GF Just found out she's allergic to roaches. Good alternative bugs other than crickets?

[Grokthecube]

She's been having some breathing problems lately, and after some allergy testing, found out that she's allergic to roaches. Apparently this is quite common, which I did not know. The problem is that we feed our Veiled Dubias.

What are some good alternatives? I'd rather steer clear of crickets given the noise/odor issues. We also raise mealworms that we feed him, but my understanding is that they aren't really adequate as a staple food item. I looked into black solider flies, but they seem excessively laborious to raise.

 

[cyberlocc]

She's been having some breathing problems lately, and after some allergy testing, found out that she's allergic to roaches. Apparently this is quite common, which I did not know. The problem is that we feed our Veiled Dubias.

What are some good alternatives? I'd rather steer clear of crickets given the noise/odor issues. We also raise mealworms that we feed him, but my understanding is that they aren't really adequate as a staple food item. I looked into black solider flies, but they seem excessively laborious to raise.

Well roaches not an option does put a damper.

I would look into Silkworms and add beetles for variety. Meal worms can cause impaction and are not very good to use often (or at all).

Also chams should not have a staple, but there is some good things that can be used more often than others. grasshoppers are a good option GH and silks as mains and splash in some supers meals and horns and some beetles or Isopods would likely be good.

Great recourse here . https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/entry/feeders.74/

 

[Andee]

I agree grasshoppers would work, but you'd probably, depending on if you live in the US or not, want to catch your grasshopper colony this summer and see if you can raise them into breeding without feeding off the wildcaught ones much. I've had some success with this but my colony died off because they got too cold at night in my garage, I now have a ceramic heat emitter for night time use.

 

[nick barta]

Hey Andee,

Sometimes people have allergies to the substrate in the roach bin, the wheat dust we use to feed supers, meals, beetles, and Roaches, or reactions to the wet environment we create with misting systems, and the resulting molds and spores. I would guess if you kept her out of direct contact with the Roaches, she might still have reactions to other allergies associated with raising bugs.

If she is allergic to roach allergy testing, just removing direct contact with handling the roaches may solve the problem.

If you do need to remove Roaches from your home, I would suggest a Super Worm colony, easy to do, and soft exoskeleton unlike mealworms.

Grasshoppers are more difficult, one member has raised 2 generations I think, use the search feature-Action Jackson?

You can raise Katydids on Blackberry cuttings, there are the large Florida species and the smaller California species, perhaps a member can send you some.

Black Soldier Flies are a pain to raise, but you can get fairly inexpensive habitats, go to blacksoldierfly.com. The adults fly so chameleons love them.

You can raise hornworms, but the food is expensive, about $14 per pound plus shipping.

You can raise Cabbage butterflies and Painted Lady butterflies, start with the food they sell with them, and switch them to food plants to save costs.


Of course Silkworm eggs are a good choice as they refrigerate to hatch out what you need. The Silkworm chow is expensive, but if you have a mulberry tree to harvest leaves from, you will see less deaths and reduced costs.

Stick insects are also an option, if grain allergies are the problem, stick insects would avoid grain dust.

Cheers!

Nick

 

[Andee]

I have had some success with grasshoppers, I raise mine on freshly sprouted wheat grass/cat grass, and white clover. I rotate pots in and out. I have a 40-60 watt day bulb for them and a 60 watt ceramic heat emitter for them at night. I mist their plants once a day or once every other day to keep them as fresh as possible for as long as possible. They get extra water from the plants. They have large sticks in their screened enclosure and I have tubberware containers filled with moist sand or eco earth for them to lay eggs in. Certain grasshopper eggs need to be put in a stasis period and so go in the fridge for I think up to 4 weeks but not all have this need. So you'd probably need to experiment or find out what kind of grasshopper you have... then the eggs need incubation and don't ever let the substrate dry out, keep it moist but not wet. It is hard work, but it can be rewarding when you get it right. I've only gotten to the egg part with my first colony of wildcaughts, however the eggs dried out faster than I expected. But I can't wait to try again.

 

[Nicholasdeaan]

I have had some success with grasshoppers, I raise mine on freshly sprouted wheat grass/cat grass, and white clover. I rotate pots in and out. I have a 40-60 watt day bulb for them and a 60 watt ceramic heat emitter for them at night. I mist their plants once a day or once every other day to keep them as fresh as possible for as long as possible. They get extra water from the plants. They have large sticks in their screened enclosure and I have tubberware containers filled with moist sand or eco earth for them to lay eggs in. Certain grasshopper eggs need to be put in a stasis period and so go in the fridge for I think up to 4 weeks but not all have this need. So you'd probably need to experiment or find out what kind of grasshopper you have... then the eggs need incubation and don't ever let the substrate dry out, keep it moist but not wet. It is hard work, but it can be rewarding when you get it right. I've only gotten to the egg part with my first colony of wildcaughts, however the eggs dried out faster than I expected. But I can't wait to try again.

They sound like a lot of work! I might have to try them this summer lmao

 

[Andee]

They kind of are like crickets in the work department except for the fridge, and the food. But the food part is super easy I always offer a small capful of wheat bran too. The wheat grass is easy, I just get some eco earth bloomed and then put it in several small pots. Then I grow some before I grab the grasshoppers so they have wheat grass right when they get there and I also start growing some as soon as I put a new pot in. I reuse old pots and I buy my wheat grass and clover in bulk.

 

[Grokthecube]

Thanks for the advice guys. How do you set up your grasshoppers? From the little I read, it seems like they required live grass for food, which seemed impractical.

 

[Andee]

I feed wheat grass and clover, not all grasshoppers require this but mine do. They also like a small cap from a drink bottle of wheat bran. Different types will eat lettuce, but then again sprouting seeds is healthier as a gutload than just lettuce. I keep them in a 18x18x36 screen repti-breeze. They have a ceramic heater and 40 watt bulb ontop in a dual lamp hood. I turn on the bulb during the day and have the ceramic heater on during the night. I plan to get a timer for them. The sprouting of the grass is easy, just keep a small pot growing at all times and one in their cage at all times. The wheat grass grows tall enough within about 5-7 days which is a little bit longer than the grasshoppers take to eat it. Most of the cage is taken up the the dirt laying bins, which have to be at least 3 inches deep, and there are various oak branches resting in the cage. I catch them with a butterfly net and a small handled critter keeper and usually get about 12 a day, until I have about 35. My type of grasshoppers aren't very big, about half an inch bigger than a large cricket.

 

[Davecameos]

She's been having some breathing problems lately, and after some allergy testing, found out that she's allergic to roaches. Apparently this is quite common, which I did not know. The problem is that we feed our Veiled Dubias.

What are some good alternatives? I'd rather steer clear of crickets given the noise/odor issues. We also raise mealworms that we feed him, but my understanding is that they aren't really adequate as a staple food item. I looked into black solider flies, but they seem excessively laborious to raise.

Hi

I know some people with the same problem and it happens only with dubias to them. Maybe you can try another type of roach. There is a chance the allergies are only to dubias.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

I vote for roley-poley's! There are quite a few kinds! Some quite big! My chameleons love them too!

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

I vote for roley-poley's! There are quite a few kinds! Some quite big! My chameleons love them too!

 

[Nicholasdeaan]

I vote for roley-poley's! There are quite a few kinds! Some quite big! My chameleons love them too!

Matt, could you pm me? I have questions about the rolly polleys haha I've been considering trying them. Thanks!