How do you guys feed roaches???

[jamest0o0]

I feel like this has probably been asked a lot, but to those of you that replace crickets with roaches. How do you get your Chams to eat them? I don't have time to try to slowly hand feed each individual roach to all of my Chams each day. If I put them in a cup they clump up and don't move(Chams refuse to eat them that way). And if I free range they obviously hide. Is there anything to reliably feed as a staple other than crickets? I'd love to use roaches, but I find it difficult.

 

[Andee]

What does your cup look like?

 

[Virgil1972]

Maybe if you put some roach food in the cup they will move around more. Don't use something they will hide under though. Use something like a piece of carrot.

 

[jamest0o0]

I have the Nick bartas cup. I usually do put carrots in there. Why would that make them move though? They only seem to get active when lights go out food or not

 

[Virgil1972]

Sometimes they crawl around the carrot.

 

[Andee]

You might want to add some other feeders in with the roaches that make strike responses almost immediate, and make it so the roaches are easy to accidentally grab with a tongue etc. But idk why everyone's roaches are super unactive XD mine rustle around for at least a couple hours. And that was definitely long enough for all my chams to eat them.

 

[Virgil1972]

If you put another feeder in with the roaches they might get the roaches moving a bit as well.

 

[jamest0o0]

Mine run around until they're in the damn cup in then they turn into rocks. By other feeders do we mean crickets? Can't get away from the little monsters I guess

 

[Andee]

I am not just talking about cricks, super worms, hornworms, silks, anything.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

All my adult chameleons (Parsons and panthers alike) hand feed. I hold the bug between my fingers and it dissappears! Haha, magic!!!!

 

[nightanole]

All my adult chameleons (Parsons and panthers alike) hand feed. I hold the bug between my fingers and it dissappears! Haha, magic!!!!

Tongues are cold, you want to know how i know?

 

[jamest0o0]

@Andee I usually put all of those in the cups, doesn't seem to get me anywhere with feeding the roaches. The worms don't move enough either. Would there be harm in just leaving roaches for my youngsters until they eat them? I get worried not feeding them everyday. I'm currently out of crickets atm. And all this talk of cricket problems makes me want to switch over to roaches full time.

 

[Andee]

I don't see why you wouldn't just leave the roaches in, you can always remove them at night when lights go off etc, so they don't get out and etc. Thing is you need to not feed anything else during this time. Your guys are older than a few weeks right?

 

[jamest0o0]

Yeah I just meant leaving the roaches and nothing else so they have to eventually suck it up and eat them instead of playing hardball for their BOC(bug of choice). I have a 10 month, 7 month, 4ish month.

 

[Virgil1972]

Yeah I just meant leaving the roaches and nothing else so they have to eventually suck it up and eat them instead of playing hardball for their BOC(bug of choice). I have a 10 month, 7 month, 4ish month.

Thats what I do with my kids. If they don't eat whats given to them then they don't eat.

 

[jamest0o0]

Fair enough!

 

[MSMorgan]

How do I feed my dubia? By hand. I have the same prob. The damn roaches just sit there like a lump and Lucky passes right over them. You may need to only try dubia on the weekends or whenever your off from work in the am. I know, I don't have time either, but M-F he can eat supers, horn, silk, BSFL and the like.

When I get a day off, or on the weekends, I'll hand feed. It's a special "bonding time" that builds trust for me and Lucky before anyone else in the house gets up. It's "our time," and believe me, I need at least 2-3 more hours in the day to get it all in sometimes. Hang in there and try a few different things.

 

[jamest0o0]

I would really like to regularly feed roaches as a staple, but it just doesn't seem possible. Going on 3 days leaving them in the feeder cups without being touched... does anyone here successfully feed roaches all the time from a cup? Should I keep playing the waiting game with my chams?

 

[Andee]

I successfully fed roaches all the time to all my chams when I had hunters etc. Your babies have enough wait on them to easily last 2 weeks as long as they don't start losing weight extremely (I would be worried if they lost more than a couple grams after two weeks) then you are fine. Honestly XD people always want to over feed. Have your chameleons eaten from the cups before? And know that food comes from it?

 

[Virgil1972]

I only feed my roaches from a cup never have hand fed with roaches.