AHH! I'm up to my ARMPITS in ROACHES!

[rlschwer]

I've got two colonies right now but they're not really ... colonizing. They've got plenty of unbleached paper and egg crate for hiding, dim light during the day, dark at night, a heater pad that gets around 90°F, and I feed 'em human-grade fruits and veggies every day. It's been over a month and... No ooths :/

What do I change?

Uh, if we're still talking dubia, they are ovoviviparous (essentially, live birthing). So you won't ever see any ooths. Are your roaches adult, or still just nymphs? There is a significant physical difference between the two! Mine seem to start off slow, but take off later on after the first couple cohorts of babies start getting big

 

[TimothyOnTop]

Mmmm...
Getting a better than expected replacement order is lucky.
Getting 150% of an order is lucky.
Getting both... the two luckies cancel out! ?

I feel like this awesome responsibility (roach farmer) has been thrust upon me.
In order to do it right, I'll need to buy another bin, heater pad, egg crate substrate, thermometer, and IDK what all else, not to mention the added imposition on my already-stretched time.

Somehow I think this is going to cost me more than it'll save in the long run...

You can send done to me Komos the great would love you forever ?

 

[mujino]

Uh, if we're still talking dubia, they are ovoviviparous (essentially, live birthing). So you won't ever see any ooths. Are your roaches adult, or still just nymphs? There is a significant physical difference between the two! Mine seem to start off slow, but take off later on after the first couple cohorts of babies start getting big

Good point. I haven't peeked lately, other than to drop in food, and I've had them for a few months. I assumed there were at least a few adults by now because they're bigger. But, now that you ask about whether there are adults... I should probably take a closer look. Guess that was my dumb question for the day.

(I have dubia and discoid.)

 

[ajs]

Good point. I haven't peeked lately, other than to drop in food, and I've had them for a few months. I assumed there were at least a few adults by now because they're bigger. But, now that you ask about whether there are adults... I should probably take a closer look. Guess that was my dumb question for the day.

(I have dubia and discoid.)

Discoid adults will have wings and are pretty noticeably different than nymphs.

Seems I have basically all adults in my discoid bin at the moment. Need to stop feeding them off so much and let them catch up i think.

I also just had 2000 small red runner nymphs arrive yesterday

 

[JacksJill]

I wish I had your problems my roach colony is nearly depleted due to 13 little dubia lovers eating all the nymphs. I may have to order soon.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

I wish I had your problems my roach colony is nearly depleted due to 13 little dubia lovers eating all the nymphs. I may have to order soon.

I just did a couple weeks ago because all I had on-hand are too big for the little mouth (fine for the big dragon mouth).

Only... the little mouth isn't interested—won't touch them—so now I have 100 hungry little (1/4") nymphs, and a few adults of breeding size (among the population) in the main bin. I'm hesitant to put them in a warm space, lest "up to my armpits" becomes "up to my eyebrows!"

 

[dinomom]

If you have a local pet store they are usually thrilled to take the excess..I am able to trade them for virtually unlimited crickets when I get too many (not for cham but for my frogs..) Stores love that because they sell the roaches for 50 cents each!

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Unfortunately, every time I've seen dubias locally, more than half in the container has been dead.
I figured it was because they (whoever) was charging to much. I wasn't going to buy any at those prices!

I may ask—it's cricket day, but I won't hold out any hope. They may have some kind of contract with a supplier.

I couldn't even find anyone to trade me nymphs for my larger ones 1 for 1.

 

[Fchamel]

Just ordered bugs. may have to start a colony. More cost-effective by the time you spend so much on bugs!

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

It depends on how many & what kind of mouths you're feeding. When I ran the numbers, it didn't make sens for 1 beardie. Add in 1 cham., and it might make sense if he'd eat the bloody things.

Every case (and tolerance for what's involved) is different.

 

[Persnickety Parson's]

Last time we ordered, there seemed to be some kind of national shortage of dubia roaches (which makes no sense to me—I mean... their ROACHES, right?)

Anyhow, we were only able to order 250, and the price was considerably higher than before (Oh, what we do for our reptiles! ) When they got here, something was obviously amiss. I ordered med. (½"), as they're usually the best value, and Stinkeye couldn't care less; he just wants his num-numz. I'm used to there being some size variation, but 75% of this order was ¼" or smaller! Needless to say, Stinkeye ate his way through them in less than half the time they should have lasted.

So we found another supplier, put in an order, and sent the previous vendor an email. We might have done that in the wrong order, but we needed some damn roaches... and FAST! (Stinkeye was beginning to eye the dog and lick his lizard chops...)

Two packages arrived today. The first vendor sent a replacement order, and there must have been 500 roaches in there (instead of 250), 90% of which were ½" or larger. I guess they really wanted to make up for the gaff. The other package also contained ½" or larger roaches, and 50% more than we ordered!

Now I'm up to my armpits in roaches!!!

I guess now I have a colony whether I wanted one or not, because I still have 50 or so from an order in January that are almost an inch.

Sheesh!

You've been blessed, roaches are awesome in their own right.

It's time for you to break out the large Rubbermaid bins

For the Love of Cockroaches By Orin McMonigle is a must purchase for your book collection.

On the plus side you will be able to recreate this if anyone breaks into your house...

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Now I'm up to my armpits in CRICKETS, too.

I call ahead to the local pet shop, and they have my weekly order ready & waiting.
Don't know what happened this week. They said they only got SM & MED in but no LG.
I said that's fine; I only order 100 Med at a time. They said that's fine; they'll be ready.
I didn't pay much attention in the store, as this had become a regular thing and no problems.
When I got home, I noticed a few things about the bag of crickets:

• There were definitely more than 100. From past experience, I estimate 200 or 250.
• There were a handful of LG. IDK if the little guy can handle them, but we'll find out!
• There are some cleaning crew in with this batch. No biggie—just never been there before.

Oh well, it'll be interesting to see how long these last, and how many die off.
Experience got me to 100 MED per week; it just worked out best all-around.
Adventures in ... what, "chameleonry"? (Chortle!)

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

It's time for you to break out the large Rubbermaid bins

A small one is handling things for the time being.

On the plus side you will be able to recreate this if anyone breaks into your house...

Not really a fan of manga (or is it anime?) but I've seen the Mimic trilogy, and (of course) Joe's Apartment (full-length version)!

 

[suprdude]

How does one 'thrown away' a couple extra hundred roaches? I mean, how many roaches can a chameleon eat?

 

[ERKleRose]

How does one 'thrown away' a couple extra hundred roaches? I mean, how many roaches can a chameleon eat?

Either breed them or freeze and then toss them if they get too big. It depends on the age, gender, and species of cham. If the roaches are too small, grow them out.

Edit: it also depends on how many a cham can eat that size (or bigger) of roaches in the time period it takes for them to grow too big. The order was also for the OP’s bearded dragon, which changes things.