New colony suggestions...

[ZacharyLeesWife]

I have successfull colonies of Dubia, Superworms, mealworms, waxworms, and hornworms. I got eggs and chow for silkies today. I refuse to colonize crickets again, they were the bane of my existence so I only buy enough to feed off. Any recommendations for feeders to colonize not yet on my list? I've considered stick bugs, but I'd have to also raise fruit flies for feeding them. Is it worth raising a feeder for a feeder?

 

[Andee]

I think you are confusing mantids with sticks. Sticks eat things like bramble and ever green oak. I would look into isopods. Maybe a different type of roach

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

I think you are confusing mantids with sticks. Sticks eat things like bramble and ever green oak. I would look into isopods. Maybe a different type of roach

You're right, I was thinking of mantids! I have isopods for my dart frog tank, but I hadn't thought of them as feeders. I've yet to aquire the frogs, the tank is newly finished so I'm waiting to iron any wrinkles before I bring home any dendros. I raised the pill bugs as a cleaning crew. Eventually I'll need fruit flies for the frogs, anyway. The roaches aren't my favorite, the adults are so... roachy. But dubia are a necessity because of my hatred of crickets.

 

[Andee]

There are hundred perhaps thousands of types of roaches and many of those would be perfectly fine to use as a feeder. You just need to read carefully about their availability, their care requirements, and their defense mechanisms. Some roaches look nothing like roaches, and some do but are so beautiful that those who are bothered by roaches don't even care. There are some absolutely gorgeous roaches out there. However the more beautiful they are the care requirements tend to get more difficult and the harder they tend to be to get in captivity.

Certain isopods are good feeders and certain ones don't, what you are looking for is relatively good size variation, and movement. Some isopods have really good movement. Never use isopods straight from outside as you sure know. Always raise babies from the wild ones and then separate them, only breed the wilds.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Stick insects rock!

 

[nick barta]

For small feeders try Rice Flour Beetles and Bean Beetles.

For a little larger feeders, try Peanut Beetles, Buffalo Beetles , and Lesser Mealworm Beetles.

For medium feeders, try Green Banana Roaches.

Anyone wanting care sheets email me at [email protected].

CHEERS!

Nick

 

[Extensionofgreen]

I like orange head roaches the best for feeders.
They are large, full bodied, and neither climb nor fly. They are also very active.

 

[Andee]

All of the roaches mentioned I like a lot. Orange headed roaches are great because they literally are easier to gut load dubia because they eat pretty much everything under the sun. Though in my opinion if you have an out of ratio colony they do better with more space than dubias, and also they tend to do better than the average ratio recommended for dubia female to male. With green banana roaches you don't really have to worry about ratios at least I never have had to. They seem pretty relaxed with each other. There are also some other good feeder roaches that are bit less commonly used. I will try to find a good list for you .

 

[Andee]

So as good feeder roaches that are all different genus of roaches, therefore will most likely have different values of protein/fat and meat to shell ratio. Also keep in mind that a couple of these roaches are perfect sizes for neonates and they are perfect sizes for adult jacksons when an adult stage. The Kenyan roach, an amazing feeder from what I have heard and also one of the smallest in the hobby. The oriental roach from what I understand it does have the ability to infest but is not near as bad of a problem as red runners, the most likely place they are to infest if they get out is sprinkler systems and sewers, etc. Surinam roaches, supposedly a good meat to shell ratio and amazingly easy to gutload and very prolific. Brown burrowing roach and the pallid roach. Most of these roaches need some sort of substrate and humidity requirements, and most absolutely need heat. It's not optional like dubia.

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

I might try to get my hands on the orange headed roaches, and green banana roaches!

 

[phantomchameleon]

Please take all of the pill bugs in my basement they're cute but they're really annoying.

 

[Extensionofgreen]

I dislike Gyna lurida and banana roaches. The porcelain roaches are impossible to contain, being strong fliers and finding there way out of covered totes, with generous layers of Vaseline lining the top. The banana roaches are small, climb and fly, hide, and they are not as readily gutloaded.

 

[Andee]

I have no problem gut loading my green banana roaches nor do I have any problem containing them with a locking bin. If you have the correct enclosure for green banana roaches they are easy to find, provide a couple cork flats over their substrate and almost always you will find enough adults there to feed off once your colony is stable enough to feed off adults. However with the GBR you have to remember they don't have a long adult life span, they live for 3-6 months as adults. I don't know what you are trying to gutload your GBR with but I feed my colony an entire plant based homemade gutload, with very little grains. They also tend to prefer fruits and root vegetables or squash to any sort of leafy green from what I have noticed. And I have a growing colony of about 500 nymphs and 50 adults, my adults are not being fed off at the moment because my population is not stable enough yet. However I have noticed all my other types of roaches no matter the size, have eat far more in comparison to the Green Banana Roach. However this doesn't mean they aren't eating. It just means it doesn't make sense to feed them one thing then do a 24-48 hour gutload with this specific species of roach. It's just not how they biologically would be beneficial. However I don't do this with any of my feeder colonies.

 

[Andee]

Since you have rather large chameleons from what I remember, unless you now have a different species than Parsons. I don't think green banana roaches would make much sense to keep, because in order for the colony to be able to become stable enough to be able to feed their appetites the colony would have to be only in the growing stage for at least a year and be in optimum conditions all the time. This does not mean they are a bad feeder for anyone else, it just means they are not good for your particular species. The fact that they didn't work for your Parsons makes sense as to why you wouldn't research or spend much time into finding a better container. There are better containers than even just locking bins. Look into gasket bins.