Roaches...(and other feeders)

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Debbie7054

New member
I live in England so have been restricted to what I can feed my geckos. I know a lot of people on here rate roaches and I have finally found somewhere in England that sells them. Just a quick question really do they move as fast as crickets ( I tend to cut the back legs off them to control them a bit) and do they nip like crickets. I like to try different foods but don't know a lot about roaches as a food product.

We're finally getting more choice in food stuffs over here which is great tho none of my lizards were impressed with silkworms or Pachnoda grubs. Tho I did getsome funny photos of them licking them (I have Bearded Dragons too).
 
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emilykay405

New member
They can move as fast a crickets but I wouldn't remove any legs or anything. What I tend to do is either put them in a cup they can't get out of (smooth sides) or if I'm hand feeding I'll put them on their backs and usually when they kick that'll be enough to entice my geckos. They also have a tendency to 'play dead' when they have been on their backs for a while.
 
Saskia

Saskia

New member
I Believe roaches are even faster than crickets.... well, depending on the kind of roach, sometimes I "smash" the roach's head a bit, so it doesn't move as fast....
 
Riverside Reptiles

Riverside Reptiles

Administrator (HMFIC)
Some roaches are fast, some are fairly slow. I'm not sure why people cut or break crickets legs etc to slow them down. Your geckos are perfectly capable of hunting fast prey items (what do you think they do in the wild). It's actually appetite stimulating for them to have fast prey as well as being good exercise. And no, roaches do not nip or bite in any way.
 
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Debbie7054

New member
I nip the crickets legs because one of my gecko's Koopie had been returned to the shop where I got her in a bit of a state - all her finger ends had been bitten off because of this she's a bit slow and can't grip on surfaces. Her mouth had been damaged too and she struggles to swallow things that move around too much. She's fantastic tho really friendly.
 
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Debbie7054

New member
Ooops I forgot to say she gets plenty of excercise sliding around on me (I seem to be some kind of gecko play area) - thanks for all the help everyone :eek:)
 
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Gecko411

New member
Dubia roaches would be a great feeding source for your gecko's including your little one with the handicap. I have a female i rescued with stuby front toes but she hunts just as well if not better then some of my other gecko's. The Dubia in my opinion are slower then the crickets considering they dont jump and you start to franticly look around for them. Every dubia that has attempted to escape was very easily captured. :biggrin:
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
emilykay405 said:
They can move as fast a crickets but I wouldn't remove any legs or anything. What I tend to do is either put them in a cup they can't get out of (smooth sides) or if I'm hand feeding I'll put them on their backs and usually when they kick that'll be enough to entice my geckos. They also have a tendency to 'play dead' when they have been on their backs for a while.
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I really like to know the whereabouts of my Blaptica dubia ;-)! I have found that a 6 ounce glass Pyrex custard cup/dish (or competing model) works extremely well. If the dubia attempt to climb the sides, they just flip over. That small glass cup will also contain "handicapped" crickets missing their back jumper legs. Otherwise I am pretty sure the crickets would just jump out. For leos add an ~ 3 inch x 1 inch stone stepstool.
 
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Debbie7054

New member
Thanks everyone my roaches just arrived so I'll pop them in later I hadn't thought about using a pyrex dish. I'll try and get one that size and give it a try if they end up a all over the place lol. If they all like them it'll be great at the moment they all seem to like different things :eek:)
 
badkelpie

badkelpie

New member
I have found that if I just put them in the tank, they go hide. If Echo is feeling especially energetic, she'll run and get them before they get hidden. Most of the time, I just use a dish. She didn't want the roaches at first, until I gave her a white freshly molted one, now she loves them. If she finds me messing with the roach bin, she'll come out and watch me.
 
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Debbie7054

New member
Yes I think Princess ate some of the roaches but Pookie was just having fun throwing them around maybe she thinks they are frisbee's lol
 
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warmstr

New member
I cut the crickets jumping legs or what ever their name is cause i use a dish and i don't want them to scatter all over the terrarium. most of my t's have background and not all of my lizards are specialized climbers so it's kind of hard for them to catch this crickets. trust me that they are still very mobile using the rest of their legs.
plus, it's not very much fun for me when my wife wakes me up in the middle of the night to find a love struck singing cricket in one of my many terrariums.
I believe they have the same problem in the wild. i guess that's one of the reasons why they look bigger and healthier than most of the wild ones
 
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Debbie7054

New member
We had one escape and it was in a gap in the wall singing away every evening I couldn't believe how loud it was. We had to poison it with ant powder in the end because I couldn't get it to come out. It was so loud it kept us awake upstairs I only get silent ones now lol
 
panthergecko

panthergecko

Active member
Oh I heard there is a new cricket called Jamaican Field Cricket or Black Super Cricket which can actually badly injure your feeders. These are being put as the new feeder since they are not subject to the Cricket Paralysis Virus. BEWARE if buying these buy smaller ones. They have large mandibles/jaws and those are used to bite through heavy vegetation. There bite can draw blood, even leaving 2 in a setup can result in heavily bitten or even dead pets. Beware!
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
panthergecko said:
Oh I heard there is a new cricket called Jamaican Field Cricket or Black Super Cricket which can actually badly injure your feeders. These are being put as the new feeder since they are not subject to the Cricket Paralysis Virus. BEWARE if buying these buy smaller ones. They have large mandibles/jaws and those are used to bite through heavy vegetation. There bite can draw blood, even leaving 2 in a setup can result in heavily bitten or even dead pets. Beware!
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Edwin ~

Those Black Super Crickets are just a pain (whereever)! They have attitudes like 2 year olds. Not only will their bite draw human blood when their back legs are cut off at the knees, when I wear some glove protection and pin them down they start to spit. Ugh! Then they get too crusty for my leo. Only my mature male crestie will eat them now. I still have a dozen left from a 3 March 2011 order of 500 4 wos three and a half months ago!!

It would/will be nice if new facilities could reestablish Acheta domesticus, the friendly brown crickets which perished in many places due to the DENSO virus.
 
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Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Debbie7054 said:
We had one escape and it was in a gap in the wall singing away every evening I couldn't believe how loud it was. We had to poison it with ant powder in the end because I couldn't get it to come out. It was so loud it kept us awake upstairs I only get silent ones now lol
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Debbie ~

Wait till a stray cricket gets trapped underneath your refrigerator. Just gotta wait out their life cycle.

Sometimes pet cats will catch stray crickets.
 
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