cricket4u you have a PM.
I'd like to add a few roach breeding suggestions to this thread.
Our Breeding Bins
A) Sex ratio; 1:4 is about as optimal as it gets in most cases.
B) Litter numbers follow a bell curve, smaller at first then increasing to a peak after which numbers fall off again.
C) Food consumption is highest while the insects are growing, adults are stable in how much food they will intake.
We like to cull colonies once they are about 30 days past their peak production point, the cost of feeding them becomes higher than their value to us as breeders, and their nutritional value is as high as it will ever be without reducing our production numbers.
Our method of making this happen is simple in concept but a lot more involved than some might want to put into roach breeding, never the less I will offer it to you for your review and you may decide to run with it.
1) We pull first run nymphs to replace our breeders later, we figure 2.5 times as many nymphs as our colonies hold females is enough to replace the entire colony.
2) We remove all nymphs from our colonies on a monthly basis, this allows us to monitor production of each colony, at this same time we replace the males with younger males, the older males are used as feeders.
3) We sex nymphs once they reach 3/4 inches in length, males and females are separated by sex at this point, at this point any roaches that are not developing as fast as their counterparts are culled.
4) Once the first run nymph females are mature we cull the parent colony, fully sterilize the bin, and create a fresh colony, mixing our fresh females with sub 30 day old males.
Daily) Food, water crystals, fruit and vegetable plates are cleaned and filled.
Weekly) We clean weekly, monitor the colony for pest infiltration, and remove and replace any lost breeders. Record that days total feed consumption.
Monthly) We track bin production by weight because counting is a time consuming operation with no real return that is better than total weight.
Every 6 Months) We compile our data on bin production, food consumption, and heating costs. Evaluate production trends, decide if dietary needs should be adjusted and if production should be increased or reduced to match our demand for feeders over the next 6 months.
Yearly) We use our roach production data with our animal production data to evaluate total cost and return ratios, this point is where we also decide if there is a need to make any adjustments to our feeding and or supplementing methods.
Adjustments to or feeding and supplementing methods are the most complex thing we do, our preference is to maintain the insect feeders on a diet that supports the bulk of the nutritional needs of our animals, adjusting the diets is possible, adjusting the quantity of insects fed to our animals is possible, adjusting the dusting quantity and type is possible, adjusting the gut load we use is possible, the list goes on. We keep a ton of information and use the same veterinarian which is willing to work with us to meet our goals, she is wonderful and invaluable. Our evaluation is based on production numbers and blood work taken from our high, low, and average producers, and our vets assessment of their state of health. This information is looked at alongside last years information and any changes we made, improvements are noted and methods that achieved them are identified so they can become a regular part of our operation. Lack of improvement or reductions in performance are identified as well with this method.
In the overall scope of this we hope to do the best for our animals, its a bit costly at times but I know we have still saved money in the long run vs. purchasing feeder insects from outside vendors. Our daily feeder insect usage averages 11,000 per day, that would cost us a great deal more than what we put into our current feeder insect colonies even including the cost of the vet checks we have done to evaluate how everything is going
Our Holding Bins
Our holding bins are mixed sex, but sized by age (we pull monthly). They are treated similarly to breeding bins with the exception that we do not worry about their production, if it happens great, if not fine too.
1) Our animals are fed roaches we pulled the day prior, once feeding is completed we pull the next days feeders and place them in gut load or feeder bins.
Our Feeder Bins
Our feeder bins are no different than our breeding or holding bins in design, we simply use these bins to insure the next days feeders are ready to go.
Our Gut Load Bins
Our gut load bins are "A COLOR OTHER THAN RED" so there is no way to miss them, any insect that goes into the gut load bin is fed a high calcium diet and comes out nutritionally different than those in the feeder bins. In most cases we use this method when feeding gravid females, in a few cases we use this method when feeding picky critters that do not take well to dusted insects.
We use one other type of diet as well; we refer to it as Color Plus;
Our Color Plus Bins
Our color plus bins are "red" so we have no way of missing the difference in these insects which are loaded with carotenoids via their special diet. We use these diets mainly for insects that will be fed to animals we have identified that can use those special ingredients to produce outstanding coloration.
Over the span of many years we have developed this method and expect to continue it well into the future, it is serving us very well and with any luck will continue to do so. I hope it will cast a bit of light on the subject of how we do things here at Maurice's Exotic Pets and just maybe help someone out that is looking to improve their own insect breeding operation.
Maurice Pudlo
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