How long will tegus eat roaches?

CRG · Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 6:00 pm Post subject: How long will tegus eat roaches?

i just bought a small colony of orangeheads. Will he be eating insects for quite awhile?

drfish · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:50 am Post subject:

In theory, with a varied diet, there is nothing to stop a Tegu eating roaches all it's life. My 3 year old will be having a supply once I get a colony set up in the not too distant future. I am doing it with the intention of feeding my Savannah and Chameleon at the moment, but I will be giving my Tegu some as a treat on occassion. Obviosuly as he gets older, you need to create a more staple diet of rodents, turkey etc.

tegulevi · Respected Member Joined: Mar 10, 2005 Posts: 489

as long as he will eat them keep feeding them. buy a colony of larger roaches if need be. variety works great for tegus. grasshopers are fav. of mine

Rick · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:34 am Post subject:

My adult tegus eat roaches are part of a varied diet.

I have 4 species of roach, mostly hissers. I have 5 orange headed roaches so I have not fed any of those. Do note that the orange headed let off an odor when really disturbed, Though not horribly bad, I don't know if it's enough to put off a tegu from eating it. I assume defense was the purpose of the odor.

I like hissers for their size, big and crunchy. My tegus chew them up like potato chips, but they can climb glass so I keep them in 10 gallon aquariums with vaseline on the top few inches so they can't get past the barrier. I also like Discoids for their size and that they don't stink, don't climb, don't fly, etc. so they are easier to raise. (Orange heads are easy to keep, but the odor of a few roaches when you disturb them can be a bit much for a moment or two.)

Rick
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Reptilemama · Member Joined: Oct 12, 2005 Posts: 17

I currently have a colony of lobsters that are a great size for my juvie tegu and my green tree monitor. I have had discoids in the past, but they seemed to breed and grow very slowly! It took months for them to produce any babies, and the babies grew very slowly. Is this common? I had been considering getting another colony started for when the tegu gets bigger, but is it worth it for one animal?

CRG · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:20 pm Post subject:

How do you feed them? My tegu is on cypress mulch,he is still scared so I wonder if I use a dish he will come near it or they will escape before he gets to them?

Reptilemama · Member Joined: Oct 12, 2005 Posts: 17

I've been feeding mostly pinky or fuzzy rats, but when I do feed roaches to the tegu, I use forceps. For the monitor, I have a big decorative pot that a large plastic cup fits into nicely. I coated the top of a cup with bug stop and put the roaches in there.

CRG · Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 7:29 pm Post subject:

Well he did eat his first pinkie today, I was worried cause they are pretty big, not like the pinks at the pet store that are small as a nickel. He wouldnt touch the superworms I tried to feed him the last two days.Anyway Im happy I saw him eat something..I havent even tried roaches cause I want to wait till I get some babies..

Jordan · Member Joined: May 08, 2005 Posts: 42 Location: BC, Canada

Hey Rick, the odor for the orange heads almost seems to attract the attention for the tegu. Mine prefers them over many other sp of roach

CRG · Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 5:11 pm Post subject:

I might get some hissers this weekend and use those too..

Englishtegu · Valued Member Joined: Jul 13, 2005 Posts: 111 Location: UK

Which type of hissers are you guys using? I'm thinking of getting a colony going.

I have orange spotted roaches Blaptica dubia. I've bred lobsters in the past; but they are too fast, and climb too well. I've also tried orange heads. Even after several months they had not produced any young. In the end I got bored and fed the adults to some beardies. The dragons LOVED them!

The B. dubia are up and running very quickly, and even after a week or so started producing young. I did start with 120 mixed ages (incl. some adults). They also smell much less!

Mark.

Slizarus · Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:37 am Post subject:

Type?
Er.. I suppose we're using G. Portentosa, the other species aren't so much feeders as interesting side projects into the world of entomology

So yah, the madagascan hissers.
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