Breeding feeders

[Dragoness]

I have an adult male veiled. I also have other reptiles that eat insects. I have a small breeding colony of dubia I'm stepping up for the Cham(he eats more than I thought!) and I breed TONS of mealworms. I don't think that's enuf for either if them, so I'm gonna try to breed crickets and mantis next. Are there any other feeder I could try? Easy would be nice, but I'm willing to try harder ones!

 

[Progrmor]

Superworms are nice and simple to breed & crickets also.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I have an adult male veiled. I also have other reptiles that eat insects. I have a small breeding colony of dubia I'm stepping up for the Cham(he eats more than I thought!) and I breed TONS of mealworms. I don't think that's enuf for either if them, so I'm gonna try to breed crickets and mantis next. Are there any other feeder I could try? Easy would be nice, but I'm willing to try harder ones!

other types of roaches
snails
terrestrial isopods
superworms
silkworms
indian walking stick bugs

 

[Mijah139]

isopods (rollie-pollies/pill-bugs) are easy to breed and have high calcium

 

[fluxlizard]

During the summer- soldier fly larvae are easy to farm and are a very good food source...

 

[Dragoness]

Roly polys? I love those things!

 

[sandrachameleon]

Roly polys? I love those things!

if you choose to offer them, make sure you are breeding your own and not using ones from the outdoors - they are heavy metal bioaccumulations.

 

[SublimeReptiles]

Isopods are slow to breed and slow to grow so they don't make ideal breeders. Turkistan roaches are a good choice if your dubias are not breeding fast enough for you, they breed at a much faster rate than dubias, still maintain that bonus of higher protein than crickets (and dubias but not by much). Turks don't climb smooth surfaces and don't burrow in substrate, and they are a smaller species than dubias, adults reaching the size of an adult cricket, and mature in 3-5 months vs a dubia is 6 months to maturity (another factor why dubias are slow to breed). The downfall, they are quick little suckers!

I also want to note that depending on the diet you are offering any species of roach can greatly vary their production. A good quality diet NOT including any dog/cat food is best for them, although people say high protein, they in fact need a diet of 15% protein or less to stay healthy. And when on a well balanced diet their production rate is better (higher birth rate).

Silkworms are always a nice choice, they grow quickly, they have the most protein out of all the popular feeders, you can easily store eggs in the freezer and pull them out to incubate them. The downfall they need a specialized diet.

 

[Dragoness]

I'll see if I cand find some Turks local, shipping is expensive and I have never had good luck with shipped animals.

 

[PressurePro]

Turks also go by the name of "red runners". You could also order blue bottle fly larvae/pupae, and hatch them as needed into adults. Crickets are a lot of work, and smell bad.

 

[fluxlizard]

You might do a search on the forums to see my experience with turks. I really hate that species and urge caution if you are considering them- they are considered a pest species and roach control companies consider them the same and have had to learn how to control them. They can and will establish in many areas of the US and are illegal in some areas, so do your research and make your picks carefully... I had mine a short time and they managed to survive and breed for years afterwards both in a storage/cold hibernation room in my lizard building and outdoors even during midwinter when I flipped boards over that were covered in snow on the ground to find them crawling around on the ground beneath...

In my experience- lobster roaches are safer and also have a very rapid reproductive rate- but they are climbers so they are more difficult to contain. But in spite of producing and feeding many millions over the years- unlike the red racers I've never seen them out in the yard, nor establish indoors long term...