To be specific, I have lobster roaches. Man are those suckers quick! But not too fast to feed them off, and we did a test feeding with Spot the leopard gecko. He was on those roaches like white on rice. As long as we feed him one at a time in the future I think they will be a great replacement feeder. Nothing against crickets, they've been the backbone feeder to the U.S. reptile hobby, but I'm so relieved to have a significantly less high upkeep food source.
I've been super excited about these for quite sometime, and not just for the reptile food aspect. Cockroaches come in countless shapes and colors, and the more I look into them the less "yuck" factor there is. I'll admit, holding my first roach nymph made my skin crawl but I was grinning the entire time! I'm looking into glow spot roaches, death head roaches, and peppered roaches next.
It is easy for me to get carried away with my "Yaaay roaches" feelings. No matter who I speak with the reactions go from disgust to surprise to "Oh, it's Erica." I could care less what other people think of it, but I have a new respect for those who keep large invert collections. Having your passion and excitement constantly shot down can't be easy, and trying to get people over the Eww threshold so they can appreciate all of the cool things about your hobby is admirable. I'm really looking forward to getting my scorpion, tarantula, beetle, cockroach, and mantis collections going. The best part? They aren't terribly expensive, and the upkeep is even easier. The roach colony is really a door way to having food supplied for those types of creatures and I don't have to worry about making pet store trips. Living 20 miles from the nearest brick and mortar source of crickets sucks. Especially when they only come in two sizes
I'll do a post later on the roach colony how-to when I am more confident that they are doing well. Here is a pic in the meantime
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