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Easy Staple Food?


wodesorel

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I've got too many containers and I'm getting tired of doing fresh fruit every other night! Was hoping someone could make suggestions for making an easy-feed staple food so that dinnertime goes quicker. To this point the roaches have been eating nearly the same as my hermits - they get fresh fruits and veggies, and only the roaches get dog food once a week as a protein source. I'd like to switch over to a dry mix (homemade or purchased) that I could leave in the tanks for a few days at a time, and only do fresh fruit maybe once or twice a week. I have hissers, polyphaga, therea, and dubia. Any ideas welcome!

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I feed once a week at most. Dry dog food, banana or orange and the occasional bit of leftover dinner stuffs. I really think people over feed their insects, which is fine if you're using them as a breeding colony, but weekly feedings will more than suffice. I go a month in between feeding my Periplaneta to keep their numbers tame and twice a month on my Panchlora because they eat so little. I have no issues with reproduction or overall colony health. Personally I suggest twice weekly feedings to others simply because you need to learn how much a colony can and will eat before you reduce their schedule.

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I feed once a week at most. Dry dog food, banana or orange and the occasional bit of leftover dinner stuffs. I really think people over feed their insects, which is fine if you're using them as a breeding colony, but weekly feedings will more than suffice. I go a month in between feeding my Periplaneta to keep their numbers tame and twice a month on my Panchlora because they eat so little. I have no issues with reproduction or overall colony health. Personally I suggest twice weekly feedings to others simply because you need to learn how much a colony can and will eat before you reduce their schedule.

I second this. I feed my roaches once a week and even then in most cases they don't eat all the food I offer them. Good food items that can be left in the cage for a while include carrots, yams, and apple slices. Dry food mixes tend to mold or become so hard roaches won't bother eating but if you use powdery ones like duck food or chicken mash, so long as these are kept dry, the roaches will nibble on them as long as they're around and not moldy.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I use either water crystals or water dishes, so they always have something to drink.

Been having a heck of a time with fruit flies though. Ugh... They're getting through the house now, too. (Even with vinegar and sticky traps.) So I really need to cut down on the fresh fruit for a while. Had to stop with bananas completely a few months back because of the fruit flies, but now they're swarming even the apples and oranges. 24 hours after feedng there are clouds around the tanks, and I've been having minor mold issues so the fruit gets fuzzy rather quickly, too.

It seems if I leave the food dishes (yes, seriously, they have dishes) empty for more than two days the roaches start to eat each other. My adults aren't old enough yet to be dropping dead from that, and it always happens when they go without another food source. (Plus, pink maggots when I go to clean the mess up. That's always a lovely find. :roll: )

I finally found a crumbly type of horse treat over the weekend that has apples and a good mix of ingredients and protein. Going to try that out for a while and see how it works. It's like a non-meat-filled dog food type biscuit. Just hoping it doesn't mold overnight like everything else does....

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I only feed them twice a week at most, with parrot fruit and veggie flavour pallets. Occasionally some kitchen leftover or some fresh veggies and fruits that's about to go bad. Once a month, I offer some cat/dog pallets to some species that need extra protein.

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