Best staple roach to breed?

[Cerealkilla43]

Looking for the easiest roach to breed that requires the least amount of heat/care etc but what is also a great staple for my panther. Was going to do dubias but hear they need to be heated in order to breed. Heard something about green banana roaches but wasn't sure if they make good staple food or need any extensive care. Any recommendations?

 

[ajs]

@jamest0o0 is the roach guy for sure.

I'm pretty sure all roaches will need a heat source to breed well (mid 80s I believe is sufficient).

Dubias can play dead kinda and aren't very appealing to many chams if they are in a feeder where they can do that. (e.g. the chameleon shooting gallery - personal experience with this)

Discoids are a bit more active and kept under very similar conditions as dubia and breed well. I think these are regarded as a better staple due to their activity level compared to dubia.

Green bananas are more of a treat as they breed slow and are small. They need higher humidity and lower ventilation to thrive, but this is easy to implement IME

Red runner roaches are very active and a good feeder. I just got a shipment of these yesterday and left one in the shooting gallery along with some Dubias to hopefully get them moving. We'll see what Martin does throughout the day with them when I get home.

Definitely ask james about this stuff though, he's the expert and sells roaches to a lot of people on here too (including me) and they are very good quality

 

[nightanole]

dubia and discoids

dubia dont "need" heat, they will nook nook just fine at room temps. If you want "alot" of breeding, that is when you crank it to 95-105f. Discoids are just a floridia legal version of dubia, a bit slower breeding, and a bit bigger.


Green banana are more of a "treat", its quite an effort to breed them fast enough to make a staple, and you cant feed them like a garbage disposal/compost heap.

 

[Cerealkilla43]

Heating pad underneath tub set at 95f will suffice or does the whole ambient temp of the container need to reach those temps?

 

[jamest0o0]

The easiest would probably go to lobster and red runner.

Discoid and orangehead i prefer over dubia, but they will all need heat to get decent amounts of breeding. They will breed around room temp like nightanole said, but it is incredibly slow in comparison IME.

Agreed with what others said on bananas.

 

[jamest0o0]

Would put the heating pad on the side rather than underneath, but yeah that'll do just fine.

 

[Cerealkilla43]

Would put the heating pad on the side rather than underneath, but yeah that'll do just fine.

Sounds good. Can I purchase a started colony from you?

 

[ajs]

Would put the heating pad on the side rather than underneath, but yeah that'll do just fine.

Oof, I've had mine underneath set to about 86-84. Is this detrimental to their ability to thrive?

 

[jamest0o0]

Oof, I've had mine underneath set to about 86-84. Is this detrimental to their ability to thrive?

Nah should be fine, I just like the side because you can lean the egg crate near it where the roaches usually hang out.

 

[jamest0o0]

Sounds good. Can I purchase a started colony from you?

Sure, send me a PM

 

[Tony_S]

I love my orange head colony that I got from James. I just had to turn down the temp from 86 to 74 to try and slow down the breeding. I was getting way to many for my one chameleon.

 

[Ramrod]

I love my orange head colony that I got from James. I just had to turn down the temp from 86 to 74 to try and slow down the breeding. I was getting way to many for my one chameleon.

Good quality from james. My orange heads are doing thier thing and some are big enough to put a saddle on.?