breeding roaches

[Jason]

hi i am about to get some roaches and breed them, i am just wondering what to order, would i be better off ordering a box of each size from the herp shop or ordering 4-5 boxes of the large. im just not sure if the adults will live long enough after breeding to the point that their babys are of breeding age and size so i can keep the colony going.
jason

[hugsta]

Get a small amount of adults and a lot of the next size down. The adults tend to be near the end of their life cycle and don't live as long IMO. By getting the slightly younger ones it won't take long for them to grow into adults and start to breed.

[Jason]

thanks hugsta i will do that.

[Gilleni]

Yeah i'd go half adults and half smaller ones....

[Jason]

i ordered 2x large adults (55 days old) and 2x 40 day old, i will see how i go with these and order more if needed. thanks, hopefully i can breed them good.

[instar]

Jason, depending on what sizes you'll need to be feeding off immediatly, you can simply buy a complete colony of around 1000-1500 roaches all sizes (sydney reptile and Amphibians 96431500) A large tub around 100 litres with a well ventilated lid and some egg cartons or similar for them to hide in is all thats needed.
Roaches breed themselves and grow quickly, doing best at 20deg or above but not above about 28c. I keep mine ontop my lizard bank, warm end is around 28c works perfectly.
dryer the diet the better, i use dry dog kibble and occasionally rat blocks and just toss in a carrot or two now n then. you'll find you never haveto buy them again.
:wink:

[Jason]

thanks instar im hopeing that i dont have to get any again. im not planning on feeding them off until i have a good colony going, do you just house all of the sizes together and just take out the ones that you need?

[MrBredli]

I didn't know Sydney Reptiles & Amphibians sold such large amounts of roaches. Does anyone know how much they charge?

[Jason]

i ordered mine from herpshop so i dont know i also didnt know they had such large numbers.

[Jason]

i just hope that i breed enough roaches so that i can can some more dragons next yr.

[herptrader]

Originally Posted by hugsta

The adults tend to be near the end of their life cycle and don't live as long IMO.

I don't know where you are getting your feeder roaches from but the largest Brian sells are full size but one molt away from adult hood. (They are also sold by weight not quantity so you get X amount food weight wise.) As such they have plenty of life left in them... and a full breeding career if required. It is not as if they breed once and then die.

[herptrader]

Originally Posted by Jason

i ordered 2x large adults (55 days old) and 2x 40 day old, i will see how i go with these and order more if needed. thanks, hopefully i can breed them good.

Did you also order some of the fluon paint to put around the top of the colony's breeding tub? This stuff is a must if you do not want roaches in every corner of your existance ;-)

The care sheet on the Herp Shop web site will also help you if you have not read it already. It goes into a lot of detail.

[Jason]

unfortunatly i didnt order that paint stuff as im very straped for cash, with my HSC next week im not working for another 3 weeks, but will order some then, i will hopefully manage until then. is there anything that will work for that time, eg sticky tape or something?

[MrBredli]

Vaseline, KY Jelly etc does the job..

[Gilleni]

MAYBE someone near you that can donate some...

It only takes a tiny amount to do a tub...