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?? for mulit herp breeder/owners

I

ItsAHausFull

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We have been into Leo's for almost 2 years and are really loving it. We will be adding a Beardie in Sept. We have done tons of research and are in the process of building a cage for him/her so it will be set -up well ahead of time for temp checks.
My ?? is with 12+ leo's and now a Beardie...what common feeder can we start a colony of to help control costs. I HATE crickets. They are a pain to remove uneaten ones as there always seems to be one that hides till later, and there always seems to be an escapee. The cats love chasing the cricket's! But there is nothing worse then watching a cat chow down on a cricket.
Lobster roaches seems to be a good choice for both but I wanted the opinion of some w/ experience. We learned the hard way in the beginning not to get advice from a pet store.(a recent trip to a pet store had a woman scolding me that we fed or our hatchling mealies...they eat their way through the stomach of babies!) Book's seem to have as many opinions on the "best" feeder as there are "best" toppings for pizza!
I figure a Lobster colony would offer us size variation for age approiate feeding as well as good nutrition. Anyone care to offer an opinion...I'll take any advice I can get...at least here I can trust the advice! Thanks
 
I have used mealworms for a year and 1/2 and they are quite easy to breed. They do turn into beetles but they are pretty cheap. You may not like the amout of chitin they contain, but they dont escape, make no noise, smell, etc. Super worms can be fed to large beardies. They arent fast either. They will not eat through the reptiles stomach, myth... They are my favorite. Easy to dust too. They are extremely convienient to me. Just keep em in oatmeal and throw in some non citrus fruits and veggies. Potatoes, carrtos, and apples do well. Remove the beetles and put them in a separate container and they will make more mealies for you! My opinion though.
 
Lobster roaches would work great and are probably the cheapest most prolific specie to feed. Your bearded dragon will eat a lot so there is a plus right there. The leopards will like them too. You could also get some of the non-climbing roaches like orange heads, discoid, death head, orange spot or six spot. They will breed a lot slower than the lobsters and take longer to establish a colony.

Besides roaches and crickets you can feed mealworms and superworms. Oh I don’t know what that pet store was thinking but they won’t eat their way out of the animal’s stomach even babies. I think your best bet would be roaches.
 
I agree, roaches are easy to maintain and breed. I have lobser roaches and some orange spotted, the latter in the development stage. They are more expensive and slower to start, but as Cody said, they don't climb. I should say that I have not had major problems with the lobster roaches. I use a large Rubbermaid tub and apply a heavy layer of petroleum jelly around the top. That really does seem to contain them well.

I still have some mealworms and superworms to offer some variety and I still use some crickets though I hope to phase out of them over the next few months as my roach colonies mature.
 
I would agree with previous posts...roaches are the best & cheapest feeder. You could also use mealies, silkworms and supers as supplements.
 
Mealworms and superworms won't eat through stomachs, but supers do bite. I had a female (Nana) recently got bitten by a super, so, lesson is learned, don't leave supers in a dish with them overnight...(I am sure the super bit her, coz I found super guts/juice on top of her humid hide).

nana_0707_01.jpg


By the way, if cost is not a factor, are silkworms good as staple? better than crickets?
 
We tried silkworms. The leo's ignored them. We tried hand feeding them (...our guys will eat from our hand if foods offered...and sometimes they think food is there and it's not and they try to eat a finger tip...LOL) then the worms were put in the food bowl and they sniffed and left them there. By the next morning the silkies were crawling around the cage.I went to take them out and had to clean the cage...they left silk as they roamed.It reminded me so much of spiders I HAD to wipe it all out. I think we'll try the leo's out on the roaches and if they eat it we'll start a colony. We would keep some others around for variety...but hopefully we will make out well w/ the roaches.Thanks for the help
 
I am not trying to be funny as I honestly do not know, but wouldn't a few escaped crickets be better then escaped roaches? Also I have had the misfortune of being where large numbers of cockroaches were gathered and they reaaly stunk. Do these lobster roaches stink?
 
I did some fact finding and lobster roaches are from tropical areas and wouldnt survive well once escaped and need to be warm to breed. Living in upstate NY...the first frost will get anyone who the cats miss. The upkeep is minimal, and they will smell less then crickets. They have more protein and softer shells. Seems the advice I got here and the info I found from a few sites has convinced me the lobster roach is a great option for our 12 (soon to be more) leo's and the Beardie we will be getting in Sept. I will have to get over the "EWWW" factor...but I know from the photos they look nothing like cockroaches! But then again...the cockroaches I've seen in NYC subway looked more like a small turtle than a bug!!! Man !! They were HUGE!!! :nuts:
 
Darkangel said:
I am not trying to be funny as I honestly do not know, but wouldn't a few escaped crickets be better then escaped roaches? Also I have had the misfortune of being where large numbers of cockroaches were gathered and they reaaly stunk. Do these lobster roaches stink?
Click to expand...
As Denise said, these species are tropical in origin and would not survive a winter in most of the US. I have heard from breeders that escapees are not known to colonize houses. As for smell, my roach colonies don't smell. Some roaches do produce a defensive odor, or so I understand, but not true for the two varieties that I keep, lobster roaches and orange spotted roaches. Crickets, on the other hand, stink!
 
progeckos said:
You could also get some of the non-climbing roaches like orange heads, discoid, death head, orange spot or six spot.
Click to expand...
Six-spotted roaches are a bit too massive I think for leopard geckos. The nymphs are pretty chunky and not nearly as soft as some of the other choices out there.
 
I am all for roaches!
I did try to ween my guys off crickets. I have some that have won their argument, though, that they are to old to change. They want crickets, so they get them. But at least I am down to small amounts of them so little stink. Lobsters are great. IF they do get out they can live on their own in your home for a short period of time. I moved a chair and screeched when a few darted.....After vigorus vacumming under all furniture the problem is taken care of.
One trick I have learned. Roll a few bath towels and place them under or around racks. If a Lobster gets out they climb in there. Once a week take the towels outside and shake them in a trash can.
I don't have time to hand feed each and everyone so I did start using less Lobsters as I was worried about them not getting eaten and escaping. My mother refuses to come to my house now as she got to experience roaches Florida style....I mean palmetta bugs....so she is too freaked out that I have huge breeding colonies in my basement of Lobsters, Discoids, and Hissers....
But wow, Beardies love them.....
Good luck!
 
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