Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in Florida. So I can't have hissers.
I also have an intense fear of cockroaches. But if you seen the American cockroaches in florida and when they chase after you after you spray them, you can understand.

But crickets are a MAJOR PAIN. They stink. They die easy, and they are *expensive*.

I hear some cockroaches are ideal for frogs and lizards. I don't want a roach that can easily climb and get away and fly on me when I try to get them (which will freak me out. Ever hear my scream?) and run the speed of light--those american cockroaches ("Palmetto bugs" can go warp 8..lol..Ironically crickets don't bother me a bit.

So is there a cockroach that frogs and lizards *love*, and easy to deal with? No escape artists please (e.g., hissers are great escape artists but I can't have any anyway.)

thank you for any suggestions--and yes remember I live in florida.

JadeFox

what about silkworms?

Are the silk wormes you get at the pet store alive? How do you feed them to your frog, hold them in front or just let them good in his home?

No way! Once you feed any herp (to the exception of frogs which as a whole will eat anything) silkworms, they will refuse low fat foods such as crickets. In other words, a diet of silkworms is no different than having french fries and fast food burgers every single meal.

If you are going to feed silkworms, might as well go to the mouse route. Just as high in fat.

JadeFox

I am sorry but I beg to differ.I used to give my bearded like 30 waxworms a week.He had no trouble devouring crickets in between and after.Silkworms are no higher in fat than waxworms.They can be used as a staple just as crickets can be.Unless some new magical info has appearded again while I was upstairs....

i believe you mean wax worms are high in fat, not silkworms. They are just as good as crickets.

How long do they live?
How do you keep them?
are they easy to maintain?

I must be thinknig of waxworms or butterworms; there are so many I can't remember

Thanks for any information

Jade Fox

When compared on a kcal basis of usable nutrition,
commercial crickets are comaparable with silk worms with the crickets having 44út/kcal and the silkworms having 43% fat/kcal (and mouse pinks weighing in at 40% fat/kcal). The silkmoths also have a higher protien ratio (54%/kcal) as compared to the cricket (54%/kcal). (Mouse pinks are a 57%/kcal).

Reference Donoghue, Susan; Langenberg, Julie, 1996, Nutrition, in Reptile Medicine and Surgery, W.B. Saunders Co. Philadephia

Ed