Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just snapped this pic earlier. When the little melinus
heard the camera snap, it dropped the roach and headed
for cover. The roach hide behind the water pan. 10 mins
later the monitor was back out basking. After a few more
mins I heard a ruckus, the roach had been found and was
being thoroughly abused. At one point the roached was
almost swallowed but then spit up and left it for a few
moments. The monitor had another go at it and the roach
was history.
Thanks for looking.
Neal

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pale reason hides the infinite from us

How are you containing the roaches in the enclosure? I have a colony of about 500 and haven't fed any of them to my argus because I'm worried that the roach will make its way out of the cage. My wife would not be too happy with me if that happened.
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hbailey

0.0.1 argus monitor
1.1 butterfly agama (L. Reevesi)

I'm glad you asked, cuz I'm sure that your Argus would love to eat some roaches. In the case of the pic I just posted, I just threw the roach in and the baby melinus grabbed it. Given the strong feeding response of Argus monitors I don't see why that wouldn't work for you. My wife is pretty cool with my weird interests, so I really wouldn't sweat it if a hisser or 2 escaped. I don't think that would lead to an infestation.

There are many ways to feed roaches and keep them contained. Prekilling and clipping there legs are two of them. I don't really care for those and prefer to offer them in bowl with (here's the 'secret') a thinly coated ring of lard around the inside of the bowl. Every roach related website I've seen reccomends vaseline for this purpose. While I don't think vaseline is super toxic, I don't really want my animals ingesting it. I also use lard to ensure that the roaches stay in their homes.

I have colonies of hissers and lobsters. Roaches are great, they're nutricious and virtually free. I really don't know why anyone would waste their money on nasty crix.
Enjoy your roaches!
Neal
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pale reason hides the infinite from us

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hbailey

0.0.1 argus monitor
1.1 butterfly agama (L. Reevesi)