Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, i'm thinking of trying to start a colony of roaches. Can anyone tell me which type would be the best? I don't want to go with glass climbers so I know I am somewhat limited. I only need to feed 3 lizards and I am willing to put the time in to get the colony started. I'm in no hurry. Also has anyone ever had a problem getting ackies to make the switch from crickets to roaches? Thank you in advance for your time.

Dave

Hey dave,

I would recommend the Discoid roach(Blaberus discoidales) for your colony. They are a nice sized insect, and are, in my opinion, the fastest reproducers of the non climbers. I have never kept death heads, but being from the same genus, I would believe that their reproductive output would be similar, although I heard that discoids are the fastest. Some other species you might consider are the orange heads(Eublaberus prosticus) and Surinam spotted roaches (Blaptica dubia). They both do really well and are easy to keep and rear. Roaches are very easy to care for; just give them heat, fresh food, and the occasional misting; they'll reward you with many many babies!!. All of these species are also oviviparous, so there is no caring for egg cases, as in some species of roaches.. I hope this helps a little; it's good to see new people getting into roaches, I think that they are going to get reallly popular in the upcoming years, due to their ease of care, large size, and lack of offensive smells which crickets put out... I guess people would just need to get over the "fear" of having roaches in their households.... take care,

bob

I would have to agree with Bob on the Blaberus discoideles or central american wood roach. I have been using them for about four years now and all insectivorious lizards I keep love them. Their setup is virtually maintenance free and you get a wide variety of sizes from the nymphs which can be fed to hatchling lizards up to the 2-2.5in adults which all large lizards take. There is nothing like watching a 54 inch argus monitor chasing roaches around his cage!

If the ackies are 3-4 months in age u shoudlnt have a problem.....its simple leave a bowl of superworms in there. Eventually they will get hungry enough and shazaam all of the worms will be gone one morning. Superworms are my second choice to roaches but worms dont smell and u can keep a 1000 of them in a 10 gallon tank w a lil wood shavings. But ackies fricken love roaches only drawback is they do climb and u drop one good luck catchin it LOL

I have lobsters and maddy hissers. However they climb glass, but it hasn't been a problem with a little bit of vaseline. I put mine on rabbit food, and a few fresh greens, and I use a special secret water recipe. They do pretty well.