How to set up your own feeder roach colony

Care Sheet, DIY, Information 1 Comment »

How to set up your own feeder roach colony! As your collection of Tarantulas gets bigger and bigger you will notice that the need for feeding them does as well. Most of you end up purchasing large quantities of crickets as those are always readily available at any time at your local pet store. Crickets do not live long and it is a pain and heavy maintenance to keep them alive as you can imagine a small group of 5 grown tarantulas alone can end up taking you trips to the pet store weekly to buy more and more crickets! Your easier alternative is a simple feeder roach colony! Some of you might be thinking eew cockroaches! But in reality roaches will end up benefiting you a lot more in the long run then crickets every will!

As acknowledged by the A1 Bed Bug Exterminator | Charlotte North Carolina, your crickets will either: die easily, smell bad, create unwanted noise, jump and if they escape become hard to catch at times, chew through clothes and plastic and more importantly will not stand still for you to grab and give to your tarantula. All of this can make feeding your tarantula unpleasant at times.

Your cockroach however: are big in size and produce a more nutrient filled diet for your tarantula, do not produce much of a smell unless you stick your head directly into their enclosure, do not make noise, dont fly, cannot climb on smooth plastic or glass, are slow moving and can easily be picked up and given to your tarantula and most importantly live longer and are so much easier to breed.

 

So what do you need to get this colony started?

  • Plastic bin with a lid that preferably clips shut
  • Egg cartons, toilet paper rolls and or paper towel rolls
  • Heating pad (optional)
  • Roach food (such as vegetables, fruits, stale cereal, store bought cockroach food)
  • water dish with water crystals

 

In this tutorial I used a 50 gallon clear plastic bin that I purchased at Target for $10. Now the only “labor intensive” part of this job which is how I ended up doing this and it seems to be working well is simply drilling small holes at the top of the lid and on the top sides shown in the pictures below.

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As you can see very simply and standard. As for what is really needed in the bin you will need just your egg cartons, paper towel rolls and or toilet paper rolls. Position them nicely in a way that your roaches will have something to hide under as they love darkness. Make sure in the center of it all you will have enough space to add their food source and a water dish, I personally use water crystals as they have been working well for me but if you see just normal water does the trick for you then you can stick to that. As for food source I typically keep my cockroaches (in this case B.dubia roaches) on a steady nutritious diet of leafy greens carrots and on occasion a piece of fruit. Reasons why I normally stay away from fruits is that if left in there for too long it will surely be a source of mold which can easily kill your colony. Cockroaches are not picky with food and eat vegetables just fine. As you will see below you can set up the bin however is best for you.

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As you can see at this point your bin is ready to be filled with B.dubia roaches. You can keep stacking up more and more egg cartons and paper towel rolls as you place more roaches in. You can buy a starter roach colony online for about $15 dollars. Within weeks you should have a healthy roach colony that will keep reproducing. What I like doing is buying two colony starters one from one company and one for another company to make sure they are different breeding families.

My roach colony is in a specific dark room where the temperature is high for my tarantulas, if that is not the case for you, you can add a heating source such as a heating pad but be cautious and make sure that your plastic bin is heat resistant to prevent a fire.

These simple steps will easily help you with your own roach feeder colony. It will end up saving you time by not making trips to keep purchasing crickets and in the long run will save you quite a bit of money. As always if you need help ask away, we will be more then happy to guide you with your roach colony 🙂

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Mexican Redknee Tarantula (Brachypelma smithi)

Brachypelma, New World No Comments »

The Mexican Redknee Tarantula is perhaps one of the most famous of all tarantulas. Used in movies, commercials, magazines and even newspapers due to its amazing colors. They originate from south-western Mexico and have become a very common New World tarantula kept as a pet. Once thought to be endangered its numbers have grown quite a bit, especially due to how easily these animals breed in captivity. Now they are one of the most sought after species and surely an easy find at any exotic expo throughout the world.

 

Red Knee Tarantula3

 

Habitat:

Being a native of the hills of the south-west Mexico these animals love the dryness the key is to keep your substrate relatively dry to replicate their arid environment in the wild. Make sure to at least refill your tarantula’s water dish once a week with fresh clean water and simply overfill it to dampen just a slight patch of your substrate. This should create adequate humidity for your tarantula. As always we would recommend a terrarium anywhere between 5 to 10 gallons depending on your tarantula’s size with about 2 to 3 inches of it filled with the substrate of your choice such as eco-earth. This species has been known to burrow so make sure to also add something it can use as housing such as half a florwepot into the substrate. You can add decorations such as plants to your enclosure but your redknee will not care for it.

 

Feeding:

Your Mexican Redknee Tarantula usually eats crickets and meal-worms but when big can even eat a cockroach or two. A full grown redknee will eat 1 or 2 large crickets a week but can sometimes go as far at 6 months without wanting to eat. As long as you see its abdomen remaining big in size you should not worry about it not eating. They are slow moving and most of the time will either strike fast as soon as you put a cricket in its enclosure or will not do anything at all. Do not leave the insect in the enclosure if you notice it not being eaten within 24 hours.

 

Attitude:

Though extremely docile the redknee does have some defenses when threatened. It’s a new world spider and therefor does come equipped with urticating hairs which it will flick off its abdomen should it feel intimidated. Should they feel vulnerable they also to rear up and show their fangs. So as always test the waters before trying to handle them to see what mood they are in. A simple approach would be to gently nudge it from behind with an elongated Q-Tip before trying to pick it up.

 

This tarantula is rather sluggish which makes it very easy to handle.  The Mexican Redknee tarantula is quite slow at growing. Mine grew from a 1 inch sling (spider-ling) to about 5 inches over the course of 5 years. The males will live a good 5 to 6 years while females can live upwards of 30 years with ease.  All in all we would recommend this as a first time beginner tarantula due to its low maintenance, being very submissive and also easy to handle.

Chilean Rose Tarantula (Grammostola rosea)

Grammostola, New World 10 Comments »

The Chilean Rose Tarantula is probably the most frequent species obtained in the United States and Europe. This mostly due to the fact that its easily found in pet stores everywhere! These wonderful arachnids originate from Chile, where they live in forests underground. In captivity these rose hairs tend to not burrow underground but spend most of there time just sitting still as the world passes by. What makes these tarantulas great as pets is the fact that they are extremely docile require very low maintenance and  are pretty much very inexpensive.

 

Grammostola Rosea

 

Habitat:

We recommend a terrarium of about 5 gallons for these guys. Being that they are from Chile they love very dry and warm places. Just by overfilling their water dish should be plenty to give this animal enough humidity in its tank. We have seen many people post online to make the substrate/soil damp/wet for the rose hair, please do not and please keep it as dry as possible. While it will cause the humidity levels to go up in your tank for the tarantula when your substrate is wet, you will find that your tarantula will start crawling up the sides of your tank/enclosure trying to get away from the “wetness”. As for substrate I would personally recommend eco earth, the stuff comes ready to use and my G. Rosea seems to love it.  We also recommend you keep the temperatures warm between 75 to 82 degrees. Remember they come from a very warm place and so love the heat.

 

Feeding:

The Chilean Rose Tarantula usually feast on a variety of insects such as crickets, mealworms, beetles, cockroaches, moths and even grasshoppers. I usually feed mine crickets as it is the most common food to find for them. Tarantulas usually get their protein and nutrients through these insects by biting down on them and sucking them dry. So to make sure your rosie gets all the nutrients it needs to live long and healthy feed your insects products that will make them a healthy meal for your tarantula. You can find these in powder form or as a type of jelly substance at your local pet store. Once you fatten up your insects with this, let your tarantula feast on them.

Chilean Rose Tarantula can be picky eaters at times maybe only eating one or two crickets a week. This is completely normal and you should not be alarmed. My rosie has gone weeks eating 10 crickets a week to certain weeks not wanting to eat at all.

 

Attitude:

While the Chilean Rose Tarantula might be docile and can get easily startled, it still sometimes can give you a bit of an attitude. Though rare they sometimes don’t want to be bothered. Some signs of you to give your tarantula some space is the raising of their front legs while showing fangs. This is a defensive stance which should indicate for you to back off. These animals are very reluctant to bite. Their bite feels like a bee/wasp sting and though not lethal to humans can cause allergic reactions to some people. The only other weapon in their defense is the tiny spine like hairs on their abdomens called urticatig hairs. They kick off and release these tiny hairs when threatened. These can cause rashes but can also be a danger if inhaled or they become lodged in your eyes. If you see your rosehair not having the best of day simply give it its space and leave it in its enclosure.

 

Following these simple steps will surely help you in your quest as a  beginner tarantula owner. For more detailed help feel free to ask by commenting on this post and please share this with your friends!