Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok I'm breaking down...I'm thinking about breeding roaches for my chams considering they are supose to love them. a few questions for those of you who keep roaches

What are the best ones to keep...do they ever excape, will a 10 gal fish tank hold them. Is there a way to keep, raise, feed, and bring them to your chams without EVER touching them? Roaches freak me out so much! I cant believe I'm considering this for my chams...thats love I tell you.
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.0 Veileds
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

Jovana,
I would say to go for lobsters, even though they climb glass or plastic... They're a good size for panthers and veileds and are softer bodied than hissers and other types of roaches. They breed like crazy, I had lotsa baby roaches in the box from the shipping time alone. A 10 gallong tank will hold lots of them, they seem to be ok crowded, and just give them plenty of surface area to spread out on, and if you can, heat it somehow. They're pretty low-maintenance compared to other feeder types, and they'll eat anything. I tried for a long time to do it without touching them also, but eventually, you gotta break down, swallow your pride and just GO FOR IT! I know people (you know who you are) who are more afraid of superworms than roaches. I still hate roaches, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Give them a shot. I got mine from Morgana, but Calisilkworms has them and so does BonnieLorraine. Good luck!
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

I agree completely. Lobsters are very easy to care for and are 3 times meatier than crickets and about the same size. If you're worried about touching them just use rubber gloves or something. It's not THAT bad. The problem w/ only having a 10 gallon tank is that eventually the roaches will completely over come that small of a container. I'd say go and get 3 or 4 large sterilite containers, like 18 gallon and paint Bug Stop around the top of the tubs. This makes a surface the roaches can't crawl on and will last about 6 months. The reason you should get 3 or 4 (if you really plan on breeding them) is because they are very prolific breeders. If you start out w/ 500 roaches, in 3 months you will have several thousand. A few months later, several tens of thousands. Depending on how many animals you're feeding and what not.

I just ordered some from california silkworms. I ordered 200 for 27 dollars it ended up being like 40 after tax and shipping.
Good luck
Stevie

If you're interested at ALL in getting roaches, I HIGHLY HIGHLY reccommend talking to the 'expert' roach keeper Richie (Roachman). He keeps a number of exotic roaches, very knowledgeable on their maintenance, and is a great person to speak to. You won't regret it!
I've kept the Madagascar Hissers, but found them to be too big for my needs. I tried the lobsters, but they bred too fast, were to quick and the vaseline was too messy! (Imagine a three year old, lobster roach colony and vaseline: recipe for disaster!)
I now have the orange head roaches, and these seem to work well for me. I started my colony with about 30 various sized individuals. I keep mine in a 38 qt (I think) sterlite container, with NO lid. I keep a small undertank heater on the bottom, feed chicken lay mash, vegie scraps, occassional orange slices, and a few live crickets (they LOVE protein!). It took a while for my colony to start producing, but if you hold off harvesting until the colony is good and crowded, you will end up having a GREAT producing feed source for your pets. My beardies LOVE the adult roaches, the panthers seem to prefer the half grown nymphs.
Richie Roachman's Website

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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

They are to quick as in run fast or breed to quick for you...Run to fast might freak me out even more. I like the idea of breeding quick, I've got lots of hungry mouths to feed and am adding a few more VERY soon. but the running fast *eek* If I keep them on my porch I'll have no problem maintaining heat! FL weather 90 degrees.

At what age can Chameleons eat these roaches? are they small enough for the females as well or just the big males? I'm going to do some roach research now...any site sugestions?

Rubber gloves! YES! that will be a must.

Orange heads...what are everyone elses oppinion on these? are they fast runners? breed fast? as good for the chams as lobsters?
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.0 Veileds
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

>>They are to quick as in run fast or breed to quick for you...Run to fast might freak me out even more. I like the idea of breeding quick, I've got lots of hungry mouths to feed and am adding a few more VERY soon. but the running fast *eek* If I keep them on my porch I'll have no problem maintaining heat! FL weather 90 degrees.
Yes to both. Lobsters breed fast, move fast and fly (to some degree). Take heed with this breed, as they might be able to establish themselves in FL.
>>
>>At what age can Chameleons eat these roaches? are they small enough for the females as well or just the big males? I'm going to do some roach research now...any site sugestions?
That's the beauty of keeping roaches! You'll have all different sizes, so you can feed them off as they reach the correct size! Feed smaller nymphs to smaller chameleons. They absolutely love them. Site suggestions: AdCham, Chameleonjournals and the bi-monthly e-zine have some great roach articles!!!
>>
>>Rubber gloves! YES! that will be a must.
Oh come now! They'll grow on you, really! They look like little trilobites! Super clean little buggers. No smell, no noise, longer lived than crix. Far superior to crix, IMHO.
>>
>>Orange heads...what are everyone elses oppinion on these? are they fast runners? breed fast? as good for the chams as lobsters?
Orange head and death's head roaches get about 3 inches long. Not as big as hissers. Not as prolific as lobster roaches. Bonus: Orange heads (death heads too, I think) do NOT climb glass!!! They have no interest in infesting your house. I keep some semi-moist coco peat on the bottom of my colony. Helps with humidity and they LOVE to burrow into this substrate!
Seriously, give roaches a chance! Get a couple different species to add variety to prey items offered and to see what works best for you. You won't be sorry!
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Lobsters fly!?!?! Oh dear lord! what am I getting into!? I might try oranges and lobsters to see what they like best, and what does not creap me out more.
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.0 Veileds
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

you're too funny! really, roaches are extremely clean. They are made up of about 99% protein and are used in a sauce (sort of like soy sauce) in some Asian countries. OK, OK, I know you are not going to eat them! Luna love(d) them when she was eating regularly but now they are sort of like pets since she has no interest. She might if I could keep them in a cup in her cage but as Victor points out the vaseline is messy and Bug-Stop is expensive. I use double sided tape in their main container with no escapees. I have a cheesecloth covering held on with a fitted ring (they are in a big fishbowl!). I don't handle them, not b/c I a afraid of them (me? the bug nut??) but b/c I am afraid they will run faster than my cats I do use flat stamp tweezers which works great.

I sent you an email with some other info, too.

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica the j sisters were sent to freedom last month
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Hey lele

I got your e-mail and replied. I'm gonna try roaches...I'm sure I'll get use to them after some time, and it will be worth it if the chameleons really like them.

one last question...tyler and some other guy said vasoline, if I use vasoline how much should I use...a thin layer or real thick?

any other suprises I should expect...like the flying thing!
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.0 Veileds
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

Beardies. Yep. That's what sold me on the roaches. The first time I offered a hisser to my beardies, they actually fought for the roach! Not to be sadist, but they tore the lil bugger up!!! I fed off 3 semi-adult hissers (cost me $5 for these 3!) to my two adult beardies and they just gobbled the roaches up. I knew right THERE that I had to get some roach colonies established!
My veileds loved the roaches, the Jacksons (when I had them) and the panthers will take them, but on and off.
Oh, BTW... I hear orange heads will fly too, but not that high, nor that far (I've never actually seen mine fly). Haven't had ANY escape the colony!
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Hi Victor,

At what temperature do you keep your orange-heads? I've had a small colony (about 10) for several months and they won't breed. It might also be that the humidity isn't high enough, so I will try the peat idea. Mine also don't seem to care for protein that much -- not nearly as much as my hissers. I'm thinking it's because I'm not keeping them warm enough. The temps that room are typically in the 75-80F range.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

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Julie Williams
www.baskingwonders.com

Julie,

We keep our roaches warm... usually between 90-95F. An under-tank heat source is good, or a 100watt light over the tank will help too. If you have a small colony, you can use an old heating-pad for the heat source. You can get a ceramic heat bulb (no light) to use over the tank as an alternate.

Winged roaches NEED protein - otherwise they will chew each other's wings. Moisture is essential too. You can use the coco fiber as Victor suggested, or you can lightly mist the enclosure every couple of days. Orangeheads love wet fruits.. apple, orange, banana. They need their dry food too, we know many folks use either chicken feed, dog food, fish food, etc - but the proteins are fairly low in those. We make our dry gutload with a minimum of 40% protein. We have no wing-biters now.

Hope this helps,
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n/p
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Julie Williams
www.baskingwonders.com

for your dry mix, what is your main source for protien ? thanks.

Yup! Keeping your roaches warm seems to be the key here.
I keep my roaches in my 'bug closet', which is warmish, with an old undertank heater providing extra warmth. I don't run my temps quite that high, I keep them right about 85. I use water crystals as primary moisture source (I neither reccommend nor disapprove of polymer crystals for hydration, merely stating what I use), with fresh potato skins or shredded veggies included for extra protein.
Instead of using the regular chicken lay mash, which has a high calcium content but low protein, I use chick starter diet. This has a high (relative) protein content.
I also spray the whole colony down about once a week. I try to get in nice and humid, but allow it to dry out completely before spraying again. Helps the nymphs with shedding, I think.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Thanks for the input.

Jovana,

As you live in Florida, you have limited choices of roaches for purchase to feed your chams. Florida has banned most species of roaches, and any responsible roach seller will honor those laws. I believe the only option you have at this time is Orangeheads. The lobsters are definately on the "no-no list" for Florida.

We got into raising roaches for our chams and we have 5 different species currently. The hissers are not the first choice for most chams as they grow too large quickly and have the tough exoskeleton (much like mealworms). The lobsters are very prolific and have a softer exoskeleton.

Raising roaches is something I never thought I would be involved in - but we have thousands and thousands!! I have no choice but to "handle" them, especially when packing them up for a customer. *LOL* It's not so bad once you get used to it.

Keep in mind that these feeder roaches are relatively clean when raised commercially. They are kept in clean environments and fed good diets. Ours receive our dry gutload and fresh fruits and veggies daily. They are less odorous than crickets - any day!!

Containing roaches is another matter - but my hubby has done tons of research and we finally found a product we can offer that works great! It even keeps flightless fruit flies contained!! This is invaluable for the baby cham tubs. You can paint it on almost any surface, and the bugs cannot cross it. After using "Bug Barricade" for years, we are now using this product, and we will be offering it for sale with roach/cricket orders to our customers.

If you need a source for smaller "feeder-sized" Orangehead roaches, contact us and we can refer you to a good source. Our colony of Orangeheads is still growing, and we are not offering them for sale at this time.

Good luck!!!

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