Why don't discoid cockroaches get the love they deserve?

[jamest0o0]

Are they legal in Canada lol?

 

[GoodKarma19]

Are they legal in Canada lol?

Shhhh, you mustn't uncover my secret roach smuggling ring!

 

[dshuld]

Dubia start off much faster IME. Once the discoids get going though you'll have plenty.

As you kind of know, I have limited experience with dubia. The only experience I have with them is my sisters colony when I visit Nc. Based on limited interactions with her dubia vs my discoids I agree discoid do seem far more active, even in cooler temps. We both keep our houses 70ish, she heats her colony, I don't heat mine anymore. They run like crazy in the daylight though even with room temps of 68/ 70.

 

[MrsM]

I used to live in NYC and the idea of paying money to buy roaches still boggles my mind.
I love my chameleon and want to provide a good diet. I keep finding rogue crickets and wonder...
Don’t those roaches reproduce pretty fast?Have any of you guys that feed roaches to your chameleon ended up with infestations?
Was anyone a skeptic like me and now you are glad you tried them?
I’m curious.

 

[dshuld]

I used to live in NYC and the idea of paying money to buy roaches still boggles my mind.
I love my chameleon and want to provide a good diet. I keep finding rogue crickets and wonder...
Don’t those roaches reproduce pretty fast?Have any of you guys that feed roaches to your chameleon ended up with infestations?
Was anyone a skeptic like me and now you are glad you tried them?
I’m curious.

Since I'm in Florida I don't free range my roaches on roach day. I put them into a deep rubbermaid dish and go cage by cage making sure none escape lol.

 

[jamest0o0]

I used to live in NYC and the idea of paying money to buy roaches still boggles my mind.
I love my chameleon and want to provide a good diet. I keep finding rogue crickets and wonder...
Don’t those roaches reproduce pretty fast?Have any of you guys that feed roaches to your chameleon ended up with infestations?
Was anyone a skeptic like me and now you are glad you tried them?
I’m curious.

There are thousands of cockroach species, only like 4? are common pest species. Crickets are absolutely filthy and commonly carry all sorts of stuff. Tropical roaches are very hygienic relatively speaking, you cannot even begin to compare them to cockroaches you'd find in new york. I don't know of any feeder roaches ever infesting a house. The only ones that I could see, would be red runners or lobsters, but I don't keep those. They definitely gave me the creeps when I first got them, but using them over crickets was the best thing I ever did. I still do buy crickets about once a month during summer from a clean source just to add variety.

 

[jamest0o0]

Infact, it boggles my mind people prefer buying crickets over and over, which are pretty filthy creatures, to simply breeding something like discoids, dubia, etc for free. I get it though, the cultural stigma lol... I was there too, so can't blame people.

 

[Chameleon Mike]

I used to live in NYC and the idea of paying money to buy roaches still boggles my mind.
I love my chameleon and want to provide a good diet. I keep finding rogue crickets and wonder...
Don’t those roaches reproduce pretty fast?Have any of you guys that feed roaches to your chameleon ended up with infestations?
Was anyone a skeptic like me and now you are glad you tried them?
I’m curious.

I have a Dubia colony. Once they are established they do produce pretty quickly but only under the right conditions. Every adult female will have about 30 babies every month.
I was a skeptic as well and I tried them not just for my chameleons but my bearded dragon. My beardy loves them but only some chameleons will eat them. Other chameleons will run for the hills before they eat them.
I'm very glad I got them and no longer worry about infestations.

 

[Zevil]

Initially I got my dubia colony for my hedgehog. Then I bought a few more pets that also eat bugs. But sadly my chameleon is not interested in dubia.

 

[jamest0o0]

Try some other species! Dubia are overrated. One thing in my situation, as finicky as Parsons can be(which I think is because they are wait-and-ambush predators rather than hunters like you might see with Panthers and others)... He is the one chameleon I've had that readily accepts dubia and seems to prefer them. Even eating from my hands. My Panthers would take them, but only after hunger striking me for a week+. What worked in my case with panthers was to never offer crickets, or anything, until they regularly ate the roaches.

 

[snitz427]

I mix in small dubia with other feeders and the chameleons usually get a dubia or two by accident. There's a med/large dubia that has been living in Donnie's cage for about a month. I think he's winning the war.

Good news! I saw some adult green bananas that weren't dead, so I only killed a few!