Roach Diet Change?

[Kaddock]

Allpet Roach forum is too slow for me once again, so I've transferred this here!- (thanks for saying hi Hibiscusmile!)

Post#1

I've been successfully culturing Gromphadorhina portentosa for quite some time now on a diet of mixed fruits and veggies, and fluker's hi-cal cricket diet gut-load powder on the side. Now every store in town has stopped selling the powder, so I bought some fluker's orange cube diet. The equality of the nutritional content between these two feeds seems dubious, so I'd like some advice on what ya'll think. Are the orange cubes as nutritious? They say that they are a full range, vitamin packed diet. The hi-cal powder says it's specifically for gut-loading. They both are rather vague on what exactly they've got in them though...

The fact that I am buying a jar of stinky, artificially colored gelatin for $8 is also not something I'm happy about! Sphagnum moss has been working fine for water, so the moisture in this food is redundant for my setup. This stuff better be worth it! I barely have the time to slice up the fresh produce for my animals anymore, and I'd hate to have them lacking in the other half of their diet to boot. I have my eye on the repashy bug burger diet as well. Comments? :-\

Examples of these items-

Hi-Cal

Orange Cube

Burger

Post#2

I could definitely make my own roach food... I guess maybe I'll just do that next time I make fly cultures, since several of the ingredients are going to be out anyway. My main concern would be making sure they get all their vitamins and such. I was trying to make less work for myself though! Hmmm... I think a recipe like this might work-

Broccoli

Kale

Apple

Flax Seed

Carrot

Nutritional Yeast

Orange

Tomato

Potato (for consistency)

Blend, press into small patties and freeze/refrig until needed.

Any suggestions? I think that covers a pretty good range of nutrients, yes? The last time a made a fly culture with Tomato, it kept for a loooong time. This is not to be confused with my fly culture recipe, which is a little more simple, but still bad***.

 

[Kaddock]

Well, since I'm so impatient, and no one here responded, here's the result from Roach forum for your info. :stuart:

LOL. I'm not a jerk, just an adult with "ADD" (undiagnosed!)-

( http://www.roachforum.com/index.php?showtopic=3765 )

From Zephyr at APR Forum - "I find it very unnecessary to used pre-made roach "diets" or to blend food. Roaches have been shown to pick certain food items out of macroparticulate mixes depending on what nutrients they need. Blending food disables the roach from doing this and they may not get the best mix of nutrients.

Only recently has one aspect of this become apparent. Unlike other insects, cockroaches recycle nitrogen via a bacterium contained in their fat bodies. This allows them to survive on nitrogen deficient diets. If you blend a bunch of different foods together, including nitrogen rich ones, and constantly offer your roaches this, unless they have a mechanism for disposing the nitrogen (Which most roaches do not; there are others but I only know of Parcoblatta and Paratemnopteryx being able to excrete a nitrogenous pellet) it will build up in their system and kill them, or harm them in some other way.

Moral of story; offer your roaches a variety of sortable food items. If anything, a buffet of rotting wood and leaf matter should be kept with them at all times since roaches also get a lot of nutrients from grazing on micoorganisms. This will allow you to feed one food item (ex dog food) while still giving them other food options."

 

[Myrmecologist2]

Meh, I wish I could actually try this. You and your lucky non-illegal roaches. >

 

[Kaddock]

Meh, I wish I could actually try this. You and your lucky non-illegal roaches. >

I was under the impression that most exotic insects are illegal. Is Florida just the most strict state? Either way, I have plenty of crimes, both animal and otherwise to keep myself happy. LOL :devil:

 

[Myrmecologist2]

I was under the impression that most exotic insects are illegal. Is Florida just the most strict state? Either way, I have plenty of crimes, both animal and otherwise to keep myself happy. LOL :devil:

Well, as far as roaches go, Florida is pretty damn strict about it and nearly no one will ship any here. Occasionally someone will be willing to ship discoids (Since they are already established in many areas) or other Florida natives like skunk roaches and P. nivea. I was extremely fortunate to get my hands on a colony of dubia from someone within driving range though, but I would love to try my hand at other roaches like hissers but it's just not possible.

 

[Kaddock]

That's too bad. It makes sense in such a warm area though. Here, the don't even last long when they escape in my house!