonna end up spending some money on food, etc.

I can keep 1000 crickets for 6 weeks at a cost of about a buck. No way I can do that with 1000 large roaches...and have them be healthy.
WEZ

i dont know, i just hate crickets, i always have bad luck with them. seems like no matter what they start to stink in a week and they are best escape artists ever and once loose get in little cracks and chirp the night away. why feed roaches so well though?? why not feed them whatever and then when you are ready to make them food gut load them??

I hate crickets too...so I don't use them much at all anymore.

I feed my roaches well because any animal (or insect for that matter) that I am responsible for, I do my best for.

Good nutrition is important if you want to grow strong, healthy insects, regardless of the species.

It doesn't have to be expensive! I feed mine pulverized Rat/Mouse pellets and frequently pulverized Rabbit pellets. They are inexpensive when bought in bulk. You can also buy the raw polyacrylamide (cricket drink) at www.watersorb.com for a good price -- just add water. The commercial stuff just has some food coloring added. As far as wild foods are concerned, Dandelion greens would be good. I also use apples and peaches that are excess from my trees. They also like figs. If you have a garden, almost any kind of green (turnip, mustard, etc.) are good.

1000 adult hissers is like the same mass as 30,000 adult crickets. You cant judge the two in that way. Crickets just suck!!!

Not all greens from your garden are good for gutloading. In the August 2004 issue of Reptiles the author states that some will actually cause problems. Broccoli, kale, and mustard greens can lead to hyperthyroidism, an over active thyroid gland. Spinach and beet greens interfere with calcium absorption.
Most articles about gutloading crickets explain that they are not a very good choice. Many pet stores just don’t take proper care of feeder insects. Crickets loose their nutrients within two hours of gutloading. They eat their own feces and each other when not properly fed. This being a big factor in spreading coccidia. Most crickets are fed a poultry mash. This has been associated with reproductive problems because many have trace amounts of pesticides. Crickets can be picky eaters, avoiding high calcium foods if others are available.
Roaches are actually cheaper and retain the nutrients and protein that are fed to them. A colony of 1000 Lobster roaches is about $50.00. Each female produces about 25-40 babies every 45 days. They live about 1 ½ - 2 years. So you have all different sizes to choose from. You buy 3000 crickets (you have to buy a specific size) and they are dead after their 5th instar. About 6 weeks is all the average crickets lives. Crickets smell bad no matter what you do. Not a good choice in my opinion.
Red worms, the ones used for composting, make a better feeder. These are about $10-$15 a thousand and will produce 500,000 in a years time. They have twice the protein as a cricket. They don’t make noise or jump. Gutloading is as simple as mixing it in the soil you keep them in. No water dish for them to climb in and drown like a cricket. No special food, just give them your table scraps. Go to produce stands, your local grocery store. They all have over ripe fruits and scraps of veggies they can’t sell. These are free. Are you raising egg laying herps and need extra calcium for them? Save your eggshells rinse them well, and smash them up and give them to your worms or roaches. We have over 200,000 roaches and about 100,000 red worms and we feed all of them a real calcium rich diet. However, we do get our eggshells in large quantities (200 lbs.) at a local egg farm and purchase our grains at a feed store in 50 lb bags. We were buying 6-10,000 crickets a week, now we use about 1000 a week. Our monthly food bill for insects is about $40-$50 a month now.

Yosemite
Reptayls Ltd.

Im down in Mexico, and cant even give away my hissings! Im up to 5000 of the buggers, and sure wish you could have a bunch!
Guess critters havnt caught on too well here yet.
. oh well. maybe i should go to butterfly farming???? Yanngo of Mexico.