Most Interesting Feeders?

[Auz]

I have been thinking about getting a Vinegaroon for some time now but I have no experience with raising feeders. I could just buy some from a pet store every so often, but I thought this could be a good opportunity for me to get to raise some more interesting breeds of roaches while using some as food for a vinegaroon (i also have a crested gecko and some death feigning beetles that could probably eat some roaches as well). 

are there any interesting breeds of roaches that are suitable for being feeders? Something more unique than a standard dubia? also, are there any roaches that are really bad for feeders? Obviously something like a hisser aren't usually suitable because of their shell.

[The Mantis Menagerie]

On 5/8/2019 at 4:40 PM, Auz said:

I have been thinking about getting a Vinegaroon for some time now but I have no experience with raising feeders. I could just buy some from a pet store every so often, but I thought this could be a good opportunity for me to get to raise some more interesting breeds of roaches while using some as food for a vinegaroon (i also have a crested gecko and some death feigning beetles that could probably eat some roaches as well). 

are there any interesting breeds of roaches that are suitable for being feeders? Something more unique than a standard dubia? also, are there any roaches that are really bad for feeders? Obviously something like a hisser aren't usually suitable because of their shell.

I had Panchlora nivea for a while, and they are pretty as long as you can contain them. Hissers are not bad for invertebrates, particularly hisser nymphs, because invertebrates break the exoskeleton before digestion. Reptiles and amphibians usually swallow their prey and the exoskeleton remains largely intact. The bigger problem with using hissers as feeders is that they do not breed very fast, so eventually you can exhaust the colony. I have heard of some people using Simandoa conserfarium, and there are some colorful members in the same family as common pest roaches (ability to become a pest means fast breeding). 

[Auz]

34 minutes ago, The Mantis Menagerie said:

I had Panchlora nivea for a while, and they are pretty as long as you can contain them. Hissers are not bad for invertebrates, particularly hisser nymphs, because invertebrates break the exoskeleton before digestion. Reptiles and amphibians usually swallow their prey and the exoskeleton remains largely intact. The bigger problem with using hissers as feeders is that they do not breed very fast, so eventually you can exhaust the colony. I have heard of some people using Simandoa conserfarium, and there are some colorful members in the same family as common pest roaches (ability to become a pest means fast breeding). 

thanks for the suggestions! I don't think I could do a flying species, they'd be too much to deal with in an apartment haha. but I didn't think about how invertebrates and reptiles eat insects differently, that's a good point. I may do hissers. I actually do have hissers and simandoas but only a pair of each because they were meant as pets lol. The Simandoas are still nymphs too, they have definitely taken their time to mature lol. Pest roaches would make sense too, but I'd definitely prefer no legitimate pest roach. But breeding fast is a plus. Vinegaroons only eat roughly once a week from what I read (of course it varies, some say twice a week, others say once every two weeks) so I don't think I'd need too many roaches at any given time. I may just try to create a simandoa colony if I can find some adults haha

[dogpack]

https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/research-posts/the-giant-north-american-vinegaroon-it-s-actually-seven-different-species