Roach motel

[Bazingaed]

I had an idea after reading through a few different posts about insect farming. This is not a well formulated and certainly not a well researched idea.

I have not tried worms yet and I despise crickets. Don't ask why, even I don't know. We do not have a cham yet, but we do have geckos. I have been feeding them primarily dubias and red roaches (not sure on the official name) with some treats of mealworms once a month or so. I tried raising dubias in a Rubbermaid and one of them decided to fly the coop. Literally. With my better half in the room. She was not a fan. Needless to say, I'm on the hunt for a better design. I'm thinking of drilling holes on one half of the Rubbermaid small enough for the little feeder roaches, but not big enough for the ones that make my wife scream, thinking that I could close off a bin underneath for easy access that the little guys could fall out be pushed into when it's feeding time. Obviously, gutloading the little guys before they meet their demise. Food and hydration would be on the other half of both bins, with hiding/breeding somewhere in the middle of the upper bin. Again, I freely admit I have not completely thought this through, nor have I done a ton of research yet. Simply musing while I'm stuck with not much else I can do, but I'm open to suggestions.

 

[MissSkittles]

I keep my roach nymphs in a separate bin from the adults and keep both bioactively. Besides reducing the need to get in the bins for cleaning, I’ve found they breed much better with substrate. When I start running low on nymph feeders, I grab all I can find out of their bin. Then I switch them, moving just the adults into what was the nymph bin. Any nymphs that I missed have won the roach lottery and get to grow up and make baby roaches. Now I’ve again got a bin full of feeder nymphs and don’t have to keep disturbing the adults. You don’t have to have bioactive bins and can just move the adults into a new bin, leaving just the babies. Also, keep in mind that the smoother the sides of your bin are, the less likely the dubia can climb it. The clear bins are usually the smoothest.