Augie

The ones I had were dark, pretty much black as I remember (but there might be different colors out there). The cleaner crews are beneficial for larger colonies. They eat the dead roaches and extra poo on the tank floor. Me? I'm more of a purist. I don't like extra stuff in my colony. But I'm sure for most people it's based on preference and whether they have that "neat factor" for you. Check it out on YouTube. I'm sure if you typed in "cleaner crew" you'll find all sorts of vids!

Yes, if you are like me and got roaches from a few different people, one of them may have had some cleaner crew insects in with the shipment. They start out as larva and eventually turn into these black beetles. We'd have to see a pic to know for sure.

Hey New Braunfels! I'm not too far in San Antonio! I've been tweaking a dry recipe over the course of the last few months and have found one that seems to work really well. It seems no matter what I put together they eat it (they're roaches for God's sake ) but this one they take to the best, even favoring it over veggies as long as I have water crystals in there too. I still haven't put one together they prefer over fruits, but when I do I'll share that one too! Or start selling it! Well here it is: 3 parts dog food 2 parts Cheerios 1 part soy flour 1 part dried coconut flakes a few dashes of rolled oats (I'll explain below) I use a smaller mix of dog food with other proteins to lower the protein content (Cheerios and soy flour are in there to "water it down" but to also add other sources of nourishment). I've read articles about too high of a protein diet increasing their uric acid content, which can cause early colony die-offs and health problems with your dragon. I do admit the jury's still out on how factual this argument is, and I don't want this thread to become a debate on that. I just do it as a precaution since I have dog food in there for convenience. The dried coconut flakes serve as a sweetener. I found that when I put that much soy flour in the mix, they wouldn't eat the chow unless it was the only thing in the tub. I want the flour in there for the reason above, so I added the flakes and they've taken a huge interest in it. I use the flakes because my wife was going to throw them out, so this was more out of convenience. I used to use raisin bran flakes and Nilla wafer crumbles. This is easier as its in a smaller package. Lastly, I use the dashes of rolled oats because its a good filler and it seems to make cleaning the coffee grinder I use to grind everything with easier. I look forward to trying your recipe. If you try mine, let me know how it works out!

I am a long-time lurker on these forums, and joined about a month or so ago (I'm old school, what can I say). I just wanted to say hello to everyone, finally! I've kept a colony of blaptica dubia for almost three months now. Originally I picked them up as an alternative to crickets for my bearded dragon. I had no passion for the subject of keeping a colony, and was doing it more out of convenience and it seemed to make financial sense. Well now, I get jut as much enjoyment caring for my roaches as I do my dragon! I still plan on using them as feeders (almost there, as they are breeding about 400 nymphs a month now), but I am definitely fascinated with these little guys, something I didn't expect to happen in a million years! I look forward to the discussions I have and read from this group of passionate enthusiasts!