Blaptica Dubia

[Brad Ramsey]

Here are some pics of my roaches
I got my colony (small) on January 27 and am patiently waiting for babies.
I know I have a while, but that's okay. These guys are fascinating.
I'm actually becoming attached to them and concerned about their well being.
They may be hard to feed off.....they're becoming pets!

-Brad

 

[Jewel]

I give you a lot of credit for being able to have roaches in your house. They creep me out something fierce. I am scared one would get loose and I would end up having thousands of roaches in my house.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

These guys wouldn't survive long outside of the environment I have created for them.
Forest floor roaches do not infest homes.
I know there is a stigma about these animals and if you've ever experienced roaches in your home you can understand people's feelings about them, but only 1% of the world's roaches have the potential to be a household pest, the rest wouldn't live in your home if given the choice.
By the way, I like my guys because they can't climb or fly, they don't smell at all (unlike crickets) they're really slow moving and they require about three minutes a week of my time.
As soon as they start going to town in the reproduction department, I should have a sustainable and constant source of food that is essentially free and always available. Plus they are a meat to shell ratio super food!

-Brad

 

[rcagosto]

Wow that's kind of cool. I have a phobia of insect, and I don't know why. Lol. That's cool I would like to feed my cham some.

 

[Jewel]

When I was a little kid my parents moved into a brand new house and a few weeks later we noticed the house was infested with roaches. With some research we found out the house was build on a old cotton mill and the cotton was still in the ground which caused the roaches to multiply like crazy. We quickly bought a new house in another part of town, it still haunts me.

I must say I love the idea of no smell, no climbing and no flying. I have found several cricket escapes in my house and I am not impressed.
I have never seen roaches for sale in a pet store around here. I may just have to check it out further. Thanks Brad for educating my ignorance on this matter.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Jewel,
You may be lucky and find a roach breeder at the show you're going to soon.
I have no other ideas about where to obtain them in Canada.
Do some research first to find out what type you want (some do climb and fly, and some do have an odor)
I like the blaptica Dubia and the discoids. There is also a Dubia/Discoid hybrid that you see from time to time that has all the great characteristics of these two as well.

-Brad

 

[Jewel]

Hopefully Will will chime in and know where to get these because we are in the same area. I am now off to do some research.
Thanks Brad

 

[Will Hayward]

Roaches are illegal to propigate in Canada, this doesn't stop people from doing it, but you wont often find too many people openly selling them as I have been told by experienced people that over the past couple years there have been an increased number of confiscations by goverment wildlife control divisions.

They are a great feeder though, and I encourage their use.

 

[Jewel]

Well that explains why I haven't seen them anywhere. So much for that idea unless I can find a source.

 

[rcagosto]

I really want to use roaches. Any ideas on how to get rid of this phobia lol. Are they fairly easy to keep?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

That's terrible.
Do some detective work at the show and see if you can flush out a blackmarket source.
I would seriously do that if I were in Canada.

-Brad

 

[Brandy]

I really want to use roaches. Any ideas on how to get rid of this phobia lol. Are they fairly easy to keep?

way easy to keep check out http://blaberus.com/ for any info on them, The phobia might be taken away just by handeling and being exposed to them some people however just wont loose it although i think most do. getting a non flying and no climbing is always the way to go to start.

 

[Jewel]

That's terrible.
Do some detective work at the show and see if you can flush out a blackmarket source.
I would seriously do that if I were in Canada.

-Brad

The problem is now solved

 

[Hempa]

I also feed my cham with theese but i do not breed. Im to afraid of having a billion microroaches running around in my building. But I dont think there is any restrictions against them here in Sweden. So maybe one day I have my own colony.

But lucky me, I have have easy access to them through a breeder quite close . My cham loves and I loves them (because they are quiet). You can get kind of tired of crickets playing all night long.

 

[rcagosto]

I'm going to have to get ober this because I want some for my cham. Is there a nutrition chart for them. Are they expensive?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I have searched everywhere for a nutritional analysis for them and cannot come up with much.
I am planning to send one in to CSU and see if I can get that done. I haven't done anything toward that yet.
They are around 50 cents to a dollar apiece. Expensive to purchase as a feeder but very reasonable to start a breeding colony. I paid 30 dollars for 60 roaches at the last reptile show here. 10 were small nymphs that I fed off to Kitty just to see if he would like them. 5 fully matured males 5 fully matured females and 40 really large nymphs that seem to be about 10 more males and 30 females.

-Brad

 

[rcagosto]

Are they a good staple feeder?? How would you go along with starting a small colony? Supplies, equipments, etc. Would almost any chameleon openly eccept them?