How do you guys feed roaches???

[Chameleomom]

With my male veiled I added the dubia in with the crickets in a feeder cup and then every day slowly taking away crickets and putting more dubia. Worked like a charm.....was cricket free after 2 weeks

 

[hopps31]

Thanks @jamest0o0 for this post, I feel your pain. My veiled eats them in his dish, but our panther looks at me like "haha that is funny you think I am going to eat them" I hate crickets so much, I had one in the door frame last night and the hunt was on for that chirping little booger at 2 am. My Panther will eat them if I place them right in front of him one at a time, so I do what @MSMorgan suggested when I have the extra time or the weekend I put one in front of another right in front of him and he eats them no problem. I am hoping he will get the "taste" for them and will start one day eating them out of his cup, fingers crossed Though after not sleeping due to cricket chirping hunting, I think tough love might be coming sooner then later That is if I can get past the part of feeling bad for "starving him"

 

[jamest0o0]

I got my chams to readily accept orange heads, by cutting out crickets completely until they are them. I find the only way to 100% get them on roaches is to offer them until they eat them. Putting on the screen and everything works to trick them occasionally, but they still catch on and protest if they know they can get different food from it.

 

[Andie]

You could try some green banana roaches from Nick Barta. Very brightly colored.

I had similar issues with my Panther not eating roaches and, after living in NYC for 20 years, I refuse to physically touch the things!
The first, and ONLY time, I ever ordered them, I nearly had a heart attack when they arrived! I took me several days just to get used to looking at them. (very bad experiences with them!)

For the record; I am NOT squeamish about anything except roaches & ticks.

 

[jamest0o0]

Yeah roaches freaked me out at the beginning. Now I'm okay with them... green banana roaches just can't compare as a staple and are a pain to deal with. Though I would like the giant version for variety.

 

[hopps31]

I did try orange heads and red runners but could not stand how they smelled. The defensive odor of the orange heads was horrible and the red runners just had a funky smell the whole time. I am super sensitive to smells so that did not help the situation. I am breeding banana roaches now but don't have enough yet to try feeding them off, they should love them as they fly, anything that flies is a fun favorite I also just ordered snails for something new and fun too! If you have any other faster roach suggestions I am all ears
@Andie I hate ticks too, they were horrible this year

 

[jamest0o0]

The thing is bananas don't gutload well and stay pretty small. IME they quickly hid as well. Making them only viable for hand feeding. Orangeheads I believe are the best roach. The odor is strong when they are cramped, it is a good sign they need more space when the smell is bad. In a large tub they don't smell anymore than dubias for the most part.

 

[hopps31]

The thing is bananas don't gutload well and stay pretty small. IME they quickly hid as well. Making them only viable for hand feeding. Orangeheads I believe are the best roach. The odor is strong when they are cramped, it is a good sign they need more space when the smell is bad. In a large tub they don't smell anymore than dubias for the most part.

Those are all great points about the bananas that I really did not think of! I am not sure I am going to have to worry any way as they are not really taking off. They live with my isopods which are booming!
I only had a few of each the reds and oranges in their own pretty big totes to start breeding them but could not handle the smell. The crickets smell better which is not saying much haha! I have been looking at other roach options but I have not really come to any conclusions on what to start next.