The dubia are much preferred, especially for the scorpions since the adults don't dig or climb. The hissers sort of work as dinner, but they can climb so they mainly have to be tonged which is time consuming. I've tried superworms but they dig in too quick and since the tanks are all communal breeding enclosures with 8+ inches of substrate it's too hard to make sure everything is eating enough. (Also worried about any potential scorplings, since it can be months before there's evidence they were born.) Mealworms aren't large enough to bother with for the adults and there's too many juveniles in the one tank to figure out if everyone has been tonged a meal. Right now I've got 16 adults, 11 juveniles, expecting another brood of hopefully 20 any day now, and with luck another 5 smaller first broods next summer, so in-house feeding is going to be a must. I always have some crickets and mealworms on hand for the frog, but she eats so little it's easier and cheaper to just buy what I need every few weeks from the local shop since it works out to about $5 a month for her along with some variety for smallest scorps so they don't become picky about meals. if it comes to it, I might try setting up a 55 gallon in the basement and raising crickets on a larger scale to see if that would work. (Egad the smell though!) There's also a new cricket farm in Youngstown, but they supply human-grade insects so I'm not sure what their prices would be like in bulk or if they sell live feeders.
They're ? I got them and then found out they were not pure. Tossed in what was left of my crashed oblongonata colony this summer to save on space. (And because I may have mixed up the bins when I was cleaning...) I figure they're a good mix of everything. The problem is they get huge - the males can weigh in at 16 grams (a half-ounce) so once they get past 1/3 grown they're too big for my scorpions to tackle. They are slow breeding, slow to mature, and quick to die as adults.
Sure! I don't have cold weather shipping gear, so it's up to you when you would want me to ship. I won't offer any sort of shipping guarantee until spring. The new nymphs are hatching out now so there are hundreds of little babies running around the tank. I could send you a scoop of substrate with nymphs and eggs for a good price.
PM me when you think it's safe to send them!