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Switching from crickets to roaches

Rebel Dragons

Rebel Dragons

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Has anyone here switched from crickets to roaches 100%??? I know my beardies loved the roaches but I just couldn't stomach touching them. :ack2: I tried..........

For those of you that have switched, how much are you saving on feeder costs now that you have cut out crickets???

Was it worth the switch???
 
There is no advantage to crix over roaches!

Cockroaches are nutritionally superior, live longer, breed better, and require less time spent on them that crickets. There is no advantage to crix over roaches. More people are wanting to breed their own feeders. You dont buy cockroaches as feeders you buy them as breeders and then feed what they breed. If you love your animals and want the best for them then you must ask the question not can you afford them but can you afford not to. of course this also depends on the species of roaches you use. Hissers suck they breed slow and are all shell and fat as an example, as well as climb smooth surfaces. You also want to get species that can be fed at all stages of development. Meaning you dont want to use species where the adults get too big otherwise you end up with too many "breeders" :raspberry A couple of the more deservedly popular feeder species are Blaptica dubia a non glass climbing easily sexed roach and Blatta lateralis a non burrowing non digging very fast breeding easily sexed roach. For feeding larger lizards Blaberus fusca is a fast breeder that gets very large to see pics and sizes of various roaches I sell or have sold check out my gallery for more info at http://exoticfeeders.com For further info beyond the scope of a single response in a forum either send me a PM with a phone number or email me with your name and phone number to [email protected]

http://exoticfeeders.com isnt about your pets its about what your pets eat :eatsmiley :eatpointe
 
I switched to mealies. I now pay essentially nothing for live food costs as mealies are cheap and convenient to raise. Some may say that certain species of roaches may be superior because of less chitin and I can't argue with that, but my beardies get lots of salad and are healthy, and the mealies are sooooo easy and soooo cheap to raise.
 
We have not switched 100% to roaches, but we have added lobsters to our diet in the last few months. Our dragons absolutely love them. We maintain a moderate breeding colony in minimal space. ((**I should say Rob does - for I wont touch the things. )) They are easy to maintain and seem to breed readily at room temperature. But I don’t see much of a difference in upkeep costs between them and the crix.

As for switching completely to feeding roaches, that is not something that we plan to do. We believe that variety is the key to happy, healthy dragon. Our diet consists of crickets, super worms, lobsters, snails and the occasional pinky with plenty of greens and veggies.

V.
 
Variety for the sake of variety...

Variety in and of itself isnt better. If the food animals in question offer different nutrients that complement each other then variety is good. As an example Stick insects eat only leaves thus they are a low protein animal and are favored by many people who keep chameleons. Crickets fed high protein diets are a high protein animal so to speak. Roaches are also. So a diet that includes say Stick insects and roaches is a varied, balanced diet. Since crickets are nutritionally inferior to roaches there is no advantage to offering crickets and roaches instead of just roaches. In that cases roaches are better than roaches and crickets. I do agree that mono doets are not in the best interest of most reptiles. Snails, worms, cockroaches, Silkworms fed on mulberry, Tomato hornworms fed on bell peppers, firebrats, flies etc are all good and different items that can be used in a varied diet. Lobster roaches are a pain to deal wth as they climb glass and can have babies in the animals enclosures. They are however a good feeder as far as nutrition. However as for a direct cricket size replacement Blatta lateralis are superior. They lay egg cases so that they can be removed in animals cages if need be to prevent tiny nymphs from bothering animals too large to eatthem. They also do not climb glass, dig or burrow and breed considerably faster than lobster roaches. There are other insects I like even better than roaches that breed very well but thats a story for another topic :)

[email protected]

Coming eventually flightless houseflies aka terflies
 
Mine LOVE roaches and i'm breeding discoids right now. I will order lobsters once and i while and slowly feed them off combined with their supers. NOTE: mine are nearing adult and that is why i feed supers.
I do NOT suggest feeding mealworms, at all, to any age beardie. Their chitin is just too hard and there are too many other great feeders to resort to using them.
 
i feed my guy mealies only along with his salad and he loves it. i do have discoids but i'm trying to get them breeding, so i don't have any small ones for him yet. i actually have to get a bigger rubbermaid for them and more egg cartons to house them in. hopefully in another month or three i will be having babies for him to munch on.
 
I do understand the difference between the nutritional values of feeder items - and the importance of the upkeep and gutloading of them. We offer different diets to different feeders and things run fairly smoothly.

But, variety is variety, and we do not maintain our feeding schedule just for the sake of variety - but for our animals to acclimate and do well in their new homes.
If I were to feed solely roaches and no crickets to our dragons - that would leave our customers no choice but to feed roaches. Dragons do prefer the roaches and if allowed, I'm sure they would refuse crickets all together in preference to the roaches. Fact is that many people do not want to feed roaches to their animals, let alone maintain a colony of them in their home... not only are they too expensive to purchase weekly as feeders - they are also not as readily available as crickets.
And I also know that eating whatever food item is offered, whether it is roaches, crickets, silks, etc... the importance is that they DO eat. Offering a variety of prey items, introduces the dragons to many types food. This way, the customer still has many options available when planning the future diet of the animal. We find this to be the most stress-free option - for both the dragon and its new owner.

V.
 
I currently have a colony of Discoids and another sizable colony of Lobsters going right now. We still plan on feeding some crickets for the same reason that Vicky just pointed out. I find that the lifespan of roaches and their proliferation by far makes them a more suitable feeder for myself to try to maintain a colony of rather than crickets. When you start buying 14,000+ crickets per week you find yourself willing to "touch" things you wouldn't normally consider. I would just start a colony of crickets but it seems to me that a colony of roaches are just more easily maintainable.

Vicky, Shannon will not touch the roaches as well. :hehe: That leaves me to do a lot of feeding but I figure it will be worth negating the 600 dollar expenditure on crickets we dish out each month.
 
I agree with what's been said about variety. I breed over 30 species of cockroaches, but I still include crickets and silkworms as part of the diet.

BTW, since it was brought up in the thread, I don't believe Blatta lateralis will ever rank superior to either crickets or lobster roaches. In theory, yes, they're great. But unlike lobster roaches, they actually look like ordinary household pests which automatically makes them very unpopular. Plus, if you accidentally drop one (which will inevitably happen), good luck trying to pick it up. Their legs are very long in proportion to their bodies which makes them speed demons, but they also have very long antennae that enable them to dodge your hand. Most people seem to think lobster roaches are amazingly fast or unbearable to touch, so I think it'll be a long time before the general herp crowd favors lateralis. I only recommend them to people who are specifically looking for tiny feeders (namely dart frog breeders), not for people who are looking for a cricket replacement.
 
Thanks for all the great information on feeder roaches everyone. I think I'm going to give them another try. My latest cricket order was delayed by a week and arrived on deaths doorstep. Till then I am paying $22.00 a box from my local pet store. :hot:

I'm thinking I can use some roaches as a safety net in case another delay happens.
 
Got my roaches this week and was very happy with them. I ordered them from Olivia, www.bugchick.com and they look great.

I did have a crisis though. In my "genius moment" of the day. I taped up the bins and dumped the discoids in the tub. All was great until I got to the lobster roaches. I dumped them in the bin and those suckers ran right up the sides of the bin and over the tape too. Roaches were doing high diving acts off the edge of the tub and running EVERYWHERE!!! Now here's where my "genius moment" comes into play. I was doing this all on my kitchen table. :slamit: I would say 50 roaches got loose and have now invaded the kitchen. We were up half the night trying to catch these things. I have another mission planned for tonight. Hopefully we get them all before it gets ugly and I have to break out the raid.................
 
Glue boards Mike!
We use the ones they have at Walmart - put a little peanut butter on the middle of it and hopefully it will attract them before mom sees one running across the floor...
 
Right now I am using any and every trick and tip I have heard of. I think we caught most of them. Thankfully my mom won't be home for at least another week or more.

Not one of my finer moments, thats for sure. :slamit:
 
I lost half of my first order of roaches, for some reason I didnt believe that they were that fast and eager to get out but they are. Since then though I have completely stopped feeding crickets. They enjoy the roaches more, they are supposedly better for them, and I havent made a bug order for 3 months. It also seems that my supers just reproduce on thier own. I bought a thousand a few months ago and them alot and I still have a bin full. I only have 6 dragons so my cricket bill wasnt as high as some others but It made a dent. I figure I'm saving $100 month with roaches and supers over crickets.
 
Rebel Dragons said:
I was doing this all on my kitchen table. :slamit: I would say 50 roaches got loose and have now invaded the kitchen.
Click to expand...
Be sure to check under your fridge too. That's probably where most of them are hiding.
 
Thats how we caught most of them. They were camped out under the fridge. I think we have caught most of what I lost but there may be a few more stragglers running around. We got about 30 the first night and 5 last night. And I think the cat got a couple too. So I'm pretty sure that we are nearing the end of our search mission. :)
 
Dachiu said:
heheh... to be a fly on the wall when your mom gets home and sees one in the kitchen - priceless!
Click to expand...

Thankfully she won't be getting home for a few more days. I intend to leave no trace of my :slamit: moment for her to find. If she sees one and freaks I'll just tell her I got the roaches from you Vickie. :raspberry J/k..................

I did feed a few of the nymphs out and the dragons gobbled em up like candy. I hope to offset the cricket bill some with the lobsters once they start breeding.
 
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