lobster dubia etc...i live in florida...dubia arent legal...im terrified of roaches and am allegeric to cockroaches. I can smell them even if they arent present,and there isnt an infestation. I know some roaches climb. that really freaks me out. Is it safe to use vaseline or cooking/olive oil to keep them from climbing out of feeder cup?? Is there a way to breed and feed off to my chams w/o having to touch them???
Which Roach is better???
- Thread starter Courtney
- Start date
THECHAMMAN
Established Member
i have discoid roaches, dubia roaches, turkistan roaches, and some hissing roaches. all of these species are non climbers except the very slow moving hissing roaches, and only the turkistan can fly and after 3 weeks of having turkistan roaches i havent seen a male fly once. they are all really easy to keep and they all have their advantages and disadvantages. though the best part is i havent been having to spend 100$+ a month on crix. and you can use tongs to grab them reducing your contact with them even more. the non climbers dont require vaseline or cooking oil. the climbers can get past the oil when it dries out and same with the vaseline. i use this stuff called super roach barrier. it takes months to dry out and the roaches cant climb it at all. its real name is PTFE and its a teflon product and 100% safe; its used in the food industry.
Cainschams
New Member
IMO crickets are the Jesus Christ of feeders!!!!!
Nosybe
New Member
I used to think that until I got ROACHES! They are so much better and really easy to breed. My first female Dubia gave birth the other day and I was really suprised when I looked in to see a huge mass of white critters beside her.
holmesese
Member
Roaches definitely don't smell like crickets that is for sure! The only word of warning - even if you use tongs for your roaches you will drop one at some point!!! Then you will have to squash it quickly or you won't sleep well at night (or in my case, my wife won't sleep well at night)
Nosybe
New Member
I just pick it up and start over. Why squash it?
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Choose a non-climbing roach. Put on gloves. Hold a deep feeding cup in one hand, pick up a piece of the egg crate (or whatever) the roaches are on, and bang against/over the cup until a roach or two fall into the cup. Take the cup to the cage. If your chameleon is habituated to the feeding cup already, you may just have to hold the cup up to the cham and ZAP! or secure the cup in the cage. If you are paranoid, sit and watch until the roach is eaten.
Or, use other feeders besides roaches. there are many! see here:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html
dodolah
Retired Moderator
if you are allergic to roaches, i don't see the reason why you have to have one for your cham. He'll be fine without roaches. Just my two cents 
PS: oops. I guess you already got one. To tell you the truth, I loathe lobster roaches. They are quick and can climb real good.
PS: oops. I guess you already got one.
To tell you the truth, I loathe lobster roaches. They are quick and can climb real good.
Nosybe
New Member
That's all I use too!
Roaches are a better food source for your chameleon. They have a lot more food and breeding is easy. Roaches have a higher meat to shell ratio compared to other feeders. Most feeders are more shell which is hard for animals to digest and sometimes they do not. They are not getting enough food this way. They are getting more exoskeleton than anything. They also are easier to contain. Vasoline is fine to put on feeding dish. I do it all the time. It can not hurt them. They usually do not even touch it. They might seem gross but so are crickets. Roachers that are feeders are not like the ones you find in your house. Lobsters and dubia are both illegal in Florida. I live in Flordia also but Lobsters are a better size for chameleons. Dubia and discoids are a lot larger when they are full grown so they would not be a good size for feeding. I high suggest them and my chameleon loves them. Also when breeding you will have babies roaches which is great when you have any chameleon hatchlings or a very young chameleon. This is just my opinion. A great way to keep them also is to have a small container with them near the cage for easy access. We breed two types in sterlite containers and egg crates. So we put some in small containers our critters so that we can place them in. We have not ever lost one this way. They are not bad as the seem especially compared to crickets. They smell and always get out when opening their containers. Also the noise they make and they are very hard to breed. Roachers are like heaven compared to them.
