How to convince parents (B. dubia)

melanie5

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 18, 2007
Messages
141
I would like to start feeding roaches instead of crickets, but my mother is absolutel against this as she's afraid of in infestation of roaches (I do admitt I let my crickets escape frequentely:p).
Any ideas how to convince her that roaches are better or the T's? (she loves the T's btw)
 

Mina

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 4, 2005
Messages
2,136
Explain to her that tropical roaches can't survive in a normal household environment, it is not warm or humid enough. Tell her that roaches are a much healthier food for your T's, and have a much better meat to shell ratio. Remind her that once you have roaches, you will have an inexpensive food supply at your finger tips, one that you can guarantee is free of parasites, and one that has been raised on healthy food. Remind her that for a T to be healthy, it is best for its food to be healthy. Ask her if she likes the noise and the smell of crickets, then tell her roaches are silent and don't smell with a small amount of maintenance on your part.
 

ZooRex

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 13, 2007
Messages
507
The information above swayed my mom. Along with the "this is the final step to becoming an unbelieveablely great mom" speach. Just be sure they are tucked out of the way so she won't have to think about them. Also, in conversation we refer to the roaches as "beetles" for they are members of the beetle family and it makes my mom feel better...If your getting B.dubia you could just say that they are just a giant form of the pill bug. Good luck ~ Rex
 

Truff135

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 22, 2007
Messages
1,033
You would also have a hard time getting a b.dubia roach to even escape. They can't climb glass so they won't sneak out that way, they're flightless (males I have heard can make very short jump-flights, but mine never have). They're odorless, aren't noisy, don't bite, and the best part is, unless it's in the high 80's+ their breeding productivity takes a hard nose dive. You would really have to TRY to get them to escape, and try even harder to get them to survive in a common household. They are infinitely better than crickets. If it helps at all, tell your mom that I'm a female, and I own roaches. ;)
 

UrbanJungles

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 12, 2007
Messages
1,125
You might definitely want to avoid the word "roach".
Use "Feeders" or "feeder insects". The word roach has a bad effect on the human psyche at this point...
 

Scorpendra

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
1,499
i remember as a kid, my dad tried to convince my mom to let me have a hisser as a pet by substituting "roach" with "beetle". it didn't work, though.
 

Uglykid2

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 21, 2004
Messages
87
Also, tell her you have so many cricket escapes because they can jump like the dickens and run like the wind. "Feeder insects" (dubia roaches) are slow and don't jump.
 

Cyris69

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 10, 2007
Messages
1,413
Just a reminder, newborns can indeed climb out of a clean new aquarium via the caulking using to put it together and a sterilite tub sometimes. So I recommend putting vaseline around the perimeter of the top of any tank or sterilite container your using just as a precaution even if you are using a topper or snap lid. The last thing you want your mom to see is a "beetle" somewhere in the house.

It takes all of these: Proper heat, food, water, and humidity to breed and survive if not all are met then there is a slim to none chance of breeding and even if this does occur and there are offspring it would be impossible for them to survive.

Any how, this is how I talked my parents into it.

I went to the classifieds, bought 100 of them. Received them, mom about **** blood, I said hey they are feeders not pests and continued with the whole can't infest speech. I have a very fast growing population of scorpions and needed to get a colony going. I would recommend getting 100+ to help establish a colony much quicker. You will not be able to start using the colony for at least 3-5 months if you want to start a population. You can feed from it here and there, so you will have to continue using crix and just feed of molted males to keep the male pop down a bit. It is also recommended to feed only off the adult males since they will hog the food and compete etc.., if you need help sexing juvies 1" to sub adult hit me up.

I keep them in the garage with a 75watt IR light on top and a 4watt heat mat on bottom to keep them 85F-90F. The best thing to use are egg trays. Goto McDonalds or a fast food pace in the morning and ask for some or go around to Grocery stores too. You can also find them online fairly cheap but I prefer free. I have 100 adults now and have for about a month and now I'm starting to see lots of babies so by spring I should have several hundred.

Gestation is about 1 month and females can bare 15-30 babies. Time to reach adulthood is about 2-3 months.

Then sometime late this year I will move out and not have to worry about rules ;) Ok thats all from me. you can hit my up on AIM/Yahoo or whatnot if you have more ?'s
 

melanie5

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 18, 2007
Messages
141
Thanks alot guys/girls:p. My mom has read the suggestions and she's starting to come around.
I've shown her pics and she agrees, they're not as scary as the roaches you normally find here in The Netherlands.
 
Top