How to keep Woodies the right way?

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Friller2009

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Hi all, recently I set up to small woodie colonies to sustain my relatively small reptile collection. I had them in bare bottom tubs, and egg crates. About two weeks later the colony started to smell. Did a bit of reading and found that the smell was coming from the dead woodies decaying. I also read it could be beneficial to have a substrate inside the tub with mealworms in it to eat the decaying woodies which prevents the smell. Well, I did that, and yay no smell!, but now dry food, (dog biscuits) gets fungus/mould on it very quickly. I found a way to slow this down by putting it in a small jar lid.
So, what I want to know is, how do you guys keep your woodies?
 
after lots of research, I now use pollard, not dog biscuits ( which apparently is too much protein for our lizards), so pollard in a dish and wet food ( small amounts) in a separate small dish.
Small amounts daily not large amounts weekly.
Reduce the amount of wet food as too much will kill them quickly
 
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Keep them warm, heat mat or cord works. Also good airflow
 
after lots of research, I now use pollard, not dog biscuits ( which apparently is too much protein for our lizards), so pollard in a dish and wet food ( small amounts) in a separate small dish.
Small amounts daily not large amounts weekly.
Reduce the amount of wet food as too much will kill them quickly
Can I alternate between pollard and dog biscuits? Or is it better to exclude dog biscuits altogether?
 
Sorry to hijack the thread!
I'm working on growing woodies too and have had a few die suddenly..I was wondering if it was temperature related? I've been keeping them outside (for convenience and access) but have space in the shed if they don't like the cold...I mean, they're cockroaches, right??!! We have had a few cold mornings and it's been going down to 5C or something like that. I'm in Perth.
 
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Sorry to hijack the thread!
I'm working on growing woodies too and have had a few die suddenly..I was wondering if it was temperature related? I've been keeping them outside (for convenience and access) but have space in the shed if they don't like the cold...I mean, they're cockroaches, right??!! We have had a few cold mornings and it's been going down to 5C or something like that. I'm in Perth.
if you are not feeding too much wet food it is def temp related. I keep a heat mat under the tub at 1 end
 
I too am having problems with dead woodies. So if I’m only supposed to give them a small amount of wet food, how will I know they’re all getting their share?
 
Hi all, recently I set up to small woodie colonies to sustain my relatively small reptile collection. I had them in bare bottom tubs, and egg crates. About two weeks later the colony started to smell. Did a bit of reading and found that the smell was coming from the dead woodies decaying. I also read it could be beneficial to have a substrate inside the tub with mealworms in it to eat the decaying woodies which prevents the smell. Well, I did that, and yay no smell!, but now dry food, (dog biscuits) gets fungus/mould on it very quickly. I found a way to slow this down by putting it in a small jar lid.
So, what I want to know is, how do you guys keep your woodies?

If your dog biscuits are going mouldy, especially quickly, it's too wet/humid in your colony. This will also rot your dead woodies which will cause smell.

I'm guessing you mean egg cartons not crates.

You haven't said anything about temperatures or ventilation, but I'm guessing you have insufficient ventilation. I've either used lidless tubs (generally my preference) or if for whatever reason that isn't possible I've used lids with full ventilation (basically the entire top covered in insect mesh).
 
my tubs have most of the lid cut out and replaced with mesh for ventilation, in the cooler months I have a small heat mat under 1 end. I use 2 tubs inside, 1 for wet food and 1 for dry food (pollard). I offer very little wet food, yesterdays leftovers from my dragons plus a small piece of carrot or sometimes an apple core.
Too much wet food will kill them, don't worry if they don't get enough woodies will survive on very little
 
my tubs have most of the lid cut out and replaced with mesh for ventilation, in the cooler months I have a small heat mat under 1 end. I use 2 tubs inside, 1 for wet food and 1 for dry food (pollard). I offer very little wet food, yesterdays leftovers from my dragons plus a small piece of carrot or sometimes an apple core.
Too much wet food will kill them, don't worry if they don't get enough woodies will survive on very little
How often do you feed your woodies the wet food and roughly how many woodies are you talking about when you say an apple core or small piece of carrot… if you don’t mind me bothering you with these questions.
 
theyy get the veg scraps daily but there isn't much of that, a small piece of carrot once or twice a week or the apple core once a week or so and there's maybe a thousand mixed sizes.
Plus they get the pollard every second day
And you're not bothering me . This is what forums are for, sharing information.
What is is the use of someone learning something if they don't share it with others who don't know. If you know something I don't know pass it along
 
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Thank you for that. I’m always worried I’ll kill them with too much wet food. I’d say every day I could pick out at least a couple of dead ones, so frustrating when I’m trying to get their numbers up. These days I have wheat bran in the tub all the time and just in the last maybe month, I add a sparing amount of wet food and if it’s not devoured in a couple of hours I take it out.
 
Thank you for that. I’m always worried I’ll kill them with too much wet food. I’d say every day I could pick out at least a couple of dead ones, so frustrating when I’m trying to get their numbers up. These days I have wheat bran in the tub all the time and just in the last maybe month, I add a sparing amount of wet food and if it’s not devoured in a couple of hours I take it out.
I learnt a lot from a mate who breeds and sells woodies. I once sent him a box full and most died in transit because I put a carrot in there so they wouldn't starve to death. Turns out I killed most of them because of my "kindness" He taught me a lot about woodies.
Here's a tip, if you see some with wings, they are almost at the end so feed these out first
 
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I learnt a lot from a mate who breeds and sells woodies. I once sent him a box full and most died in transit because I put a carrot in there so they wouldn't starve to death. Turns out I killed most of them because of my "kindness" He taught me a lot about woodies.
Here's a tip, if you see some with wings, they are almost at the end so feed these out first
Is that right. I was led to believe the winged woodies were either the mature breeder males or females (still confused on what sex they are). So in your opinion what should I be looking for as far as male and female breeders go. I keep getting mixed msgs on that score 🤷‍♀️
 
Hey friends, just wondering how you go about transferring the woodies to clean the tub? How often do you do this? Could anyone make a lil video to show us how it's done? Kind Regards!
 
Hey friends, just wondering how you go about transferring the woodies to clean the tub? How often do you do this? Could anyone make a lil video to show us how it's done? Kind Regards!
you need 2 tubs, I change the egg cartons for fresh ones before hand so it's cleaner.Just shake the woodies out of each carton 1 at a time to transfer them to the clean ones,then lift out the new cartons and move to new tub being careful not to move the frass (sh1te) as well. I'd say no more than a month between swaps to reduce the amount of frass. When it's done clean out the empty tub so it's ready for next swap over
 

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