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Messed up Jaw

gut loading

i still think that the AVERAGE person with the AVERAGE amount of herps SHOULD gut load. it helps a little and i dont see why not.

roaches are a great source for herps diet however i dont think that any person shouel just give ONE type of feed to their pets. every different feeder insect has a different neutritional value some might be higher in protien than others, and still others may be higher in fat. this is why i try to feed mine a variety of insects. from silk worms to crickets to roaches... now the staple diet is crickets because i dont have time to order roaches in large quantities, and im not home for when they get delivered. most of my feed suply comes from a little reptile store near my house on my way home from work. mealies crickets roaches and even superworms are great for a staple. my cousin is a herpitologist and she recomended that i feed a variety of insects to my geckos because of teh variety they woudl naturally ingest. again like i said some peopel may not be able to with time restraints and what not. i am very busy myself with grad school and raisning 12 leopards is tough work. granted im sure there are some of you who handle MANY more than that but for me its a lot.

i enjoy reading some of the sugestions this forum has i have not dealt with roaches that much and i didnt realize that there were so many of you out there that use them on a regular basis. this is great! thanks
Andy
 
What i like about roaches is that you dont have to order them. Clay gave me about 30-50 roaches last Thanksgiving and i havent had to buy an insect in over a year now. If you look in the tub we keep them in there are more than you will ever be able to count. Buying a small colony of roaches and all you have to do is put some heat tape underneath the tub and you are set forever.

Oh and i am busy too being a senior in college. Thats why i like the roaches because of their convenience. Especially this time of year ordering insects and they often come to you dead because its really too cold for shipment. Now if i was back home where there are a lot of bait shops it would not matter as much but since i am in charlotte(the city) its harder to come across them.
 
You really can't order roaches as feeders anyway, you order them so you can start your own colony. While they're not expensive insects, they are too expensive to buy directly as feeders.
As far as time involved, I have somewhere between 10 and 15,000 lobster roaches right now all sizes included, in four seperate colonies, one colony of Discoid roaches which numbers a few hundred, and a few hissers since I recently sold those colonies. In all I spend about 15 minutes every 3 days or so, and that's all the time involved in caring for that many bugs.
I also give them chicken feed, but it is Purina Layena..i believe it is for laying hens, so i don't know if there is a difference between that and what you're using.
Click to expand...
I'm sure it's very similar. I've been using "Big M" brand, which is what the local grocery store carries, but the last bag I got from wal mart. I can't think of the brand right off but it is crumble instead of pellets, which is ground up to a point and I believe will be easier for the smaller roaches to eat.
Higher protein is required with some species of roaches to avoid wing biting, but lobsters aren't prone to that. I can't remember the exact protein content of the feed I use but it seems like it is 16%. I know I only feed the mice a food with a minimum 20% protein and the laying mash doesn't have that much.
 
Andy - what type of roaches have you tried and where did you get em from??

Clay - wanna shoot a few roaches my way for a sample?? tee hee...JK..:D ;)

i feel that also being a college student...i am also very poor and very busy....perhaps roaches are the way to go...

can either John or Clay give a quick run down on the care of the roaches? say the lobster roach in particular? Or do you guys recommend another type that is similar in size and softness, yet maybe doesn't climb glass??

John and Clay - do you both feed strictly on roaches?? would you recommend them for beardies, or small skinks as well??

-tons of questions as always,
Karin :D
 
you just need to check out Clay's website, he has it all spelled out for ya.
http://roaches.arbreptiles.com/lobsters.phtml

im doing a little bit of advertising for Clay, since that is my major and everything ;)

They work perfect for me, except when girls come over and ask what you feed your geckos and spider. Sometimes we tell them and then they get freaked out by the thousands of roaches that are sitting in a tub in your living room. That outweighs everything bad about crickets tho. I have nightmares about the smell of rotting dead cricket bodies.....the thought of it still makes me gag.
 
Karin i have tried teh lobster roaches however i only got them from a guy at the swap to try! he did not give me enough to make a colony. i only got about a dozen. they are great the geckos seemed to love em! but like i said i believe strongley in a variety of insects. if i were the gecko i wouldlnt want to have to eat stinky crickets all my life! or even crunchy mealies either!

yes CLAY! please shoot me an IM more about startinga colony! im very interested in keeping about 100-200 at any given time so that i can just have a good stock! is that possible?

thanks again.

Andy
 
I have nightmares about the smell of rotting dead cricket bodies.....the thought of it still makes me gag.
Click to expand...

I so agree! I've only ordered large quantities twice and both times the 700 leftover crickets die within the week. Stink city!!!

I think I may try switching to roaches. Can little geckos eat them too? I guess I am invisioning these crunchy little roaches that may require a little oompf to bite through.
 
little ones can eat them too

My baby all we do is find a smaller roach and squish its head a little and it just sits there moving its legs. Usually she takes it right up and they wont move much at all.
 
how often do you have to clean out your cricket bins and what is the smell factor compared to crickets???

i absolutely hate keeping crix, we stopped getting them in bulk order (we usually do 500 every two weeks, because 1000 dies off too quickly) but not, we would rather buy them in much smaller amounts at the petstore (chicago reptile house) every week or so instead. the smell was horrendous...and we even got a major fruit fly attack from them.

-Karin
 
i think you mean roach bins

We usually clean them out really well once every week or 2......my colony is not near the size of Clays, but there are still a ton of roaches, my roommates were commented today that there are so many of them in there. I cant describe the smell, well since i feed them oranges, there is an oranage smell that usually overcomes whatever smell they produce. Now some people are actually allergic to roaches, me and my roommates are not, but some people are. The smell is very minimal, nothing like crickets, when i use to buy them by the 500 or 1000s there were so many that die it was rediculous to clean out. I havent had that many roaches actually die, that is what the weird part is. They can live for almost a year so for me i rarely see many dead ones. Unlike what is seen with crickets when half of the colony crokes before you have had them a week.
 
how would i be able to start my own colony? woudl one of you gentlemen be willing to loan me about 30-40 of your colony? hmmm? i woudl be interested in suplimenting them into my geckos' diets! speaking of i need to get some superworms again.

thanks
Andy
 
I always say, if your roaches smell, then you're doing something wrong.
They do have a scent, but it's hard to describe. It isn't offensive though, and smells alot like what you feed them.
The one thing that will create odor in the roach tubs is dampness. You do not want condensation or any moisture to collect inside the tub. It will quickly foul the fecal pellets and the odor rivals crickets. The key is just not to let that happen, use adequate ventilation.
The roaches' waste material is dry and what will cause the condensation in the tubs is the humidity created by the vegetable matter you feed them if there's not enough ventilation. This is particularly common during the summer months.
Lobster toaches have wings, although they do not fly. I always kept a vented lid on the tubs just in case, but this summer I got rid of the lids entirely to achieve maximum ventilation. They do not escape and the lack of lids just makes it easier for me to service the tubs.

As for cleaning, I clean my tubs probably about every other month. Once I get an inch or so of fecal pellets in the bottom of the tub, I go ahead and break it down and clean it out. Cleaning it is just a matter of dumping the waste and wiping the bottom out with a damp paper towel, but removing the roaches can take some time if you try to get every last one you can.
During the summer I normally pour the waste material into a rubbermaid box and freeze it in the rodent freezer for a couple of days before throwing ti out, just to ensure no bugs are thrown out live. They wouldn't survive the winter, but I still try to keep from introducing any foriegn creatures into the woods.
It's easiest just to have two tubs for each colony when cleaning. Then you just transfer the roaches into the alternate tub where they remain until the next cleaning time.

On the subject of allergies, some people do exhibit an allergy to roaches, however it's normally with the hissers. There's something about them and their feces that causes it. I suffered from it myself. When cleaning the tub I would sneeze, my nose would run, and at times I would get asthma syptoms. I experience none of that with the lobsters though.
 
I hope you're supplementing him now. It's extremely important for babies and juveniles to grow properly. You're more likely to give not enough calcium than too much. I've heard a ton of MBD cases but not a single hypercalcemia one.
 
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