best roach.

I'm strongly concidering breeding roaches for my cham, crickets suck, they're always getting away from me. what kind of roaches are you guys having success with? i was thinking maybe madagascan hissers since panthers find them in the wild, but they're soooo big...

I have a colony of blaptica dubias. The reason I have them instead of another species is because they don't climb slick sides, and they don't fly. They breed pretty quick once they are adults, and before long, they overrun the box. I like my roaches.. they are clean and easy.

If you are looking for the most appealing roach for the chameleon, I have heard that banana roaches are the way to go. They are smaller than other roaches and bright green. But, they fly and they climb. So far, I haven't gotten any. I am in fear of home invasion, and I am not sure that I can explain them away as beetles if they escape. Plus, they will breed at room temperature.

Heika

My Best feeding experience I've got with argentenian roaches (Balptica dubia) and cuban roaches (panchlora nivea). Further I've fed Red runners (s. tartara) and giant roaches (craniifer). I've also tried the hissers but mine didn't eat them. But I know people where the chams did eat them.

Then every roach has is goods and bads.

The red runners are very fast and breed very easily. This makes them quite dangerous when they would escape. Specially when you live in an area where it get's hot.

Then the cranifer is very big. He breeds not very fast. But with one type of roach you'll have a lot of different feeding sizes. I do'n't know how many chameleons and which species you keep. Even the big ones are eaten without a problem by pardalis and oustaleti.

Then we've got the nivea's. Those are loved by chameleons of all kind. The problem with those is they fly. But they need a lot of moist so when one escapes there's a big chance they die. The babies don't fly and don't walk op glass so they don't give a problem. They're loved by chameleons as they're green. The breeding doesn't go very fast. The difficulty is to find out the right way with moist and temp. When you do you can breed them as a feeder. But you won't be able to feed them every day.

Then we've got the dubia. This is an easy breeder and feeder. Almost all chameleons eat them. I haven't seen a species which didn't eat them. The breed faster as you raise the temp. (max 35 degrees celcius). The produse quite a lot juveniles and may be adult in 3-4 months again.

All above species don't walk upon glass and don't fly.

The hissers are extremely big. The walk upon glass. Tha adults are realy hard so only a few species will be able to eat them. But maybe some people here have more experience with them. I didn't like them.

I hope this helped you a bit.

Thanks! great info.

i'll probably go with the dubia. how many adults should i order to properly start a colony? and how long till i expect to see nymphs?

good question.

I started with 1000's at once because I wanted a big breeding colony.

What I'd advise you is order 50 adults and 50 sub-adults. With the adults you never know how old they are and if they'll repoduce a lot. And with the sub-adults you've got to wait untill they're adult. and then normally after 6-7 weeks you'll see the first young ones. They're about 6 weeks pregnant.
Best temp is 30-32 degrees celcius.

If you need more info just ask.

supplier

I know where to get fruit flys, crickets, silkworms and just about any other bug I want. But I dont know a good spot to buy roaches. What do you guys suggest

I asume you're in amerika if so I can't help you and someone els should reply.

If you're in europe send me a mail and I'll be able to help you.

yeah, i'm american :'(

I bought my starter colony from www.blaberus.com. Nice guy, healthy roaches!

Heika

http://crunchy-critters.com/

Momac said:

Thanks! great info.

i'll probably go with the dubia. how many adults should i order to properly start a colony? and how long till i expect to see nymphs?

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I just got 100 (actually closer to 130 arrived) dubia from http://crunchy-critters.com/ for ~$50 total including shipping. There was a great distribution from small nymphs to ready to breed adults. This is a great beginning colony! Check them out. It's the lowest price I've seen so far on these roaches.

Heika said:

I have a colony of blaptica dubias. The reason I have them instead of another species is because they don't climb slick sides, and they don't fly.

Heika

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First I'd like to thank lhaley14 for the recommendation.

second, I'd like to make a comment in regards to a previous post by Heika, Blaptica Dubia are very capable of flight. The higher the temps the more likely the males are to fly. I keep my Blaptica Dubia at 93 to 96 degrees Fahrenheit and if I didn't keep a lid on the enclosures I'd have male Dubias every where. I have heard of some breeders trying to breed out this trait by only breeding the males with the shorter wings to try and eliminate the possibility of them being able to fly. I'm not sure how successfull that has been though. Many roach breeders swap stock between each other so it's often difficult to tell where the original stock came from (little known secret). For instance my Blaptica Dubia stock came from James at blaberus.com and James got his Turkestan Roaches (Blatta Lateralis) from me. My point of mentioning that was that if Heika got roaches from blaberus.com they are the same roaches that I have that DO fly. They just require very high temps to do it well.

I'm not trying to correct anyone here or say anyone is wrong or right, just making a comment on my own observations.

thanks,

Dan Haas
Owner / Manager
www.Crunchy-Critters.com

Interesting story.

I've tried a lot with my blaptica's if they could fly yes or no.
And the realy couldn't. I've kept them untill 34 degrees celcius and
they still didn't fly. In all literature there is written they can't fly. So I'm
actually wondering if this isn't an other species then. Can't you see any
differences?

And at what temps did you keep them?

Damaranum said:

Interesting story.

I've tried a lot with my blaptica's if they could fly yes or no.
And the realy couldn't. I've kept them untill 34 degrees celcius and
they still didn't fly. In all literature there is written they can't fly. So I'm
actually wondering if this isn't an other species then. Can't you see any
differences?

And at what temps did you keep them?

Click to expand...

I already mentioned what temps I keep them. In my previous post I stated I am currently keeping them between 93 to 96 degrees Fahrenheit (translated equals approximately 33.9 to 35.6 degrees Celsius). Im not looking to get into a debate or argument of any sorts, Just stating a factual and honest observation.

P.S. I have witnessed them get off the ground and fly out of enclosures so I know they didn't climb out.

That is interesting. I have kept my roaches at temps that are probably too high, especially in the early spring before I changed the light to a lower wattage bulb. They have never attempted to fly when I have the box open, and I have never even seen them flutter their wings to attempt to. James at blaberus told me that the males can pop up when startled, but I have never even seen that. I keep mine in a box, and the only place for them to fly to would be into the light dome, which I don't think would be very pleasant.

My first colony came from James at Blaberus, but then I bought a second group of them from someone who was getting out of them. I suppose it is possible that I received roaches that don't fly, I guess. In addition, I have fed off quite a few of the males. I have maybe 7 or 8 adult males left out of a box of around 70 adults and god knows how many nymphs.

I have seen them mate, and that is an odd site for sure... the males lift up their wings, and from my observation, the female mounts the male! Or, did I miss something there?

Heika

Does anyone know anything about Blatta lateralis (a.k.a. Turkistan roach). I found these roaches from www.blaberus.com and they seem pretty cool. Since I have a juvi cham I would need a smaller species of roach. If you breed dubia can you keep track of hatches so that I could feed nymphs or small roaches. Anyways just trying to get some info on roaches before I start actually buying and trying to breed them. I have a juvi male veiled about 4 1/2 months old so I'm just wondering if I can even breed roaches as a feeder for him. My pics are always too large in size to post on threads so I'll post pics of him under my gallery. If anyone has any advice on roaches and or being able to post pics please let me know, thanks.

Kalibr03 said:

Does anyone know anything about Blatta lateralis (a.k.a. Turkistan roach). I found these roaches from www.blaberus.com and they seem pretty cool. Since I have a juvi cham I would need a smaller species of roach. If you breed dubia can you keep track of hatches so that I could feed nymphs or small roaches. Anyways just trying to get some info on roaches before I start actually buying and trying to breed them. I have a juvi male veiled about 4 1/2 months old so I'm just wondering if I can even breed roaches as a feeder for him. My pics are always too large in size to post on threads so I'll post pics of him under my gallery. If anyone has any advice on roaches and or being able to post pics please let me know, thanks.

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Kalibr03, I have started what is I believe to be one of the most comprehensive care sheets on that roach available. I've been breeding them for about 2 years now. They are ideal if you are looking for a smaller species of roach to keep or breed.

here is the direct link to my care sheet which gives a good back ground on the species as well.
http://www.crunchy-critters.com/blattal.php
If you still have questions after looking at the care sheet feel free to ask.

Dan H.

Heika said:

I have seen them mate, and that is an odd site for sure... the males lift up their wings, and from my observation, the female mounts the male! Or, did I miss something there?

Heika

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No, I don't think you've missed anything there Heika. It is an interesting site to see for anyone if it's their first time witnessing it. Here is a pic of some Blaptica Dubia mating if it interest anyone.

Cool picture! I am sure you have seen what I mean about the males sticking their wings straight up in the air. I will have to try and catch a picture of it. The disadvantage of having the setup I have is that when I slide the drawer open, they all scatter like.. well.. roaches.

i just got my roaches in the mail today, intresting little creatures. but so far my panther doesnt seem intrested in them, but then again he wont eat in front of me anyway. i have 4 in his dish and thats the only food in his cage so we'll see if he likes them.

and i already saw one pair of roaches mating, how long till nymphs?

Momac said:

and i already saw one pair of roaches mating, how long till nymphs?

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It greatly varies depending on temperature, but I would expect 5 to 6 weeks.
Be sure not to disturb the females any more than needed when they are making the egg sack or she may get stressed and abort it.

Dan H.