Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have been looking into getting a colony going for my dragons. I feed everything from silkworms to butterworms but no longer can keep crickets. I was wondering those who keep them how you feel about keeping them? are they easy keepers or? i know they must be fairly hearty being roaches and all. Also what type do you reccomend? also if you could guide me to a good place to buy some starters that would be great =) any ups and downs you can think of would be appreciated.

i have a colony of lobster roaches (ralph loves em...they are the best!!) they are pretty easy to keep, i bought my starters at www.mulberryfarms.com they have great lobster roaches....they are livebearers, and produce tons of lil babies...some ppl say they are really goos climbers, but i keep mine in a rubbermaid tub and none have gotten loose ever. The dragons love em!!!
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~David - KDRKreatures
My Main Herps-
1.2 Bearded dragons (Ralph, Artemis, Cheech)
1.0 Veiled Chameleon (Chiquito)
1.0 Ringneck Snake (Striker)
1.1 Eastern Box Turtles (Athena and Mercury)

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i think my guys will really love them...=)

i see orange headed roaches, are these the same thing? they sound good =)

berry farms are the ones that i have....sorry about that! lol
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~David - KDRKreatures
My Main Herps-
1.2 Bearded dragons (Ralph, Artemis, Cheech)
1.0 Veiled Chameleon (Chiquito)
1.0 Ringneck Snake (Striker)
1.1 Eastern Box Turtles (Athena and Mercury)

KDRKreatures-Home Page
My Email

np
-----
~David - KDRKreatures
My Main Herps-
1.2 Bearded dragons (Ralph, Artemis, Cheech)
1.0 Veiled Chameleon (Chiquito)
1.0 Ringneck Snake (Striker)
1.1 Eastern Box Turtles (Athena and Mercury)

KDRKreatures-Home Page
My Email

Lobsters and Orangeheads are two different species.

Lobsters (Nauphoeta Cinerea) are a softer bodied roach with wings and dull brown in coloration. Approximate max size is around 1.5 inches and lifespan is about 1 year. They are flightless (although they can flutter for short distances) and they CAN climb glass.

Orangeheads (Eublaberus Prosticus) are colorful (for size), winged roach with an orange-brown coloration and a orange head. Approximate max size is around 2 inches and lifespan is a little over a year. They are flightless and NON glass climbers.

Hope this helps! Goodluck! LM

np
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~David - KDRKreatures
My Main Herps-
1.2 Bearded dragons (Ralph, Artemis, Cheech)
1.0 Veiled Chameleon (Chiquito)
1.0 Ringneck Snake (Striker)
1.1 Eastern Box Turtles (Athena and Mercury)

KDRKreatures-Home Page
My Email

How about the smell? Do they smell as bad as crickets? That to me is the only draw back of kepping beardies is haveing to purchase large amounts of cricks and the smell they produce. I clean the enclosure every time I empty a new box but still.... PHEWWWWW!!! I hate the stench... The sound they make at night is cool though.... Kinda like being in the outback...LOL

Thanks,
Robert

For the most part the different roach species do not smell. Most do have a defensive smell that they release when "threatened". This smell however is not constant and kind of disperses as soon as they are left alone. Some roach species have a stronger defense smell then others, some seem to have none. I would highly recommend roaches over crickets. I had forgotten what it was like to have crickets until my hatchlings hatched this year again and YUCK I cant wait till I dont have to buy anymore crickets. I clean out the cricket bins every 5-7 days and it still smells.

Goodluck! LindsayMarie

=-P

I have the lobsters and they are so easy to keep and all of my dragons love them. It is so funny that you just posted this because I was just going to post about crix and never buying them again. I have been buying crix until the roaches got going but I think I'm going to get some silkworms to try. NO MORE CRICKETS! It has been so humid here and I just lost 2000 crix. Roaches love humidity!

Anyway, I recommend starting with 100 adult roaches to get going. I started with 40 and I must have 1000s of babies in there now. I just have to wait until the grow a bit before feeding time. They have no smell and are so easy to keep. They are actually cool to watch. I have them in a 10 gal. reptile tank w/ screened lid and Vaseline around the top edge. Vaseline stops them from getting out, I haven't had one escape.

Draw back is that they are very good climbers. I supervise the dragons while they eat and actually throw in one at a time. It's good interaction between you and the dragon anyway. If you were to dump in the roaches and walk away, who knows were they could end up.

By the way, the ones at Mulberry Farms, the Orange Heads are not supposed to be able to climb glass like Lobsters. They might be better for ya.

well thats my issue as well, i live on the coast here in so cal and here in Encinitas there seems to be so much more humitidy then there was when i lived in Oceanside, i was also further from the beach there. I just cant keep the crickets alive here, and boy do they stink, no matter how often i clean, the bugs themselves seem to just stink. any idea of a good place to buy lobster roaches and how much i should be looking to spend on a starting bunch of 100? I hand feed my dragons anyhow, so throwing them in one at a time is no problem. I hand feed everything i give them one at a time, it makes it easier to know how much they are eating, and i dont like free buggies making homes in their enclosures, too much stuff to hide under and behind, besides they seem to enjoy it, when i open their enclosures i always get looked at with the most "loving" dragon eyes, as they think my hands always mean something good to eat =)

I got mine from Daves Zoo in PA (where I live), he had ads in the KS feeder classified. Check out the feeder section of the KingSnake classifieds.

Oh yeah, when I apply a nice coat of calcium dust to the roaches it slows them down some.

http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=28&de=92909

hey them bugs are pretty good looking, for roaches that is =P thanks for all of your help

I bought a established colony of 1000 mixed sized (Lobster Roaches). Eventually I plan on having 3 or more species of roaches and I think the next species I go with will be non climbers! Lobster roaches are probably the cheapest out there and definitely multiply quickly, but they are FAST and they are climbers. For some of my dragons its easy to throw in one at a time and they will run after the speedy gonzalez roach and eat it. Now I have a couple other dragons that are too laid back and SLOW to catch them!lol I have also tried feeding them straight from my hand, one at a time, but they release some kind of liquid on you that smells HORRIBLE as a defense smell. Yuck. Plus the last time I did it, Fiesty accidently bit my finger, luckily it was in the middle of my finger so she had no grip to completely bite down and rip like Dashe did when he was younger, leaving me with 5 stitches! Anyways, lobsters are good if you have patience and are not afraid to handle them individually and are willing to maybe use hemostats or freezer to slow them down a little. I just find it hard to do that to anything living, even if it is a insect like a roach. There are quite a few non climbers and flightless species out there but they do run a little bit more and dont produce babies as quickly as lobsters but they are probably worth the investment. But like I said lobsters are good too! Just be prepared for their speed. Take care, Lindsay

ps. Lobsters and orangeheads are two different species. Orangeheads are non climbers and flightless btw.

np
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~David - KDRKreatures
My Main Herps-
1.2 Bearded dragons (Ralph, Artemis, Cheech)
1.0 Veiled Chameleon (Chiquito)
1.0 Ringneck Snake (Striker)
1.1 Eastern Box Turtles (Athena and Mercury)

KDRKreatures-Home Page
My Email