So I'm honestly trying to completely get rid of crickets. They die rather quickly and leave such a mess in my tank that I just want to filter them out. Even when I buy 6 at a time because each of my toads eat 3 crickets per feeding, I still find that one or 2 die before my toads get to them.
I thought mealworms would be the next best thing but the second that they hit the water they die or sink.
So is there any type of bug that these guys can eat that won't drown to death?
I was going to ask this also, as I bought 60 last Monday and after 3 normal feedings, I'm out today (they die so easily although I'm keeping them in a cool area, fed, cleaned out daily, etc.) Everyone told me crickets were best, I can't invest in raising them at the moment so I was wondering this too.
- 1.2.0 Azazel, Matrix & Minnie
- 0.1.0 Felis catus (Maine Coon Mix & Siamese Mix) - Daisy & Donald
- 1.0.0 Canis lupus familiaris (Siberian Husky) - Hermes
- 2.0.0 Mini-Me Minions - Aiden & Peyton
I've heard that roaches are the best but you have to cultivate them because they're hard to find for sale. roaches don't die unless eaten haha
I keep my crickets in a cricket container ( plastic container with a lid with holes ) with egg carton pieces. Keeps the crickets from smothering each other. I also feed the crickets Fluker's orange cube complete cricket diet. ( bought at petsmart ) I buy 50 crickets a time, a few died but not like before were they were all dying. I only have one toad right now. ( one died )
I 'm trying to find and buy crickets and mealworms but in tinos they don'y sell food for frogs and reptiles because there aren't many keepers. So what do you advise me to do? can i feed them something else tha i can buy or i should keep chasing flies?
You can get live feeders on Fluker's website. I've never bought live crickets online. I believe they come UPS or FedEx. give it a shot and let us know!
Roaches are the way to go, but as mentioned they must be cultured at home unless you know someone locally that will sell them to you in small quantities for a decent price. The good news is: they are EASY to culture, they don't stink like crickets, they are lower in fat/higher in protein, they won't bite your pets, and they don't make noise like crickets. The bad news: they are super creepy and are what nightmares are made of.
Roaches will still drown if they have nothing to hang onto, but they're not nearly as stupid as crickets. It seems like crickets actually want to drown sometimes. Unless they drown from having nothing to hold onto they will live through just about anything, unlike stupid crickets which are constantly dying for no apparent reason.
Mealworms are a terrible choice. They have tons of shell, very little meat, and very little nutrients. Mealworms = impaction/constipation waiting to happen
Here's a photo of one of my roach colonies:
Roaches, amazingly enough, do not freak me out. I would not mind raising them if they are easier to rear than crix (I tried to raise crix and yes, they are STUPID. lol. I failed miserably.) Cam, what all do you suggest to set up a roach colony and where did you buy your starter ones at? If you've already posted all that on here, please direct me to where. I'll gladly give it a whirl, anything to get rid of the crix smell. (I have a setup of crix just as Karri described, 60 at a time, feed them flukers and keep them in a bug keeper.) But they die entirely too often.
Oh, looking at your pic, are all of them that big? I ask because I remember the rule about FBT only being able to eat bugs about the size between their eyes. *knows nothing about roaches except those big suckers that sometimes make it in the house*
- 1.2.0 Azazel, Matrix & Minnie
- 0.1.0 Felis catus (Maine Coon Mix & Siamese Mix) - Daisy & Donald
- 1.0.0 Canis lupus familiaris (Siberian Husky) - Hermes
- 2.0.0 Mini-Me Minions - Aiden & Peyton
Then you have no excuse for not already having a culture!! haha
Well, thanks to you I just spent an hour typing up a lobster roach care sheet XD You can find it here: http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...r-roaches.html
As far as where to get some, aaronpauling.com is a good one to order from. If you want lobster roaches I could possibly send you a starter culture, free of charge (except for packing and shipping costs, of course, which you would need to paypal me).
The only reason I ever looked into breeding roaches was because of how freaking disgusting crickets smell. You will love me when you realize I opened your eyes to a world where nasty cricket tubs don't exist.
The adults get up to 1.25 inches, but you could just keep the adults for reproductive purposes and just feed the smaller nymphs to your frogs. Or you could culture Red Runners instead (Blatta lateralis). They are smaller & BONUS they are non-climbing.
Last edited by KingCam; August 29th, 2012 at 04:54 PM.
*bows* You are amazing Cam, thank you SO much! Gonna share all of that with the hubby a bit later, see what he thinks. He hates roaches but anything to get rid of the crix smell, lol.
- 1.2.0 Azazel, Matrix & Minnie
- 0.1.0 Felis catus (Maine Coon Mix & Siamese Mix) - Daisy & Donald
- 1.0.0 Canis lupus familiaris (Siberian Husky) - Hermes
- 2.0.0 Mini-Me Minions - Aiden & Peyton
lol, well since *I'm* the feeder I doubt he'll mind. Read your care sheet, that's perfect. They are a lot less needy than crickets too! I like that.
- 1.2.0 Azazel, Matrix & Minnie
- 0.1.0 Felis catus (Maine Coon Mix & Siamese Mix) - Daisy & Donald
- 1.0.0 Canis lupus familiaris (Siberian Husky) - Hermes
- 2.0.0 Mini-Me Minions - Aiden & Peyton
So much less needy. When I first started breeding roaches a few years ago I had this spare tub with a bit of peat moss in the bottom that I had been keeping some lobster roaches in. Top edge vaselined to keep them in of course. In the process of moving my animal room from upstairs to the basement the spare roach tub got forgotten in a closet. They went 4 months without food OR water. They were almost all still alive O_O
omg that's insane! lol. Reminds me of reading some roaches can live without heads and they've been around since the time of the dinosaurs, hah. That's good though, hardy little suckers.
- 1.2.0 Azazel, Matrix & Minnie
- 0.1.0 Felis catus (Maine Coon Mix & Siamese Mix) - Daisy & Donald
- 1.0.0 Canis lupus familiaris (Siberian Husky) - Hermes
- 2.0.0 Mini-Me Minions - Aiden & Peyton
i hate roaches with a passion and you have me almost convinced to cultivate them lol
hahaha, sorry! I hate them too, or at least I did, but now I think I actually like them. Otherwise there's no way to explain why I am currently keeping 6 different species of roach in my house O_O
EDIT: Make that 8 species :P
1) Lobster Roaches | Nauphoeta cinera
2) Guyana Orange Spotted Roaches | Blaptica dubia
3) Red Runners | Blatta lateralis
4) Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches | Gromphadorhina portentosa
5) Surinam Roaches | Pycnoscelus surinamensis
6) (No Common Name) | Pycnoscelus femapterus
7) Pallid Roaches | Phoetalia pallida
8) Death Head Hybrids | Blaberus sp.
Last edited by KingCam; August 30th, 2012 at 02:51 PM. Reason: added list of roaches
Death Head Hybrids - those sound awesome! /random
- 1.2.0 Azazel, Matrix & Minnie
- 0.1.0 Felis catus (Maine Coon Mix & Siamese Mix) - Daisy & Donald
- 1.0.0 Canis lupus familiaris (Siberian Husky) - Hermes
- 2.0.0 Mini-Me Minions - Aiden & Peyton
I have to agree, Faith. Roaches are super easy to care for. They do not stink, do not bite, and after your colony gets going they're free .
You can feed them just about any fruit or veggie (except tomatoes), fish food, cereal, cat food...they're like little garbage disposals, ha ha! And they rarely leave scraps to clean up. They're great!
I was pretty freaked out by them when I first got them and would only pick them up with tongs or a baggie. Now I just pick them up .
https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203589094112277&id=1363241107&set =a.1434844115446.2055312.1363241107&source=11&ref= bookmark
Dude, why do you have some many different species? o_O
I thought you only had like 3 or 4 different kinds.. 8 species, are you sure you're not a roach collector?
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