What eats large roaches?

[jamest0o0]

I'm just bored brainstorming, i have a lot of dubia/orange heads reproducing and a ton of adults that'll seem to go to waste with my 1 panther. I've wanted to get another reptile in the future, figured i'd see if anyone here had some suggestions. I've heard beardeds which i would love, was also thinking an ostulets cham because they are larger and i've heard good things about them. Anything else out there i could consider? This isn't an impulse purchase or anything, no worries there. Much research will be done! Just hate seeing feeders go to waste and is a great excuse for another animal. Plus i have multiple cages, tons of supplies, etc. that i have accumulated through the years.

 

[Alexander1]

Trump

 

[AZChamFan]

Although not quite as big as an oustalets, my adult Verrucosus can handle them easily! My beardie also LOVES roaches but he's not an adult yet so I would only give him the adult male dubias right now and when he's an adult I'm sure he will handle the adult female dubias. To be honest though I actually prefer feeding sub adult female dubias over adult males just because of all the wings and extra spiny legs on the males. Also keep in mind an adult beardie should eat more veggies than insects.

 

[jamest0o0]

I think i'm leaning toward an oustalet's as of now, if i am ever able to find one lol. What is the verrucosus you mention like? Haven't heard much about them.

 

[AZChamFan]

I think i'm leaning toward an oustalet's as of now, if i am ever able to find one lol. What is the verrucosus you mention like? Haven't heard much about them.

He's kind of like a big mellow panther! He's not skittish at all but he's also not as outgoing as a panther - he doesn't want out constantly or come to get out as soon as I open his enclosure like a lot of panthers do, so I rarely handle him. Not because he's bad when handled, but just because I don't handle chams unless they really act like they want to be handled, and he's happiest just lounging around on his branches! He eats from my fingers and enjoys his mistings. Their care is much like a panther - they don't need as much humidity as a montaine species and they like warmth. I keep my guy just a tiny bit warmer than a panther and he loves to bask. Here's a link where you'll find a few pics of him. I think Verrucosus look a lot like oustalets. He can have much brighter greens and blues but that's when he's excited or alarmed! Overall he's mainly a mixture of browns and tans though. He's not quite as dark normally as he looks in the pics - that's partially my poor camera on my phone and the fact that he was right under his basking light! He also just had a misting!

Here's the link. You'll have to go through about three pages to find him.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/help-needed-jackson-chameleon-supplementation.156504/

 

[jamest0o0]

Wow i love you chams and enclosures, nice! I really like the spikey look of that cham as well.

 

[AZChamFan]

Wow i love you chams and enclosures, nice! I really like the spikey look of that cham as well.

Thanks!! The Verrucosus actually also have a lot larger spikes all along their back normally than what my guy has. He was an import and somehow his spikes got pretty much removed or rubbed down. I still love him though!!!!!

 

[jamest0o0]

I was looking them up, those spikes are pretty cool, your guy looks geat either way though, are they all in bioactive enclosures?

 

[AZChamFan]

I was looking them up, those spikes are pretty cool, your guy looks geat either way though, are they all in bioactive enclosures?

Sort of, but it's more of an illusion actually!! The plants are actually all artificial! I do use a lot of better quality silk plants so they look quite realistic. I just don't like the hassle of live plants! I also use a substrate which I know is frowned upon by many but it has worked so well for me all these years I continue using it. I use fine peat moss which I don't feel would easily cause an impaction, and I have definitely never had that problem. I can't help thinking of just how much debris a cham in the wild is exposed to and they are not constantly dying of impactions from eating debris. I do avoid big chunks of natural sphagnum moss and that kind of thing (the sphagnum moss you might see in the photos is artificial and quite tough - it does not come apart easily!). Also if I owned a veiled I obviously wouldn't use artificial plants. Anyways, the acidity of the peat moss helps prevent mold or bacteria growing on it, and I have no need for drainage systems because the peat moss holds the water from misting and then releases it back into the enclosure as humidity. This way I can maintain a decent humidity level here in dry Arizona without constantly misting and making all the plants and everything wet. As for cleaning up - I just check for droppings about every day and remove them with a little bit of surrounding peat moss to be sure I get everything. Things stay quite clean this way and it's very easy. If I lived in a humid location then I might have very different enclosures but for my climate these work great and I like the way they look! The chams have always been extremely comfortable in them as well - I think they recognize a more natural looking environment even including a substrate! Sorry for such a long message - didn't intend that!

 

[theintouchable88]

Adult beardies handle adult dubias easily but keep in mind like mentioned above that their diet as adult is like 80% fruits and veggies and 20% insect...with that in mind, considering you feed them every other day, you will run out of adults within months lol I feed mine about 10 adults a week sometimes less depending how big they are.
I would recommend reducing their temps so they don't reproduce as fast...I did that and it worked out well.

 

[AZChamFan]

Adult beardies handle adult dubias easily but keep in mind like mentioned above that their diet as adult is like 80% fruits and veggies and 20% insect...with that in mind, considering you feed them every other day, you will run out of adults within months lol I feed mine about 10 adults a week sometimes less depending how big they are.
I would recommend reducing their temps so they don't reproduce as fast...I did that and it worked out well.

You feed about 10 adults per week and that would mean running out of adults within months but you also reduced your temps so they don't breed as fast?!!!

That wasn't nice to tell him about cooling the roaches down - he is looking for an excuse to get another reptile!!!!!!!

I'm just joking with you - cooling down the roaches is good advice but I think it ultimately depends on the size of his colony whether he will run out or not. He can also always feed a variety of sizes and males too, even if the animal is totally capable of eating full grown breeder females.

 

[jamest0o0]

Shhhhhh! All my girlfriend knows is that they are reproducing at an unstoppable rate and the only thing that can control them is another reptile.

But seriously thanks for the info!

 

[AZChamFan]

Shhhhhh! All my girlfriend knows is that they are reproducing at an unstoppable rate and the only thing that can control them is another reptile.

But seriously thanks for the info!

I think it's even illegal where you live to slow down the breeding process or kill adult roaches by any means other than a lizard. There is simply no other choice. I'm sure your girlfriend doesn't want you going to jail!

 

[jamest0o0]

That's a good point, roach cruely is very real. I think i saw a sarah mchlachlan commercial about it. Always have to turn it off though, too sad.

 

[AZChamFan]

Ok I'm bored at lunch break so just thought you'd enjoy this since you are considering a beardie!!! This is only four month's growth on my guy!!! I avoided a beardie for a long time since they are so common, but I'm sooooooo glad I got him. If there's any lizard on the face of this earth that's the equivalent of a puppy dog, this is it!!! His name is Darwin.

When I got him:

Four months and one week later (yesterday):

 

[jamest0o0]

He's awesome. I wasn't sure about a beardy for the same reason, but i love how tame they are and i wanted a larger reptile that would hang out.

I can't believe how orange he is, don't see them that bright usually.

 

[AZChamFan]

He's awesome. I wasn't sure about a beardy for the same reason, but i love how tame they are and i wanted a larger reptile that would hang out.

I can't believe how orange he is, don't see them that bright usually.

He is called a red translucent (even though he's actually orange!!!). He is a special color form - I figured if I'm going to have a beardie I want it to be unique in some way and that's why I spent a little more to get something other than the most common color. He's actually even brighter under good lighting! These guys live for 12 plus years so the extra cost up front is negligible. You can also get very high yellow ones and other variations as well. You can buy a regular beardie for 30 bucks but he was $250.00 - still quite reasonable I think for a special color. I got him at a show from Phantom Dragons but there are many good breeders.

Here are a couple pics (not as recent though) under his basking light.

 

[jamest0o0]

Oh yeah totally worth the extra cost IMO! Another problem i'd have is i have 1 room for any other reptiles, it's pretty humid and rainforest because my 1 cham has basicaly taken over. The humidity would probably be too high for a beardy atm? I'd love to get a tegu one day even, i'd need more space and time for that though.

 

[AZChamFan]

Oh yeah totally worth the extra cost IMO! Another problem i'd have is i have 1 room for any other reptiles, it's pretty humid and rainforest because my 1 cham has basicaly taken over. The humidity would probably be too high for a beardy atm? I'd love to get a tegu one day even, i'd need more space and time for that though.

Hmmm to be honest I don't really know how much humidity a beardie can take. I only know they don't require much! With a hot basking light and no extra misting etc. and good ventilation it might be just fine. That would be a good question for a breeder or a beardie forum!!!!! Yes tegus are awesome but so big!!! I also love monitors - such intelligent reptiles, but there again most are too big for me. The ackie monitors are cute and stay smaller, as well as many tree monitors, but those can be touchy from what I hear. Then again so can chams - just a matter of doing things right usually!

 

[Dino_]

Oh man - I've done entirely way too much research on this very topic. This very thing (looking for something to eat roaches too big for my other lizards) is what originally led me to looking into setting up a cham cage!

Monitors are very cool and there are smaller species. Ackies are very popular.

Frilled dragon

Very common but oh so pretty (and full of attitude) - tokay gecko. Bonus - nocturnal so you have something to watch while your cham is sleeping!

Blue tongue skink - I gotta admit, I've never really been drawn to blue tongues but they're popular and many people say they're puppy dogish.
Knight anole - image a green anole the size of a bearded dragon.

If you're looking into beardies but want something just a little more out of the norm - there are a number of other agamids, be something to look into.

I know you said reptile, but if you wanted something to eat anything you threw in with it (roaches, mice, small neighborhood children...) ain't anything that matches a pacman frog.