Horseshoe crab roach
- Thread starter Nursemaia
- Start date
Extensionofgreen
Chameleon Enthusiast
They can be used, but breeding rates will be MUCH slower and cost for acquiring a fair number of individuals will be MUCH higher.
I don't recall this species being one, but some roaches, such as the rhino roach, apparently only feed on eucalyptus and those species would be poor feeder choices. I like my roaches as their own little hobby, so I understand the appeal of getting some more interesting species.
I don't recall this species being one, but some roaches, such as the rhino roach, apparently only feed on eucalyptus and those species would be poor feeder choices. I like my roaches as their own little hobby, so I understand the appeal of getting some more interesting species.
Nursemaia
Chameleon Enthusiast
I know orange head would probably be the practical choice. I found this one and thought it was so cute. I could justify keeping it as a feeder but keeping it as a pet would freak my family out. As it is I have to call the dubia beetles around my elderly father. He doesn't know I keep roaches in the house. What kind of roaches do you have @Extensionofgreen
Extensionofgreen
Chameleon Enthusiast
I currently have Orange Heads ( best feeder for larger species in my opinion ), standard hissers, panamensis, gigantea, latteralis, lobsters, giant lobsters, dubia, golden Gyna lurida, dubia, and a few B.cranifer.
I've worked with B.fusca, giant and standard banana roaches, and discoids also.
I personally dislike the banana roaches and Gyna lurida for their flying and escape potential. They don't stay where the chameleons will eat them. The nymphs is orange heads are not the greatest feeders, because they are burrowed and will not remain on a branch or screen very long and like many other roaches, will hunker down and not do much moving in a bowl. Discoids are nice large feeders, with nymphs similar in habit to dubia and they won't hybridize with dubia, so you can house them together. Orange heads are wing biters and I always keep them to themselves. Latteralis are cricket sized, have high protein and Ca ratios and are fairly active in a bowl feeding situation, but the males do fly and they look like traditional, infesting species. They are potentially infesting, I have heard, in favorable conditions, but I only ever see escapees in the roach room, not in my cupboards or other places the infesting species would be.
I've worked with B.fusca, giant and standard banana roaches, and discoids also.
I personally dislike the banana roaches and Gyna lurida for their flying and escape potential. They don't stay where the chameleons will eat them. The nymphs is orange heads are not the greatest feeders, because they are burrowed and will not remain on a branch or screen very long and like many other roaches, will hunker down and not do much moving in a bowl. Discoids are nice large feeders, with nymphs similar in habit to dubia and they won't hybridize with dubia, so you can house them together. Orange heads are wing biters and I always keep them to themselves. Latteralis are cricket sized, have high protein and Ca ratios and are fairly active in a bowl feeding situation, but the males do fly and they look like traditional, infesting species. They are potentially infesting, I have heard, in favorable conditions, but I only ever see escapees in the roach room, not in my cupboards or other places the infesting species would be.
Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
I used horseshoes for a while as a feeder. Once they start breeding they do rather well but they need tons of soil to dig in. They do well with high humidity and don't eat a lot of dry gutloads from what I have experienced though they will pick at it. You can't feed off the adults without taking off the back legs because they have some pretty bad spikes. The nymphs aren't as bad.
