Alternative Live Foods for lizards

Duzzie

From what I can see on here, Crix seem to be the most popular feeder insects for lizards. Personally I hate them. They are horrid smelly, noisey bitey creatures. I have seen some nasty injuries caused by uneaten crix.

I am glad to say I am finally rid of the things. I have now establised a breeding colony of Blaptica Dubia Roaches for feeding to my lizards and T's.

I know what you are thinking "roaches..... yewwwwwwww!!!".

The fact is that there are over 2000 species of roach in the world and of those, maybe 10 of them are considered pest species. Blaptica Dubia roaches are a tropical species that require temps in the range 26-30 degrees to survive. Given the temps in Ireland, there is no chance of them surviving and infesting, unlike crix. Other benifets include the fact that they dont smell, make no noise, cannot climb, cannot fly. They are also very nitricious.

Once you get over the thought that they are cockroaches and realise that they are not a pest species and that they are less harmfull and smell a lot less that crix, you come to realise that they are a great alternative and nutricious live food. Most importantly, my animals luuuurve them.

Duzzie

Heres a couple of pics of a male and female of mine.

Adult Male


Adult Female

Our man in Havana

Yuck they make my flesh crawl! I tried to breed some burrowing roaches but they freaked me out so much I could not carry on opening the cage!

How big is your roach coloney? & how many/what animals do you feed live foods to??

Duzzie

hmmmm how many?? Maybe 200 adults and 2000-3000 nymphs at a guess. I use them to feed my 3 beardies, blue tongue skink, ackie and 13 Tarantulas. I know they have an image to them but give me roaches over crickets any day. Not all species make good feeders but the B.Dubia do, which is why i picked them. Once you get over the natural dislike of them, you get used to them, and as i say, they are a lot cleaner and smell a lot less than crix.

Duzzie