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Thread: Want to get a colony started...

  1. #1

    Default Want to get a colony started...

    but....my boyfriend is scared of roaches. lol, he would rather raise crickets. What are the pros/cons of roaches? what do you prefer? where is a good place to buy them?

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Hi rinaann. Welcome to our Tegu forum family. The Dubia Roaches are better than the crickets because they are much better in nutrition, they don't climb and they don't make all that noise. Here is a link for you to check out on how to raise the Roaches. The guy in the video also has a store ( website ) where he sells the Roaches. You can pm ( on his youtube account and see if he has any left ) if you want to. Hope this helps. Oh, I almost forgot. Most places are out of large crickets because there is a cricket virus going around.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/txrepgirl#p/f/5/CJvbOGx1ZAU
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  3. #3
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    From what I've read, roaches are easier to raise/breed in general and they aren't as aggressive as crickets.
    Money is NOT the root of all evil, LOVE OF MONEY is. Far too many people get that mixed up.


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  4. #4
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    Everything txrepgirl said is true. But. There is also an irrational, emotional factor at play here. If your BF hates roaches or is afraid of them, chances are this won't just go away. Roaches are one of those categories that trigger a phobia or at least strong feelings of repulsion in many people. It's not logical, but it's real. Unless your BF is willing to really work at it and master a reason-over-reflex thing, I would not underestimate this as a problem. I know because I find roaches fascinating in someone else's enclosure or in a museum, but am unable to bring myself to bring them into my house. There are plenty of different kinds of worms and small prey alternatives.

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    I'm going to side with your boyfriend on this. While roaches are easier and better in the long run. The idea of them potentially getting out and then having free roam of my home is too much to bare. I and I"m sure HE Understands there is nothing to fear, I'm sure he has logically thought about what could possibly harm him. But I'm sure he can also think back to some movie Simular to Archnaphobia which scarred many young poeple like myself so early on.

    I used to be a poor white boy who shared his home, parents vehicle, and food with roaches. The idea that with one slip up that could happen again makes me feel like little legs are crawling all over me while I try to sleep.

    But.....Don't raise crickets, the smell is GOD AWEFULL, they are supercannibles, get out and will be running around, and the chirping will haunt you. Also if your find a good pet store you can normally get flat rates on them.
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  6. #6
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    Hi Rinaann, It's very understandable that your boyfriend is not so keen about cockroaches but actually a few varieties of cockroaches (like most feeder roaches) are considered not to be pests and it's a good way to not drive to the pet store every week and buy a few hundred crickets. It's cost effective and time sufficient to raise a colony of roaches on your own. There is a lot of info I found on the roach Ranch web site that I hear are very well thought of distributors of feeder cockroaches that you might want to check out. It might make your boyfriend think a little differently about rising cockroaches
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  7. #7
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    If you keep the roaches in a tank with a lid and some clips on it they can't get out.


    Hi LovleyLin. Welcome to our Tegu forum family .
    Rich is not how much you have, or where you are going, or what you are.Rich is who you have beside you.

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  8. #8
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    Roaches, are by far, easier to breed and a better source of food for your reptile. Plus they don't hiss and aren't good climber. We used to keep many of them at the reptile farm, and they weren't any top of the cage due of their pitiful climbing skills.

    Cricket, in other way are very messy and die easily. Plus the smell is horrible and you'll need a big amout of it to feed one adult reptile compare to roaches.

    Superworm, easy to breed to, easy to get adult, but you need to be extremely careful when it comes to the temperature and lighting. Plus in a lot of substrate to eat, a couple of pieces or apple can make them live for a very very very long time.

    Butterworm, well as I read, they are irradicated so it's impossible to breed them and aren't a good source of food because they are high in fat.

    Silkworm, pretty expensive to breed due of the ''exceptionnal food'' they need. Sadly, they are an excellent source of food for lizard.

    Personally, I would go with the roaches, but before making a colony, I think that you should bought an adult one and show your boyfriend that these little guy are pretty friendly and not aggressive at all.
    Ben
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  9. #9
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    Just speaking for myself here, regarding the roach fear thing. It's not that I'm afraid they'll bite me or carry me off to be a slave or something. I just see them as filthy, disease-carrying, ultra-high reproductive rate colonists of human environments.

    At a recent reptile show I looked at the exhibits from roach sellers and spent a long time checking out the dubias. It made so much sense to start a colony for all the nutritional reasons mentioned, plus I could imagine setting Hernando loose on the whole colony. I have the spare terrarium with a slide-locking lid, blah, blah, blah.

    Then I saw this one big female just kick off an egg capsule that shot across the enclosure. I pictured that thing sticking to my shoe or dropping into the cuff of my pants as I walk into the kitchen. The lady selling roaches assured me that this species would not survive in my kitchen. But I just can not make the leap. I could not bring myself to pick one up, let alone buy a trial jar. They are vile, disgusting, filthy vermin. It's not like I would go screaming and running if one touched me. I wouldn't go into a panic attack or anything. But I, too, have lived with them (the flitty little German kind, and another non-native species that flies in huge flocks when they migrate--and I was living and working outdoors) and I think I would slide into a dark cloud of misery and dispair if I were ever cohabitating with roaches again.

  10. #10
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    So I'm not a big fan of creepy crawlies either, however I'm an even LESS fan of dealing with crickets.

    Crickets are loud, stinky as all heck, expensive (depending on how often you're going to the pet store to buy them), great climbers and escape artists, die very easily, and IMO, just a pain in the butt to deal with. Dubia roaches, on the other hand, are hearty and prodigious breeders (which makes them easy to establish), quiet, have little to no smell, are HORRIBLE climbers (and really, it's only the cute little baby ones that can do anything remotely like climbing anyway), can't fly, have a much higher "meat to shell" ratio, and will save you untold amounts of money in the long-run.

    The Boyfriend and I just started our dubia roach colony a few weeks ago, and we can not wait until they get established so we won't have to deal with any more darn crickets. They just seem like such a valid and logical choice for us and our reptiles. I would suggest that you and your BF sit down and do some reading on them, and then discuss the possibility with him. However, if he truly is scared of them, like as in a way that he won't be able to "get over" or rationalize his way through it, then I wouldn't put him through the stress of dealing with roaches; it wouldn't be fair to him in the least.

    Here are some great informational pages, and two sources for the actual roaches themselves:

    http://theroachguy.com

    http://theroachranch.com

    http://www.nyworms.com/dubiacare.htm

    Good luck with everything!!
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