how to keep roaches

[Damicofam6]

HI, sorry that I am posting so much I just picked up another chameleon and have had some questions. So anyways i got a dubia roach colony with the cham and i don't have any experience with roaches. I saw that they like cricket crack so i gave them some of that and it got devoured! The previous owner said he was feeding them dog food. How often should i feed them? What should i feed them? I have 2 panther chameleons that will be eating them. There are at least 50 roaches in the colony and there are a lot of adults it looks like. How big is too big of a roach for a chameleon to eat? both of my panthers are adults (one is 1 year old and the other is 2) also how do i keep them breeding? I was told to just toss a heat pad underneath and they will do the rest. Any links to other roach threads would be great if you know any good ones! thank you for all the help as i get my new Nosy Be settled in.

 

[mvad]

This has been a great guide:
*Dog food is not a recommended source of food for roaches.

https://dubiaroaches.com/pages/dubia-roach-care-sheet

I don't use any heat source and my colony is continuing to grow.

 

[MSMorgan]

D.,

Welcome to the site. With a quick search in this site, you'll find a lot of your questions asked, plus a few more. To get you started on your quest, you might click this link on dubia:

https://dubiaroachdepot.com/guidance/dubia-roaches-dietary-protein

Don't feed dog food to your roaches. The roaches will readily eat a variety of fruits and veggies that you can find in the resources section of this site. I've had good luck with my colony. Shoot me a PM if you'd like to chat in regards to my colony.

Again, welcome to the site. Hope to see you post soon.

 

[Andee]

Dog food causes uric acid to build up regularly, considering dubias rarely run across meat in the wild and there fore store uric acid from it. Feeding it on a regular basis may cause your population to explode but will cause gout in your chameleon. Roaches need a good dry food and fruits and veggies. Heat and ventilation.

 

[Peachypink]

My dubia supplier has a great chow mix for fairly cheap. He has all the ingredients listed, at least he used to, I've been using him for years. You can PM me of you are interested.

I used to keep adults to breed but got annoyed with it so now I just order 500 at a time. I have an adult bearded dragon and I fed the adults off to her. The rule is still the same for dubia as is for crickets, no bigger than the space between their eyes. I have a chewer so he can handle them a bit on the big side of that rule. I much prefer dubia over crickets.

 

[Chamifornia]

You can feed dog food to your breeders but you will want to separate the ones you will be feeding and gutload them like crickets and every thing else. I personally am doing the chicken feed alfalfa with fresh fruit/veggies on my breeders and my own good dry gutload on feeders. Doesn't sound like you have many right now so I'd just stick to a good dry gutload for now

 

[Damicofam6]

You can feed dog food to your breeders but you will want to separate the ones you will be feeding and gutload them like crickets and every thing else. I personally am doing the chicken feed alfalfa with fresh fruit/veggies on my breeders and my own good dry gutload on feeders. Doesn't sound like you have many right now so I'd just stick to a good dry gutload for now

So do you think cricket crack should be fine for now? How often should i feed them?

 

[Andee]

Cricket crack is a great dry gutload, however I would feed a fruit and veggie mixture for moisture and extra added nutrition.

 

[Damicofam6]

Cricket crack is a great dry gutload, however I would feed a fruit and veggie mixture for moisture and extra added nutrition.

I'll add fruits and vegetables tomorrow, is chicken food food for them too? I've seen that people use that for feed too.

 

[Damicofam6]

once again sorry for asking so many questions about roaches i just want to make sure I'm feeding these guys the best i can. Will "Flukers high calcium cricket diet" and "Flukers cricket quencher calcium fortified" be good for them? thank you all for the help!

 

[Chamifornia]

once again sorry for asking so many questions about roaches i just want to make sure I'm feeding these guys the best i can. Will "Flukers high calcium cricket diet" and "Flukers cricket quencher calcium fortified" be good for them? thank you all for the help!

As mentioned above you definitely should feed a wet gutload to your feeders. Chicken feed is OK for them for just a breeding colony but I make sure when I do take them n out the babies and juveniles are properly gutloaded for at least a week before

 

[Andee]

Fluker's is useless it holds nothing special and is not a good gutload at all. Certain chicken feeds are ok. They usually have to be high quality and all vegetarian.

 

[Chamifornia]

You will see your colony will go insane within a few months and you will probably want to separate them so you can save money. I always give the breeders left over fruit or butternut squash and they are breeding like crazy. Butternut also will last a loooong time and they demolish it

 

[Damicofam6]

As mentioned above you definitely should feed a wet gutload to your feeders. Chicken feed is OK for them for just a breeding colony but I make sure when I take them out the babies and juveniles they are properly gutloaded for at least a week before

thanks for the help. I will get a separate container soon and keep the smaller ones gut loaded and the bigger ones breeding.

 

[Chamifornia]

thanks for the help. I will get a separate container soon and keep the smaller ones gut loaded and the bigger ones breeding.

They are really quite easy and they gutload so much better than crickets IMO. Good luck!

 

[Chameleon Mike]

There is a lot off information on YOUTUBE a well.