roaches vs crickets

which is better for tegus crickets or roaches i hear ppl talking about both so i was just wondering. thanks.

Here is one source:

http://doubleds.org/newfeederpg.html

And here is another source that has crickets but not roaches:

http://www.ent.iastate.edu/Misc/insectnutrition.html

But for good context, I found this nice little discussion on a cockroach forum:

http://www.blattodea.net/showthread.php?t=179

I just googled around. Companies that sell feeder insects will often post results of studies they contracted, but I tend to consider them skeptically. The insects have to be fed the correct nutrients in order to be nutritious themselves -- they might need certain trace elements for their bodies to manufacture the optimum levels of things.

Really, instead of trying to decide which one is best, I would providing your young tegu with a good variety of foods every day.

i myself say roaches mainly on the fact 1 roach the same size of 1 cricket..... the roach has more "meat to it & a softer shell
plus most roaches will get far bigger than the crickets. they also breed more & easier than crickets

I think a variety is a good thing. Also, like HM said, it's what you feed the insects that counts. Gut loading the feeders with high quality food first, like rich greens, cricket food, or reptile food, makes the insect a better feeder.

I personally would go for the roaches for basically the same reasons pikey said.

I like the roaches because they don't chirp. I breed dubias and hissers and the hissers only make noise when you disturb them. I also keep crickets around for my smaller pets, but I aways try to change it up.

The roaches as a feeder are superior in everyway to crickets and mealworms.in the years we have been selling roaches not one person has regretted them. Here I will post from an email from a client.

To: balboa28279@mypacks.net
<!-- Cc --><!-- Subject -->Subject: Re: Dubias
<!-- Date -->Date: Nov 2, 2010 5:14 PM
<!-- Attachment --><!-- Message Body --><TABLE class=msgbody border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD><BASE target=_blank><ZZZHEAD><STYLE>body{font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:9pt;background-color: #ffffff;color: black;}</STYLE><ZZZMETA content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18975" name="GENERATOR"></ZZZHEAD><ZZZBODY id=compText>The colony is going great!! I have a steady stream of nymphs for my leopard geckos and tarantula. My beardie cleans up all of the extra males. My reptiles have never been healthier, and the roaches are soooo easy to care for. I can't remember the last time I had to buy any feeders.

Thanks so much for getting me going!

Craig. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


When your animals live longer, develop better color, grow bigger and are more productive, then you will realize the differnce they can make. Remember crickets and mealworms are grandpa's left over fishbait. They were bred and used as fishbait so were available when people started keeping insect feeders.

Yep. Most people are beginning to see that you can feed them to all sorts of reptiles. The nymphs are great for even the smallest reptiles.