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Hello evryone,
I have been researching feeder insects a bit trying to find out which are best to breed spacewise and maintenance wise and have come up with
-crickets
-roaches
-waxworms
-Flies
-mealworms
Any others I can add to that list?
I thought it would be wise to share the most important info I have found on breeding the insects mentioned above. I know I would have appreciated a post like this when I started anyway.
So here goes:
Crickets:
-Cardboard boxes work as containers
-Use brown packing tape around the side of the container to stop crickets climbing up
-no substrate needed
-egg boxes are ideal hiding places
- do not feed cucumber as it makes them smell
- varied diet will result in less cricket deaths: weetabix, oats and dog/cat food is good (+occasional carrot, potato, lettuce, fresh fruit)
-provide small water dish for drinking (not too deep as crickets will drown in it)
-lower humidity rather than higher is wanted
-crickets will not breed at room temps. temps need to be between 24 and 28 degrees C
-adult female crickets have a long egg depositing tube sticking out their backside whereas adult males do not. You only need 1 male per 4 females so feed the excess males away.
-use a shallow dish filled with damp soil for egg laying. Remove every few days and replace with new dish. Store egg dishes in warm humid environment (this is to prevent males eating the eggs).
-eggs take 2-3 weeks to hatch and hatchlings need to be kept humid
Roaches:
-the great thing about roaches is that they need alot less space than crickets do
-no noise and reduced smell compared to crickets, avoid cucumber with roaches too though
-Roaches do better with a higher humidity but this can encourage mould
- Same diet as crickets but will eat any odd scraps going and seem to really enjoy raisins, corn and mushrooms
-small water dish for drinking
-egg boxes for hiding places
-I would recommend using packing tape along the sides with all roaches to avoid escapes
-These need temps between 25 and 35 degrees C, the warmer the conditions, the higher growing and breeding rates will be
-male roaches have wings whereas female roaches only have wing stumps. Like with crickets, 1:4 male to female ratio is good
The 3 most common roaches seem to be :
Loster Roach (Naupheta cinerea) :
The fastest breeder. It can climb glass! Gives birth to live young. About 3cm big as adults.
Turkistan Roach(Blatta Lateralis) :
Nymphs are same size as pinheads and so ideal for slings. These cannot climb glass. Average sized roach reaching about 2-3cm. Can be bred as fast as lobsters if eggs are removed and stored in warm humid place.
One advantage of the turkestan compared to the other two roaches is that it does not bury itself to hide or "play dead" when fed to your T.
Although these roaches will not escape from their container one big problem with this species is transfering them from their container to your Tarantula without accidentally dropping one as they are fast and skittish. Apart from this speed issue they are in my opinion the perfect feeder insect.
Orange spotted Roach(Blaptica dubia) :
The slowest breeder out of the 3. Reaches 4-5 cm. Cannot climb glass. One advantage they have over the turkistans is that they are alot easier to catch(much slower and less shy) and thus also less likely to escape while feeding them.
Waxworms:
There are two types, the lesser waxworm and the greater waxworm.
These are by far the easiest insect to breed and it needs the least amount of space. It is a shame they cannot be used as a main diet and should only ever be used as occasional treats because they are highly fattening but their ease of breeding means that everybody should really have some.
Food: weetabix, ground up really finely, mixed with honey till moist looking but not too sticky.
Then to breed just chuck the food in to a container with the waxworms and keep warm(25-30 degrees). The warmer, the faster they grow.
After about 2 months, the waxworms will pupate into moths. Do not open the container while it is filled with moths. These moths only live for a week and should breed in this time laying lots of eggs. Remove all dead moths once they have died. After about 2 weeks you will notice the first caterillars crawling about after which they grow very fast.
Once the caterillars are big enough, I would recommend changing the food and starting over again.
It is very important to never ever give waxworms any moisture. Keep them bone dry.
You can see why these are so easy to keep as they literally only need checking on every month or so.
Flies:
The 3 most common flies are the small fruit fly(Drosophila melanogaster), the large fruitfly (drosophila hydei) and a curly wing variety of the common house fly (Musca domestica).
-Flies are the only insect on my list so far that will readily breed at room temps.
-good food has been weetabix and oats mixed together with some banana, add some water till it's a paste(then add cider vinegar, see below).
-They need a very high humidity
-In my experience, the best setup has been a tupperware container filled with moist soil to keep humidity high, then a little dish filled with their food.
-Such high humidity is inevitably going to make their food go mouldy but there is an easy way to prevent this: cider vinegar is very acidic and if mixed into the food mixture will prevent mould growing. The flies don't mind the vinegar at all.
-Musca flies need to be kept slightly different with low humidity and high humidity stages needed in their life time. Read more at
http://www.jangala.co.uk/Curly%20win...%20webpage.htm
Maggots:
-un-dyed maggots are a great way of feeding insects if you can find some in a tackle shop near you.
-can be stored in fridge and not worth breeding as long as you can get hold of a tackle shop selling them as bait.
And finally mealworms:
House the mealworms in a warm tupperware container filled with oats. A damp sponge attached to the lid of the container will provide a little humidity but they really do not need alot and oats can go mouldy very easily if kept too stale and moist.
Once they have grown into adult beetles feed additional dog biscuits and if they are getting enough heat they will breed and lay eggs into the oats and a month later or so worms will emerge.
I hope this helps somebody atleast
Please post if you have some useful tips regarding breeding any of these.
I have been researching feeder insects a bit trying to find out which are best to breed spacewise and maintenance wise and have come up with
-crickets
-roaches
-waxworms
-Flies
-mealworms
Any others I can add to that list?
I thought it would be wise to share the most important info I have found on breeding the insects mentioned above. I know I would have appreciated a post like this when I started anyway.
So here goes:
Crickets:
-Cardboard boxes work as containers
-Use brown packing tape around the side of the container to stop crickets climbing up
-no substrate needed
-egg boxes are ideal hiding places
- do not feed cucumber as it makes them smell
- varied diet will result in less cricket deaths: weetabix, oats and dog/cat food is good (+occasional carrot, potato, lettuce, fresh fruit)
-provide small water dish for drinking (not too deep as crickets will drown in it)
-lower humidity rather than higher is wanted
-crickets will not breed at room temps. temps need to be between 24 and 28 degrees C
-adult female crickets have a long egg depositing tube sticking out their backside whereas adult males do not. You only need 1 male per 4 females so feed the excess males away.
-use a shallow dish filled with damp soil for egg laying. Remove every few days and replace with new dish. Store egg dishes in warm humid environment (this is to prevent males eating the eggs).
-eggs take 2-3 weeks to hatch and hatchlings need to be kept humid
Roaches:
-the great thing about roaches is that they need alot less space than crickets do
-no noise and reduced smell compared to crickets, avoid cucumber with roaches too though
-Roaches do better with a higher humidity but this can encourage mould
- Same diet as crickets but will eat any odd scraps going and seem to really enjoy raisins, corn and mushrooms
-small water dish for drinking
-egg boxes for hiding places
-I would recommend using packing tape along the sides with all roaches to avoid escapes
-These need temps between 25 and 35 degrees C, the warmer the conditions, the higher growing and breeding rates will be
-male roaches have wings whereas female roaches only have wing stumps. Like with crickets, 1:4 male to female ratio is good
The 3 most common roaches seem to be :
Loster Roach (Naupheta cinerea) :
The fastest breeder. It can climb glass! Gives birth to live young. About 3cm big as adults.
Turkistan Roach(Blatta Lateralis) :
Nymphs are same size as pinheads and so ideal for slings. These cannot climb glass. Average sized roach reaching about 2-3cm. Can be bred as fast as lobsters if eggs are removed and stored in warm humid place.
One advantage of the turkestan compared to the other two roaches is that it does not bury itself to hide or "play dead" when fed to your T.
Although these roaches will not escape from their container one big problem with this species is transfering them from their container to your Tarantula without accidentally dropping one as they are fast and skittish. Apart from this speed issue they are in my opinion the perfect feeder insect.
Orange spotted Roach(Blaptica dubia) :
The slowest breeder out of the 3. Reaches 4-5 cm. Cannot climb glass. One advantage they have over the turkistans is that they are alot easier to catch(much slower and less shy) and thus also less likely to escape while feeding them.
Waxworms:
There are two types, the lesser waxworm and the greater waxworm.
These are by far the easiest insect to breed and it needs the least amount of space. It is a shame they cannot be used as a main diet and should only ever be used as occasional treats because they are highly fattening but their ease of breeding means that everybody should really have some.
Food: weetabix, ground up really finely, mixed with honey till moist looking but not too sticky.
Then to breed just chuck the food in to a container with the waxworms and keep warm(25-30 degrees). The warmer, the faster they grow.
After about 2 months, the waxworms will pupate into moths. Do not open the container while it is filled with moths. These moths only live for a week and should breed in this time laying lots of eggs. Remove all dead moths once they have died. After about 2 weeks you will notice the first caterillars crawling about after which they grow very fast.
Once the caterillars are big enough, I would recommend changing the food and starting over again.
It is very important to never ever give waxworms any moisture. Keep them bone dry.
You can see why these are so easy to keep as they literally only need checking on every month or so.
Flies:
The 3 most common flies are the small fruit fly(Drosophila melanogaster), the large fruitfly (drosophila hydei) and a curly wing variety of the common house fly (Musca domestica).
-Flies are the only insect on my list so far that will readily breed at room temps.
-good food has been weetabix and oats mixed together with some banana, add some water till it's a paste(then add cider vinegar, see below).
-They need a very high humidity
-In my experience, the best setup has been a tupperware container filled with moist soil to keep humidity high, then a little dish filled with their food.
-Such high humidity is inevitably going to make their food go mouldy but there is an easy way to prevent this: cider vinegar is very acidic and if mixed into the food mixture will prevent mould growing. The flies don't mind the vinegar at all.
-Musca flies need to be kept slightly different with low humidity and high humidity stages needed in their life time. Read more at
http://www.jangala.co.uk/Curly%20win...%20webpage.htm
Maggots:
-un-dyed maggots are a great way of feeding insects if you can find some in a tackle shop near you.
-can be stored in fridge and not worth breeding as long as you can get hold of a tackle shop selling them as bait.
And finally mealworms:
House the mealworms in a warm tupperware container filled with oats. A damp sponge attached to the lid of the container will provide a little humidity but they really do not need alot and oats can go mouldy very easily if kept too stale and moist.
Once they have grown into adult beetles feed additional dog biscuits and if they are getting enough heat they will breed and lay eggs into the oats and a month later or so worms will emerge.
I hope this helps somebody atleast
Please post if you have some useful tips regarding breeding any of these.
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