Food/Water Tray?

[Landy Tomiln]

I am a soon-to-be new roach owner of L. subcincta and B. craniifer couples. From what I've seen, food is set out on trays. Is it not possible to just drop dry food pellets onto the substrate itself? I also have water crystals Gut Load cricket drink. Do these get set out on a tray? And how often should I set out these crystals? These haven't arrived in the mail yet, so I'm not really sure how the crystals function.

Lastly, my roach species are non-glass climbers, but my enclosure is plastic. Should I still take preventative measures against their escape with vaseline?

Any other advice you can give to a new roach owner would be fabulous!

 

[Marlene]

I use small ice trays that I bought from the $1 store for my dubias. I have one tray for food and the other for water crystals. When I had domino roaches I mixed the water crystals in the substrate with them since I read somewhere that it's recommended to do so, but I'm not sure. I wouldn't recommend just dropping food in the substrate for them. If they don't eat some of it and it gets buried in the substrate then it may mold. I had that problem once so I tried many different trays, lids, reptile food bowls, but the ice trays were inexpensive and worked the best!

I also have roaches that do not climb glass (B. Dubia and B. Fuscas) and so far they have yet to climb plastic either.

 

[Landy Tomiln]

And the ice trays aren't too small or deep for the roaches?

 

[cindy]

I use tops from gator-aid bottles for my water crystals. It is a small enough amount to be able to keep clean. and big enough to give them a few nice big chunks of water crystals. I find that fruit flies seem to like the crystals, so I change out the dish every 3rd or 4th day, or whenever it looks icky. This way I am not wasting anything.

 

[Briene]

My fav apparatus to use for food and poly crystals are Pyrex custard cups! I feed fresh fruits often.I put fresh food in ziploc bags. Empy out peels, which is usually the only thing left over and then re-use. A couple species put little holes in the baggies sometimes....which I replace. I find maintenance convienient having dry food in one pyrex and poly water in the other...then the fresh shit in the bag.....: ))))

 

[Keith]

I use those plastic tops from cake icing jars and Pringles chip covers. I just rinse them under warm water every few weeks to wash off any gunk that stuck to them. I use them for food or water dishes.