Blaptica Dubia Roaches

[Jamie Cooper]

Hi all,

I am considering switching from crickets to roaches. Two reasons really. Firstly I live in the middle of nowhere and have to have my crickets delivered which almost doubles the price! And secondly I hear they contain more protein and are better for my T's than crickets.

So my questions are, how easy are these to raise and breed? Do any of you use roaches? Pros and cons?

Any information is very much appreciated.

Thanks, Jamie.

[Mark Harrison]

Starter roach colonies can be anything from £5 to £60-70 for an already established (albeit big) colony. Im pretty sure Invictica sells starter colonies and i swear by them. I bought 3 tubs at the BTS to go with a few tubs i bought form another show of the same sp and in four months i dont need to buy crickets...i only do for a change in diet. I keep my roaches in a 24ltr tub with a heat mat on the underside and feed a mixture of cat pellets (which they love!) bran and fish food. I sometimes also put in the leftovers from carrots and leafy veg. For water i use bug gel to help limit humidity and drowning. Keep them dry and hot and before long you will have more than what you know what to do with them

[matthew spooner]

dubia roaches would be a good roach to choose as they cannot climb or flly, therefore making them easy to manage

[Jamie Cooper]

Thanks for the reply guys. I don't really want to spend £60 - 70 though. I'm quite happy to start off with a small number and wait a few months for them to start multiplying. What number of roaches would you recommend to get started?

Thanks, Jamie.

[Mark Harrison]

dont worry they are cheap to start off with. £5 netted me about roughly 5 females and 2-3 males with some smaller sizes included. As i said £60-70 is for a huge colony possibly into the 100's. I originally started off with a 1-2 tubs and added more when i could afford to and now its worth its weight in gold

[Jamie Cooper]

Hi Mark, thanks for the information mate.

I've just ordered 10 adults from Dartfrog, just under £5.00.

Jamie.

[Christopher Smallman]

As you have already ordered your roaches maybe this site can offer you some tips.

http://www.roachcolony.co.uk/roach_guide.html

Chris.

[Jamie Cooper]

Thanks Chris. Great site with good information. All seems quite simple really.

Jamie.

[JensFalk]

Dont switch, use multiple food sources instead of only one.

[Jamie Cooper]

Thanks guys, so I think I'm sorted. One thing concerning me is the required temps for them to breed. 85F + is not going to be easy to reach, especially with Autumn and winter approaching. Does it really need to be this high?

Jamie

[Christopher Smallman]

Im afraid it does if you want to breed them.

Seems there is always a drawback no matter what prey items we go for Grrrrrrrr lol.

Chris

[Jamie Cooper]

Thanks Chris,

Oh well, I like a challenge! Your right, nothing's ever simple! Lol

[R Thomas]

I am a bit confused as to why you would consider 85 degrees F to be hard to maintain. Surely if you keep tarantulas then the majority of those require similar temperatures and perhaps you could place your roach colony in, on or near an enclosure to keep the temperature high enough for breeding? Sorry if I have somehow missed something here but I often keep my spiderlings in, on or near a large T's enclosure for the same warmth.

Best Regards,

Richard

p.s. please keep us informed how your colony grows. I am also looking for a new food source to suppliment crickets and the £5 investment in stock (if it grows) seems a good starting point.

[Jamie Cooper]

I am a bit confused as to why you would consider 85 degrees F to be hard to maintain. Surely if you keep tarantulas then the majority of those require similar temperatures and perhaps you could place your roach colony in, on or near an enclosure to keep the temperature high enough for breeding? Sorry if I have somehow missed something here but I often keep my spiderlings in, on or near a large T's enclosure for the same warmth.

85F + is going to be quite hard to maintain during winter, even with a heat mat. None of my tarantulas are kept at that temperature anyway. The temperature in my enclosures range from 72 - 80 during the course of the day. I can't get them higher which is OK because I don't need to. Last winter I struggled to maintain these temps. They dropped to something like 68 - 78.

The roaches are fine for now, but those cold winter nights ahead are what was concerning me. Time will tell I suppose.

Jamie.

[R Thomas]

Well I have just placed an order for 50 Turkistan roaches (Blatta lateralis) off eBay for £5 + £2 p+p. I have chosen this species as the majority of my spiders are still way too small to eat the larger Dubia species which I believe has young that are fairly big when born.

I will let you know how I get on breeding them which they say requires similar setup to the Dubia but are supposedly faster breeders.