i keep a large colony of these roaches, can they be a staple for larger lizards like tegus or monitors instead of mice? The get to about 23 or more grams. and are the size of a small mouse...
No, the exoskeleton would too hard to digest and the rodents provide a ton of the things lizards need. You might be able to supplement the roaches from time to time - however rodents should make up the majority of the diet.
actually they make great feeders, but need to be dusted with calcium. nothing is too tough for any monitor or tegu to digest. in fact for most arboreal monitors (black/blue/green/yellow tree and so on) most breeders only use roaches. but if we are talking a Ionide or Nile or Arg B&W that would be more like a quick snack to such big lizards and rodents should be used in that case. ackies would be fine on a diet of roaches
thats what i was thinking. if i fed an argentine b&w tegu alot of them could they be a staple? I have tons... They would be gut loaded with greens and high protien roach chow,and dusted with rep cal/d3. How many would be a good meal? or is it unreasonable to do that and should I stick with rodents? thanks for the reply klik.
it could be staple for a young one, but as they become adults it would be hard to fill it up on roaches alone. as an adult it might also loose interest in it. how old is he now? i would say feed it as much as it will eat in a 20min period or feed him until he will not readily accept anymore food
Oh i dont have one yet, Im just trying to figure out what I'm gonna do when I do get one. you know getting prepared and all, can a hatchling handle a hisser?
Roaches are excellent staple insects for lizards. Much of the nutrition derived from an insect diet is from what the insect has been eating, hence the importance of proper gutloading. Roaches are omnivoruous insects, like crickets, and when fed a high quality mix of food are chock-a-block full of nutrients. I read a study a couple years ago about the dietary habits of wild monitors compared to the prevailing practice of relying heavily on rodents for captive husbandry. Turns out that the vast bulk of food consumed by young monitors was comprised of invertebrates, such as insects. Rodents were not as common as one would think though they do make up a smaller component. It was the authors opinion that over-reliance on rodents as a staple for monitors leads to dietary deficiencies such as beta-carotenes. Also growth rates using insects were much closer to the normal growth rate of wild monitors and the practice of "power feeding" a monitor with rodents is a formula for not only rapid growth, but MBD, other metabolic imbalances, and a shortened lifespan. I would raise roaches but, I hate to admit it, they give me a bad case of the willies. I know that deaths-head, lobster, and Madagascar roaches are nowhere near as nasty as the asian or german roach, but childhood phobias prevail. Perhaps I need some exposure therapy. George
thanks for the info, very helpful I breed lobster roaches and hissers. The lobsters are for my cresties and beardie, I'm doing the hissers for future projects.. I'd like to raise my future tegus monitors on lobsters and switch to hisser when they are older... but if they arent interested I'll have to do the rodent thing, I do that for my snakes already anyway, but from all my reseach it seems like its better for monitors and tegus to eat insects.
my mom wont let me breed roaches or get them so i can feed my lizards. shes worried theyll escape and infest the house
According to Ronnie from www.cricketfood.com the deaths-head and lobster roaches are both tropical species that cannot survive loose in a home with modern AC and central heat. I am sure that your tegu will love eating those large roaches. I feed mine big green kadydids, and the feeding response is no less than if I threw a mouse in there. Bert Langerwerf from agamainternational also raises roaches, among other things, and he feeds them to his lizards as well. Having lived many years overseas (much of it in the tropics) I can tell you that roaches are probably the most common ground-dwelling insect. Look under any log or board or probe around in the leaf litter and the ground is alive with them. What could be more natural as far as an insect food ? George
do you keep crickets? If so tell her about how much cheaper and easier it is to keep roaches, and that they dont smell or make any nosie(unless you get hissers...) They will save you alot of money in the long run.. I was spending at least 16 bucks a month ordering/breeding crickets... now I just get some kitten chow and some roach gutload when I need it. The feeder roaches come in many varieties, none can infest your house, some can climb some cant, orange heads are a favorite of beardie keepers and they cant climb, lobsters can climb but they are easily contained with a strip of vasolene around their container.
i get crix by the hundreds and i am always telling her about how the roaches are better then the crix. she doesnt care about the costs because i pay for all of my animals supplies. i will let her know that they cannot survive in our climate and see what she says. im sure that my croc skinks and scorps would love them.
yep I bet they would enjoy them Another argument you could make about the money is you could start saving more for school or whatever I just got mine and didnt tell my mom and she doesnt really like them at all but shes ok with it... Of course I'm not gonna be here much longer so she can wait it out
