[santoury]

I do not seem to see many references to people using roaches - is this because they are too large ? What about newborns / hatchlings?

At any rate, if there are any people who raise any roaches, I'd love to hear your input, and what kinds you keep, and why.

I have a mixed tank (yes, yes, I know...) of Hissers, and 2 species of Blaps. It was more of a fun thing than anything else - but based on the success, and joy I've gotten from this 10-gallon community tank, I've decided I want to expand to other roaches!

 

[eldalote2]

It mainly depends on what frogs you are keeping.

I only feed nymphs to my terribilis because I feel like tincs and leucs would be too small.

My concern is that the roaches will escape while feeding and grow large in the frog tank and eventually bother the frogs.

I also do not feed roaches as a staple diet. It may be a once a month treat.

 

[santoury]

What type ?

 

[Gert-Jan]

Be carefull with them, i know a bunch of guy who fed roaches to their PDF's and
eventualy the roaches became a plague!

Several VIV's had to be rebuild/empty'd and thoroughly cleaned to get rid of the little bastards.

 

[Eric Walker]

"If" I were gonna feed some larger darts ( like terribilis ) roach nymphs I would say that
Blatta lateralis would be a good choice. they have a much thinner exoskeleton than many other roaches and the nymphs are pretty small as far as roachs go. I kepted them for a few years for some of my lizards. they breed fast. But they are wicked fast when they get loose.

 

[dom]

May sound gross to some, but could you just cut the heads off of them. Living in the good ol state of Florida roaches are a norm. I usually nail them with some blow darts and feed them to the Tarantulas. Anyways back to the subject at hand, if you cut the heads off of them they still move around for a min or two, which would trigger the movement need for the frogs to become interested in them. If the frogs do not go for it you can always remove them from the tank when they die. Just a suggestion

 

[Melo]

Ive bred dubia roaches when i was keeping my chameleon, she was small when i had the roaches and i could feed her the newly hatched babies, i would only feed the roaches to large darts like terribilis...maybe azureus depending on how early you can find the roach babies..they are very good at hiding haha

 

[Brotherly Monkey]

a good way to sift out the young is to punch a hole in the lid of a jar, that corresponds to the size roach you want, and place that in the colony with a bit of food.

If they're climbers you need to put a smear of vaseline across the top, witch tends to make things much messier, but still doable

 

[varanoid]

Living in the good ol state of Florida roaches are a norm. I usually nail them with some blow darts and feed them to the Tarantulas.

Hahaha I'm getting a hoot out of picturing this. You really need to post a video or something. Your darts are laced with poison from your frogs right? JK.

 

[Rain_Frog]

I'm going to warn you all-- I once kept B. lateralis and I found adult roaches that escaped my firebellied toad tank and ended up in the neighboring mantella tank on my shelf.

Roaches can squeeze through very tiny gaps. I have no idea how they climbed out and got into the other vivarium. I also found roaches that I fed out months ago that were nearly full grown.

It gave me the shivers. I have gone back to feeding out crickets and never will I return to roaches.

 

[dom]

Hahaha I'm getting a hoot out of picturing this. You really need to post a video or something. Your darts are laced with poison from your frogs right? JK.

One shot from across the bathroom, you can see the juice dripping out!

 

[santoury]

That dart is something else!

So, I'm looking for sources for some of the more exotic species - not just the usual. Who's good? I would only want 2 or 3 of any given species, not 100, for obvious reasons

 

[FwoGiZ]

im very knowledgeable about roaches, and blaptica dubias is what you are looking for

everything people mentionned here as a con, can't and won't happen with dubias
they won't breed in the tank
they won't escape the tank as they don't climb...
they're much slower than lateralis which is proportionnally talking, one of the fastest living thing btw
they don't bite, cry, fly, STINK, name it!
they're from far, the best all around feeder, and i know many many long time froggers (10-20+years) who never use supplements while having a staple diet of roaches and great success with frogs that lives 10years and more.
you can adjust the breeding speed with fresher or warmer temperature
they're actually one of the slowest breeder within roaches family, and the reason is that they don't lay eggs which is the same reason they don't stink
if you drop one of the floor, it will probably just stay there instead of running away instantly like lateralis and many other type of roaches!
if you live in the north, they probably couldn't even survive in your place as they're 100% tropical specie

their size ranges from 1/8 to over 2 inches so this is good for terribilis, maybe big tincs, galac, citron?
my whole herp collection have dubias, xept my baby terribs, and I must say it is more than fantastic
i have reeds, treefrogs, big frogs, terrestrial frogs, toads, geckos, tarantulas, scorps, beardies, fishes, turtle
even my dogs and cat will have dubias, I keep trying with my bird and gf tho...

 

[McBobs]

Honestly, I think that roaches for darts are much more hassle than payoff. Even the nymphs get much too large way too quick and they're hard to separate from the adults which are WAY too big. Bean beetles on the other hand are much easier as they don't get too big for most of the larger darts. The only downside to them is that it seems like the darts don't like them as much and they take some time getting the darts used to them.

Sent from my T-Mobile G1 using Tapatalk

 

[eldalote2]

Maybe not as a payoff for only darts, but for us with other reptiles, it is definitely easier than crickets!

B. Discoidalis are also a REALLY neat roach. Mostly the same as Dubias, just a little larger as adults. The nymphs would be ok to feed up until the second(?) instar i believe. Just a really freakin' cool roach!

Dom, you should have brought that toy to the meet!

 

[FwoGiZ]

roaches are from far the easiest to breed feeder I have... MUCH easier than beatles and we all know how easy they are!
basically I clean the tub once a year, and toss some veggies rip or left over everynow and then, a bit of cat food and we good!
no water needed...
they aren't complicated to separate once you have the right method
I personnal pick one of the egg crate, and tap on it over a bowl (I use bowl feeding methods with these since they burrow in substrat, which is the real and only downside to me)
all the small nymph will fall in the bowl and I just toss the bowl in any viv I want.... this takes me around 10sec from the tub, into the vivarium; more than 30 nymph ready to get eaten.

The real problem is what to do with adults? You definately don't want a BIG colony... I guess you could keep around 10 female and get rid of the roaches that get too big, and once a year, you let another 20roaches reach adult and be the next breeder for the next year (they live a bit less than 2 years)

bean beetle are not a good staple so you can't really make a comparison
altho I wouldn't use dubias for staple for PDF, I think using them as a treat with a tiny colony (inside a shoebox) would be very doable, MUCH easier than you think, and very very profitable to any darts who will have them

I haven't tried yet, but you know, animals know what's good for them! If you manage to get the frog(pdf) to eat just a few, chances are that the frog will crave for them afterwards, im pretty sure!
it worked with basically EVERY herp I have.. no jokes! I just haven't tried this with PDF as they're all too small now
I got a turtle that has been fed pellets in its water dish for 4 years... the owner told me he tried everything and never got the turtle to eat ANYTHING else
It took me a while, but I manage to trick the turtle into eating a few small roaches spreaded around the pellets... a few days later, the turtle would climb the glass when seeing me, begging for nothing else than roaches same goes for the beardie and like I say, all my animals will readyly have them

 

[Ed]

bean beetle are not a good staple so you can't really make a comparison

On what data are you basing this statement?

Ed

 

[Ed]

they won't breed in the tank

Really? Since when? Frog enclosures provide all of thier needs...

they won't escape the tank as they don't climb...

Except for the nymphs which can climb silicone and escape by climbing the corners of the enclosures.

they're from far, the best all around feeder, and i know many many long time froggers (10-20+years) who never use supplements while having a staple diet of roaches and great success with frogs that lives 10years and more.

I'm going to throw the BS flag here. Roaches as well as other insects have incorrect calcium to phosphorus ratios one of the more common causes of "MBD". This is even before we get to the issues of vitamin A, and D3.

 

[Golden State Mantellas]

everything people mentionned here as a con, can't and won't happen with dubias
they won't breed in the tank
they won't escape the tank as they don't climb...

They can and will breed in the tank. I breed dubias as well and find babies in my beardie enclosures regularly when I leave large nymphs in there after a feeding. They will morph out, feed on driftwood and breed.

Also, they can and will climb silicone joints and textured surfaces, such as Rubbermaid tubs. They will not climb slick surfaces, such as glass or Sterilite tubs.

That being said, I love roaches, and am able to feed newborns to mantellas.

Be careful when you make claims such as "they won't breed in the tank," and "they don't climb."

 

[Golden State Mantellas]

Ed, you beat me to it!