Roaches question

[joeandsoph]

Hi there,

I ordered some Dubia roaches from the net but when they arrived they had send Lobster roaches instead as they were out of stock. Are Lobster roaches still ok to feed to my female veiled?

Thanks

 

[joeandsoph]

Anybody...lol?

 

[Miss Lily]

I don't use roaches so can't help, but this link might help you! https://www.chameleonforums.com/lobster-roaches-35476/

 

[joeandsoph]

Ugh well looks like I can feed Lobsters but Dubia's are better which is what I frikkin ordered in the first place lol. On the good side I also ordered a tub of crickets and there's LOADS! =d And adult locuts for beardie.

 

[Miss Lily]

Hehe! Can you return them? I'm not brave enough to try roaches yet, lol! Are they huge?

 

[Todnedo]

Hi there,

I ordered some Dubia roaches from the net but when they arrived they had send Lobster roaches instead as they were out of stock. Are Lobster roaches still ok to feed to my female veiled?

Thanks

Lobsters make great feeders, they breed fast and will eat anything plus the adult look completly different from the nymphs so its like having 2 different kinda of feeders.
If you use them as a staple I would remove the legs or at least the back legs before feeding.

 

[joeandsoph]

Ooh great thanks really looking forward to giving them to her. I'm sure she'll approve.

Tiff they are not huge just pretty damn ugly. It's the gigantic hoppers that are huge hehe

 

[Digby Rigby]

Lobster roaches are cheap for a reason. They are a pain to deal with as they climb. They are the only feeder roach I have heard of, based on personal communications that have infested homes. There are no advantages to lobster roaches that arent better served with other species, such as lateralis if breeding fast is a concern. I have not heard of anyone based on personal communication who have had lateralis infest the home. Lobster roaches are not as desireable as feeders and cost a lot less because of it. One of the biggest drawbacks to them is they are glass climbers. If they sent you an equivalent amount of lobster roaches to the amount of dubia you ordered you got a very bad deal. You ordered one thing and got something completely different and not even equivalent to what you ordered, unless they informed you beforehand and got your approval.

Lobsters are usually eaten eagerly by many animals but the hassles of dealing with them, and the availability if more species than when lobsters were originally used makes the lobster roach obsolete and there is no one who would be happy buying and paying for dubia and getting lobsters sent instead. They could have even sent you discoids or any other roach and you would have been better off anythong but lobsters and hissers.

There is a saying: Friends dont let friends get lobster roaches.

Digby Rigby _______________________

 

[joeandsoph]

Well to be honest I ordered about 6 Dubias and got loads fo Lobsters. I have complained about it because they didn't tell me first.

 

[Miss Lily]

Ooh great thanks really looking forward to giving them to her. I'm sure she'll approve.

Tiff they are not huge just pretty damn ugly. It's the gigantic hoppers that are huge hehe

I don't mind the adult locusts - I think their wings are really pretty!

 

[fluxlizard]

I feed lobsters, dubia and hissers, and have fed lateralis.

Lobsters are fine for your chameleon- IMO one of the best feeders. Soft bodied, easy to gutload, they are my lizards favorite of the 4 roach species I have kept. Even my big mellers chams clearly prefer them over the dubia.

IMO lobsters are cheap not because they are a pain to deal with, but because they are incredibly prolific, super easy to get a thriving colony going, and they've been available for a long time on the market. Same reason Calyptratus are cheap and Parsons cost more. Calyptratus aren't cheaper because they are a pain to deal with, they are cheaper because they are easy and prolific and have been bred for a long time now. Lobsters are the same.

Lateralis are not a safe risk free replacement to lobsters.

I myself have kept both, I have kept lobsters since 2002 and I've never had an infestation in spite of feeding out literally millions in that time. (Over half million to baby bearded dragons last summer alone). I have watched carefully because the lobsters make me nervous being incredibly prolific and hardy and keep producing even when temps are below room temperature (temps in my lizard building for about 3 months in the winter are regularly 50s nights low to upper 70s days, depending on the day- my lobsters slow down, but keep producing).

I purchased 15,000 lateralis a few years ago and fed them out over several months after becoming afraid of their potential for infestation. I was correct- I still find them wild in my lizard building where I find egg casings between and beneath cages and on the ground in low traffic areas, they somehow get into my other roach tubs (they have to climb walls or shelves and drop in from above to do this) and starting this spring, when I pick something like a rock, cinder block, board out in the yard, I find them underneath. Last month we had 18" of snow on the ground. I brushed the snow off a board and picked up the board and there were 40 or 50 lateralis alive and moving on the ground beneath the board. The ground was not frozen and was soft and moist, but this I am sure still would have killed other species I have kept.

I deeply regret purchasing this species and since purchase I have used google to learn that this species is illegal in some states and that professional exterminators have to deal with this species sometimes.

That said, if I had to keep them in my home, and especially if I only had a few lizards, the only species I currently keep that I would feel safe keeping in my home is dubia. They are safe, they are prolific enough once you get enough adults going to support your lizards, and the nymphs fill out and gutload nicely.

Feed out the lobsters, get dubia.

 

[hallenhe]

I have Dubia, and think I would order lobsters the next time, to be honest, as the adult Dubia are just too big for my panther while the lobsters are a bit smaller. Granted, I can feed off all the smaller stages and the adults will be the breeders and produce more for me, but there's only so many supersized roaches I need.
Guess I just need to get me a bigger lizard.