Breeding roaches

Discussion in 'Feeder Forum' started by 99ford, Jul 10, 2010.

  1. 99ford

    99ford Embryo

    Messages:
    6
    Hello everyone I'm new to the forums and I just got a lovely leopard gecko. Since running to the pet store every week for food is a pain I've been searching around here for a sustainable food source for my gecko. Crickets seem smelly and difficult so I wanted to breed roaches. I just need a small colony to feed just 1 Leo but I don't know what kind of roaches to breed can anyone point me into the right direction. I need something relatively small cause my girl Sydney is still a juvy. I was kinda thinking dubia but they might be to large. I'm leaning towards turks but I don't like that they can climb glass.
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

    Messages:
    5,483
     
  3. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

    Messages:
    5,483
    Turkistan roaches (blatta lateralis) cannot climb glass = ) they would be an excellent choice for your leo. Even the adults will not exceed a size that an adult leo could not handle.

    I personally breed both, and they are both excellent feeder roaches. The problem your going to run into with dubia is size as you've mentioned, and its going to cost much more to get a dubia colony started. You'll easily be able to find appropriate sized nymphs in a colony of dubia to feed, but your going to probably end up with a surplus of roaches that are too large and your colony will begin to get larger than you need...you could also sell excess though. Also, dubias aren't quite as prolific as the lateralis so your going to need to give the colony some time to get established after your purchase.

    Turkistan roaches are great... they dont climb although I've seen the males "flutter." It's only happened when ive dropped them so it was more like falling with style, so I wouldn't be concerned about the roaches climbing or flying on you. What I would be concerned about is their speed. Turkstain roached (also known as red runners) are FAST. Very fast. On the brightside they really dont smell, dont chirp, and dont jump, so as long as your careful and understand that if they get away from you they can be hard to keep up with, they are WAYYYYYY better than crickets. The other great thing about the lateralis is that most herps love them, leos included. I've had some trouble getting certain species to eat my dubia because they tend to hide, hold still, or move very slowly which doesn't trigger the feeding response in some reptiles. Lateralis on the other hand look like bright red candy and they are always on the move.

    I ordered my initial colony from http://aaronpauling.com . He's great, excellent service and the roaches arrived promptly and in great condition. He's also got the lowest prices on the turks that I've seen (and dubia for that matter). I'd send you some myself if I hadn't just sold off a couple thousand = )
     

Share This Page