Breeding woodies

[Chicken]

hey guys i'm really interested in breeding wood cockroaches. My parents are really sick of buying food and threatened to force me to sell my reptiles if i don't do something about it. So i've tried breeding crickets but thats really hard and fiddly and i'm struggling a lot. So i'd like to give woodies a crack but i need some info. I've searched around a lot and i have a fair idea on housing, feeding heating ect.. but I'm stuck on something i actually couldn't find. Where do they lay their eggs, do i incubate them? How many eggs do they lay? I only have a 2 beardies and a thick tailed so how many woodies should i start off with? Do i get adults or mixed? How long do eggs take to hatch? Do i separate the babies from adults? Any help would be very appreciated.

 

[bfg23]

They do everything themselves.
The females lay egg cases so they dont need an incubation medium.
Just put in some egg cartons and they lay the eggs in there.
No idea how many eggs, but more than you could handle if you tried to separate the young from the adults.

For only two or three lizards you could get away with half a dozen packets of woodies from the shop and they will more than likely get up and running.
Just take the younger ones to feed off rather than the egg laying adults.

I got ~a thousand woodies from a bloke and put them in a tub in a few weeks ago. Feeding off a few to lizards and frogs every day and they are breeding like crazy, I have to get another tub going because there is so many already.

 

[Megzz]

Be careful though cos they stink. I gave up trying to breed them it was gross.

 

[lloydy]

I think i may give this a try aswell.. Spending way to much on woodies!
Even worse now that the herpshop is out of stock..

 

[Chicken]

alright thanks a lot. Sounds so much easier than crickets lol, just kick back and let them do the work were as crickets omfg, move these into here and them into that one, by the time these hatch these ones will be this size lol its annoying, and megzz they'll be in my garage and they don't stink too much if you clean it out regularly.

 

[AllThingsReptile]

are woodies better to feed to beardies than crix?? coz ive heard they give growth spurts but i didnt really believe it lol

 

[Megzz]

megzz they'll be in my garage and they don't stink too much if you clean it out regularly.

Fair enough, I only had mine for a week but I didn't like it (didn't help that they kept dying in there).

I'm trying silkworms now, they're going much better.

 

[AllThingsReptile]

might try it myself lol sounds easy........................ill find out the hard way if its not

 

[GeckoJosh]

They dont stink that bad, I have never notice mine smelling unless I stick my head in the box, they are nutritionally better than crickets so go for it.
It is very easy, just keep them warm and dont let food go mouldy inside the tub (they wont breed unless they are kept nice and warm and mould will cause problems), follow those 2 rules keep them fed and you cant go wrong.
Btw invest in some fluon form herpshop to coat the top of the box as vaseline will get messy.

 

[M-Van86]

What sort of temps do roaches need?

 

[GeckoJosh]

I think 25-35 is a good temp range

 

[nathanlew]

yer i agree

 

[GeckoJosh]

I think 25-35 is a good temp range

Above 28 will create maximum activity (breeding and growth)

 

[Bez84]

Woodies generally have 20 something babies every 20 something days, they dont lay eggs they incubate the eggsacks inside themselves and sometimes
partially expose the sack from themselves to cool it.
When there ready to hatch the females lay the eggsack which hatches live young immediately.
They dont smell and thrive on little to no maintence.
I have a 4 foot tank with soil in the bottom and an old hollow log and i just throw in some dog biskets and what ever scraps i have and some veggies
for moisture every now and then and there are 1000s in there and i havent cleaned or touched it in over 2 years and it doesnt smell in the slightest.
I also have mealworms breeding in the soil and they feed on the woodie scraps.
I also dont heat them as there in the herp room which is warm enough.
So basically to feed a bearded dragon for a year would cost no more then a large bag of dry dog food.
NOTE: i have a strip of fluon painted around the top of the tank so the woodies cant escape.

 

[M-Van86]

I think 25-35 is a good temp range

All the time? Or is there a lower level it can fall to? (ie during winter).

 

[PhilK]

They're so easy to breed..

Source some woodies, put them in a big tub with some egg cartons and fluon painted around the top so they can't escape. Add kitchen scraps/food and sit back to watch them multiply.

The females carry the eggs around inside them and then give "live birth" so you don't need to worry about incubation mediums.

My roaches live outside all year around. In winter they slow down their breeding and eating, but once summer comes around they'll really take off.

Couldn't be easier, and I have probably saved 1000s of dollars!

 

[GeckoJosh]

All the time? Or is there a lower level it can fall to? (ie during winter).

If the temps drop below about 25 the slow right down, the lower the temps the slower they get untill they pretty much go dormant, basically if you want them to grow and breed at a rate fast enough to keep you supplied keep them in that temp range

 

[lloydy]

Ok so went to bunnings got a 30ltr tub - check
Went to petshop got 5 tubs of woodies - check
Fluon on upper sides - check
Egg cartons - check

Food? No idea! Lol what do they eat? Do i put the food on the bottom? All in one corner so its easier to replace? Or it dosnt matter?

Do they need water? Lol

Almost there

 

[kupper]

Jemmiwoodies would be s good starting point to anyone wanting a large amount to start a colony up very cheap and she usually has a heap available

 

[kupper]

And They eat anything ..... A high protein dog food and fruit and veg is what I feed mine