Probably Dry Out And Add Romanie/spinach/bananas? - Tumblr Posts
Feeder roach chow
Hey everyone! So with the situation happening right now its getting harder and harder to get feeders for our reptiles, and more expensive as well. In times like these I encourage everyone to attempt to make their own breeding stock, even just temporarily, of feeders. (Please note that a LOT of people are allergic to roach frass, including myself, so if you have a face mask or bandana you can cover your face with when you interact with them I recommend it.) I breed dubia roaches for Kitana and have for years, and this chow is cheap and easy to make. Its easiest if you have a blender, but you can crush it all by hand too! Step one! Save the dried veggies that the bearded dragon doesn’t eat, or buy some and bake/dry them. Mustard greens, collard greens, and turnip greens are the best for this as they keep the roaches gutloaded (Gutloaded means they carry extra nutrients in their guts that are good for the reptile). Here is the ingredient list that I use. All fruits and veggies mentioned are dried: Mustard greens Collard greens Turnip greens Orange peels(encourages breeding behavior) Fish food (optional, used for smell. you only need a small pinch) Flax seed (also optional) Quinoa(optional) Calcium powder Vitamin powder Egg shells(optional) Yellow squash The recipe itself can be changed on what you have available, as long as you don’t put too much protein in there and use dry leafy greens as your main ingredient, you are good to go!
Take your items, and VERY SLOWLY put them in the blender on the medium setting. It is going to make a mess and fling things around at first. Best thing to do is get them into smaller pieces so the blender or food processor can grind it more easily. If you put them in too fast they will stay above the blades. If you have a packer you can pack them down into the blender as well. I used the back end of a cheap spatula for that. You want the mixture to be 90% greens, and 10% the misc ingredients. (If you don’t have a blender, just put the ingredients into a plastic bowl and go ham with whatever you have available)
You want to make sure its as powdery as possible, so the roaches get all the nutrients and ingredients as they will leave whole pieces. Once everything is fully blended, I tend to put it all in a plastic bowl and mix it up and allow it to cool down, the blender will likely heat up a lot during the process and that heats the chow as well. This is the texture you want it to be:
I prefer this method over making a wet food, as uneaten wet food can grow mold which can be dangerous. Plus the wet food has to be frozen to keep, this stuff will keep good for six months or more if need be just sitting on a shelf. I find this home made chow to work much better than the chow sold by big roach breeders, plus its incredibly easy to make and for those that own bearded dragons, we already own most, if not all, of the ingredients. Dubia roaches are a good choice because they can’t fly, they can’t climb sheer surfaces like plastic or glass, they have a good meat and protein content, and if they escape they tend to die off quickly (Except in Florida I believe). Not only is this chow healthy for both the roaches and the beardie, the roaches go crazy for it!
I just put mine into ziplock bags and keep it on a shelf, it keeps for a long time like this!
For a smaller colony, this amount can feed them for six months or more! It encourages breeding, and is a gutload for them as well. A healthy roach colony means a healthy pet!
