Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am seriously wanting to switch from crix to roaches. I want ones that do not climb (death head?). How long will it take to get a viable colony? Should I buy a colony? Where? I have seen single males and females for about $8 a piece (yikes!) is this a way to go?

ANY help appreciated. I have read Don Wells artilce on ChamNews but want input form keeprs, breeders, sekkers, etc.

Juli of Polliwog Design I heced out your site for info, but didn't see any for sale.
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles (Jaida, no name)
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - (still no names)

Hi Lele,

I don't have any experience with Death's Head. I do have lobsters, orange heads and discoids. The orange heads are my favorites. Non-climbers, not very cannibalistic and fairly prolific. The discoids are more cannibalistic if they get hungry IME, although they mostly just eat each others wings. The orange-headeds will do that some too, but not as bad. The discoids also seem to run faster than the orange-headeds if they get loose (but still easier to catch than an escaped cricket IMO). Neither of these are nearly as fast as the dreaded German cockroach which is the pest many of us are familiar with.

I've heard the rule of thumb that you want 50 adults for a sustainable colony of orange-headed or discoids (I think Death's Head are similar). I built my colony of orange heads up very slowly from 12 adults that I got from Mulberry Farms. I feed quite a variety of things, so I've never harvested them really heavily. So what's sustainable will vary from keeper to keeper.

Lobsters are climbers, but they are super prolific and soft-bodied for easy digestion. I also think that orange-spotted are similar to orange-headed/discoid/deaths head.

For extensive roach info: http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/Roaches/
Roachman Willis is a legend: http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/Roaches/Roachman.html
Also check the feeder classifieds on kingsnake.

Lele, Being the insect lady that you are, I think you should give them a try. I still buy crix once in a while for variety.

Joel Fish

Here are a few non-climbing species of roaches you can breed:
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)

I forget who I bought my dubia from and how much I paid for them, but the majority of my roaches were already full grown adults that started to produce babies within the month. I bought them back in late June, and the babies at 3 months old are a little over an inch long now.

I bought my discoid from CVExotic who advertises in Feeders classified section. They sell 50 nymphs of various sizes for $35 shipped. The only problem with getting nymphs is waiting for them to reach adulthood to start breeding. Luckily two of my larger nymphs have already molted and become adults. It was cool watching them emerge. I bought them late last month. CVExotics also has deathheads, which I hope to get later as well.

Mike Stefani advertises C.A. Woods (which are discoids), Orange Heads, and Deathheads (which when I asked last time said he was all out), in the Feeder classifieds for a decent price, but I never bought from him before. They are nymphs of course.

You can also check out this roach forum by Allpet Roaches at members5.boardhost.com/allpetroaches/. People occasionally sell there and have information available.

My only regrets with roaches is not buying enough of them. I really love how low maintaince they are. I only wish their babies were alot smaller when born because newborn roaches are only small enough to feed my largest little frogs. Lobster roaches do produce smaller babies (and are very prolific), but can climb glass. Too bad I can't stand glass climbers.
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~ Juli ~
www.Polliwog-Design.com

It does not seem you have larger lizards so Death Heads are not recommended, they get HUGE. The best way to go is to get some orange heads. The adults do get large but not nearly as big as the Death Heads or Hissers. They also do not climb glass but they breed like hell. Go to AB Herps. Ronnie is a super nice and most importantly a fair guy. He has all the suppliments, i.e gut load, roach food, ect you'll need and at really good prices. Within 3 months you'll have enough roaches, provided you take care of them right, that you will be selling them to your friends.

Good Luck,
Matt Jillson

but my chams didn't care for them. At least I haven't seen them eat one yet. The roaches are pretty easy to keep though.

I breed htree species of roaches for my lizards (B. discoidales, B. dubia and R. mederae) and occasionally buy others.
To my experrience most chameleons do not love Blaberus and Eublaberus species too much. Probably due to their hard exosceleton and their broad spiny body.
Acceptance of Blaptica dubia is much better for my chams.
But the ultimate Cham feeder roaches are Rhyparobia maderae (the most prolific roach I ever had) and Panchlora nivea (les easy to breed). Sadly both these are glass climbers.
But its worht to try these!

To my experience for most roach species you need 6 months or more to have a stable and thriving colony. But after a year or more is gone, you can drown in roaches

Hope that helps

Ingo

...who replied here and in emails to me. I got a LOT of good info and expriences and will start one, soon.

lele

>>I breed htree species of roaches for my lizards (B. discoidales, B. dubia and R. mederae) and occasionally buy others.
>>To my experrience most chameleons do not love Blaberus and Eublaberus species too much. Probably due to their hard exosceleton and their broad spiny body.
>>Acceptance of Blaptica dubia is much better for my chams.
>>But the ultimate Cham feeder roaches are Rhyparobia maderae (the most prolific roach I ever had) and Panchlora nivea (les easy to breed). Sadly both these are glass climbers.
>>But its worht to try these!
>>
>>To my experience for most roach species you need 6 months or more to have a stable and thriving colony. But after a year or more is gone, you can drown in roaches
>>
>>Hope that helps
>>
>>Ingo
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles (Jaida, no name)
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - (still no names)

Hi Ingo,

We have hissers and lobster roaches.... they don't seem to climb the glass, but we have Bug Stop too.

Where does one find a starter colony of R. mederae..???
How large do they grow?
These are better than Blaptica dubia too? Why?

Thanks for the info.
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Sorry, I do liv ein germany and hence can´t tell you, where to ge Rhyparobia maderae in the US. Females grow up tomore than 2 inches, males stay smaller. They are very prolific and give birth to more than 30 babies. Time from baby to adult is 4 months at optimum conditions.
These roaches have a much softer exosceleton than most other roaches available. They also do not immediately hide in the substrate, but they spend considerable amoutn of time climbing and running around in the tank, which makes it easier for the herps to catch them.
Also their bodies are leass broad and less spiny than those of most relatives. That makes them easier to swallow. Especially later nymphs have a very voluminous but elongated body. Also newborns are tiny and soft enough to be eaten by 2" long lizards.
Plus all of that they seem to be very tasty...yummie
Sadly ther are a few buts:
-they are quick as hell
They are glass climbers
-they emit a strong defense odour (the herps do not care)
-if the colony is only slightly too moist, it can stink a lot. Dry colonies are almost odourless.

Hope that helps

Ingo

Ingo,

Thank you so much for the info.
We will try to see if they are available here in the US.

Take good care,
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