Roaches are feeling like a waste of money..

[Bigboy]

I feed nothing but B. dubia and B. craniifer. I've raised hachlings up to adulthood on them and have not offered a single other food item to over 200spiders in the past 3 years. I swear by roaches and anyone who doesn't use em is just wasting their money on a lousy diet of crickets and mealworms. You can forget to feed or water your dubias for weeks and they'll bounce back while other feeders will die and stink up the place. Dubia's never bite spiders and I've had adult roaches in with juvie T's while they were molting with no problems. Dog food, veggies and jelly water once a week and you will have them being born by the hundreds. Try that with crickets.

 

[Thompson08]

I must have some weird lobster roaches because mine burrow all the time. All my t's eat roaches, just my ornata is being stubborn =\

 

[Galapoheros]

Roaches have worked fine for me. It sounds like a case of just not being hungry.

 

[gvfarns]

I agree with most of your comments about dubias - lobsters and turkistans are much better feeders unless you have large T's that you are feeding adult Dubia to; I find the most practical use of dubia to be herps, not inverts. However, I respectfully disagree with the "one advantage" statement.

It definitely doesn't make sense price-wise to buy roaches individually, but roaches have many benefits beyond not having to run to the store. There is generally a greater ease of home-breeding (or at least in a wider range of conditions) compared to home breeding crickets, and the variety of species can cater to many different animals. More importantly, many species have a better meat-to-shell ratio than crickets, the variability in size from nymph to adult can feed a wide range of ages and species of tarantula, and unlike store-bought crickets, there is much less concern about your home-bred roaches having parasites, pesticide exposures from feed, and bacterial conditions that could be spread to your tarantula due to source or store practices.

Just a note since we hear "meat to shell ratio" thrown around a lot without anything to back it, a search of a few websites gave values on % Protien in crickets between 17-21%, Moisture at about 70-74%, and Fiber (I'm guessing they mean Chitin) at 1-2%. The turkistan roach (my much preferred feeder) by comparison is about 35-36% Protien, 63-65% Moisture, and 1-2% Fiber. So we see that the cricket's composition is lower in protien and higher in moisture whereas the roach is much more "meaty." Granted moisture from prey is important to predator health, but I'd still prefer to get that much more "bang for my buck" so to speak when it comes to buying a feeder species.

ETA: I should probably note though, I am a fan of nutritional variety whenever it can be offered; few T's feed on just one species in the wild, so when other foods can be fed to suppliment the staple, it is probably a good thing. I plug roaches often but ideally multiple food sources would be best.

You are right, I should have said the main advantage. The fact that they are safer because you raised them is a corollary of the colony thing.

So that just leaves the nutrition. I can certainly empathize with what you are saying, but it's just not clear what ratios of protien/moisture/fat is most healthy for T's. Since it seems that you can raise a T fine on crickets or on roaches, we don't actually have any data to suggest one is better, so this one's still undecided in my opinion. It's true that certain roaches are really large, and can fatten up a T really fast. Whether that's a good thing or not is a matter of opinion. Personally I like feeding often, but I don't have thousands of T's.

 

[gvfarns]

Actually there is another advantage to dubias over turistan roaches and crickets: they are not given to munching on molting tarantulas. Apparently both turks and crickets will do this. I'm not sure about lobsters. I've never personally had the problem with any of them.

 

[gvfarns]

I must have some weird lobster roaches because mine burrow all the time. All my t's eat roaches, just my ornata is being stubborn =\

In my experience lobsters don't burrow in the sense that they actually break up solid substrate, but if you have super fluffy substrate like coco fiber that was dried in a fluffed up state (as I do in several of my enclosures) those suckers will get under some of it. It's like moving around in fallen leaf litter, which is apparently what they do in the wild. I've also had them climb under the edge of the silk mat the T has laid and hang out there.

This is as opposed to, say, Blaberus and to some degree dubia, whose nymphs will genuinely dig down even if the substrate is well coalesced.

All roaches are slightly more annoying than crickets in the sense that they are smartish, and will hide in any nooks and crannies they can find. Crickets may do this, but usually they just walk around like knuckleheads until they are eaten.

 

[barabootom]

I use a combination of store bought crickets and dubias. Most of the T's will take dubias just fine (I keep mainly terrestrials). The T's seem to prefer crickets but oftentimes the crickets come with grain mites and they stink and if they are not removed quickly after dying, tend to mold very easily if the substrate is moist. The dubias don't die (I don't pinch the heads, just feed an appropriate sized roach and you shouldn't have to). If one burrows, I throw in another. I think dubias are ideal. I'll probably get another species of roach to have more variety but I really want to get away from the crickets.

 

[gvfarns]

I use a combination of store bought crickets and dubias. Most of the T's will take dubias just fine (I keep mainly terrestrials). The T's seem to prefer crickets but oftentimes the crickets come with grain mites and they stink and if they are not removed quickly after dying, tend to mold very easily if the substrate is moist. The dubias don't die (I don't pinch the heads, just feed an appropriate sized roach and you shouldn't have to). If one burrows, I throw in another. I think dubias are ideal. I'll probably get another species of roach to have more variety but I really want to get away from the crickets.

This is the other dimension in which lateralis are good. They are about the weight of a cricket (though their apparent size is larger). I think people overestimate their infestation danger, but I can understand not liking them. They are rather icky compared to other roaches.

I tend to think of lateralis as a cricket replacement. Dubia and Blaberus species are larger roaches, good for feeding large, aggressive tarantulas and also herps. Not really the same niche as crickets.

I have no use for dubia or blaberus numphs. Perhaps some burrowing carnivore would like them.

 

[kryptix]

Another thing I'm not sure if I should be worried about is when they do burrow, should I just let them be or should I dig them up? Will the roach eventually come up or will it just chill under the moist substrate for a long time?

 

[Beardo]

I once had a Lobster Roach live inside a deserted spider enclosure (sold the spider, and forgot about the roach) for over 6 months lol. I was amazed it was still alive and looked the same as when I put it in there!

 

[gvfarns]

I once had a Lobster Roach live inside a deserted spider enclosure (sold the spider, and forgot about the roach) for over 6 months lol. I was amazed it was still alive and looked the same as when I put it in there!

Agreed. Those suckers apparently can go some time without grub.

You can try and do either. If they are close to the surface or you know exactly where they are you might want to dig them, but if you leave them they will just stay there and be fine.

I stopped feeding lobsters some time ago, but the other day when I rehoused one of my T's an adult lobster popped out of the substrate. No idea how long it's been there. But it was fine and healthy.

Some people say the tarantulas will dig them up if they want them, but I've never seen it, and I kind of doubt it based on my experience. I had fed many other bugs since the introduction of that lobster roach.

 

[Moltar]

Actually there is another advantage to dubias over turistan roaches and crickets: they are not given to munching on molting tarantulas. Apparently both turks and crickets will do this. I'm not sure about lobsters. I've never personally had the problem with any of them.

Agreed. I've watched a turk grab one of it's molting brethren while it was still working to shed its exuvium and just eat it's face right off. Other nearby roaches joined in like a pack of frikkin hyenas. I feed them well with a varied diet high in protein so I don't think it was because of an insufficient diet. It was just to freak me out...

 

[OldHag]

Everything I own eats dubia now. Some almost starved before they decided to eat them, but eventually all of them gave in.

Mine all eat dubia as well. I had a scary time with my X. imannis though, she refused to eat for a LONG time, scary long time.. but I didnt give in and now shes gobbling them up faster than I can toss em in.

 

[SlaytanicArachnid]

buying a b.dubia colony was the best thing ive done. saves a ton not buying crickets and ive evan made some money off of them.

 

[gpsling]

dubia

I pretty much use the dubia on all my spiders and they do well. I have one or two picky one's but that is about it. I have seen my pokes dig out a dubia before so I know it can be done but it is unusual.
GP