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Well, since an argentine tegus wild diet consists more of insects, seeds and fruits in the wild, I have decided to add more roaches into my tegus diet. I have a small order of roachs coming from James Tuttle from Blaberus.com. He has a nice site with lots of different types of cockroaches for sale including some of the rarer ones. Check out his site. He has roach pictures, info, caresheets, supplies and more. I also found out he is the one who supplied Bennett (beardiedragon) with his hissers.
Blaberus.com is the leading breeder and supplier of roaches in the U.S. (You'll notice I also placed a banner at the bottom of the website if you need it in the future.) James wanted me to inform you that he is willing to help get any of you started into roaches of your own. Just drop him an email. I don't think his prices can be beat. I will update you all once my roaches arrive.
Joined: Nov 06, 2004 Posts: 972269 Location: Central Maine
Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:14 pm Post subject:
You'd have to either have someone else order them for you and pay them in cash to do it. Or contact James and see if perhaps he has another method of payment, like postal money order or such.
I am not sure if he does, but I am sure he wouldn't mind answering a message from you. Make sure to tell him your a The Tegu Community member.
I got my colony of B. Dubia from James. He was very helpful and answered a ton of questions. Shipping was fast and reliable. And he cut me a break in price for buying a large order. So, I'd certainly suggest that others buy from him as well.
He has lot's of different kinds of roaches. But after having talked to James and having read all of the info on his site, I decided on the B. Dubia (which I'm really happy with). They don't make any noise. No bad smell. They don't climb (which is a big deal IMO). They breed fast and live long. They may not be the largest of the roaches. But they're plenty big to suppliment a tegu diet. And best of all they're super easy to keep. I just keep mine in a big Rubbermaid type container w/ holes drilled in the lid and some egg crate. Throw some food and water crystals in each day and that's about it. I'll have to add a heat pad as the weather cools off. But for right now, the Virginia heat seems to suit them just fine.
Last edited by EA7770 on Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:57 am, edited 1 time in total
Joined: Nov 06, 2004 Posts: 972269 Location: Central Maine
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:54 am Post subject:
I should get my roaches Wednesday. I have a lot of 50 Blaberus discoidalis (a.k.a. discoid or false death heads) coming. He mentioned he will probably toss in a few other species for me to check out. Can't wait to get them. I do need to make room and pickup some tubs to keep them in.
The don't fly, climb glass or jump. They seem to fit the description of exactly what I want.
I'll keep everyone updated, but if you are interested I'd check his site and prices. It was nice to find someone who will sell smaller cultures too so you can try them out and see if your tegu likes them before making a bigger order. I know my tegus love roaches more then mice or crix.
I started with a group of 50 also as I wanted to get the colony up and running fairly quickly. I certainly have waaaay more than 50 now. Had I known just how easy these guys are to work with (as opposed to crickets or mealworms) I'd have started breeding them years ago.
Joined: Nov 06, 2004 Posts: 972269 Location: Central Maine
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:35 pm Post subject:
Well, some people will indeed feel that way. My wife didn't care for the hissers much when we first got them. Once she realized they were not gonna escape and infest the house she calmed a bit. Now that she realizes they don't stink like crickets, they don't 'cricket' all night like crickets, they are bigger and taster for the tegus.. well now she is ok with them as long as she doesn't need to handle them. (We're still working on that)
Roaches are indeed a LOT better then crickets, for many reasons.
I have a small colony of discoids and hissers, the discoids are fast!!! You dont have to worry about them escaping and taking over the house because they cant breed in our temperate zone let alone last a winter. so if your house is at room temp, you have nothing to worry about they only breed at 85 and up for temps.
I was wondering how it is going with the cockroaches. I am thinking of setting up a colony of Blaptica dubia and maybe one of the larger species (hissers). Any advice/tips?
I would love to be able to produce enough so that I can phase out/drastically reduce buying crickets. I did breed Nauphoeta cinerea for a while, and they were very popular as food, but they are too fast and climb too well. Six months after finishing with them (i.e. feeding them to my animals!), I'm still finding the odd one in my reptile room from time to time.
Unless I can source some roaches in the UK/Europe, I'm thinking of importing some from Blaberus.com. I've enquired about shipping costs etc.
This becomes a lot more economical if two or three people share the shipping costs. Are you interested in setting up your own colony?
If we ordered 150 Blaptica dubia each, it would work out at c. £65 each. 150 is a good number to start a colony. The more you start with, the quicker you are up and running. I tried starting a Eublaberus prosticus colony a while ago, but only had about fifteen to start with, and it was so slow I got bored and fafter many months just fed them to some bearded dragons! (I've got to work on my patience...)
Joined: Jul 23, 2005 Posts: 385 Location: North Carolina
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 8:20 am Post subject:
I saw this post yesterday and starting looking into it.. Today, or tomorrow, i plan to buy some Blaptica dubia and start up a colony. I think my mother would be proud.. At any rate, it will give her a reason to stay on the other side of the country. _________________ The Jay
Joined: Mar 07, 2005 Posts: 328 Location: Chesterfield, UK
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:08 am Post subject:
Englishtegu wrote:
Drfish
Unless I can source some roaches in the UK/Europe, I'm thinking of importing some from Blaberus.com. I've enquired about shipping costs etc.
This becomes a lot more economical if two or three people share the shipping costs. Are you interested in setting up your own colony?
If we ordered 150 Blaptica dubia each, it would work out at c. £65 each. 150 is a good number to start a colony. The more you start with, the quicker you are up and running. I tried starting a Eublaberus prosticus colony a while ago, but only had about fifteen to start with, and it was so slow I got bored and fafter many months just fed them to some bearded dragons! (I've got to work on my patience...)
Anyone else in the UK interested? Johelian?
Cheers,
Mark.
I may well know of a source we could get some from in the UK. Leave it with me til monday, and i'll have an answer for you.
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I'm afraid I can't alow those things in my apartment.
