Roach tank

Cliff said:
I guess the investment would be the money upfront to be able to never pay for feeders for my bearded dragons. I don't know how crazy it is but I'd like to breed bearded dragons. It's something I really need to research before even considering doing so. I think starting with the roaches would be the best thing. It would allow me to get some money for rent, and maybe being able to save up for more dragons to breed.

I believe it's a hobby I will enjoy. I'd like to have a nice naturalist hisser tank with a nice giant log they can climb on., I think a giant dubia tank would be really cool.
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sounds cool :D

 
hisserman said:
sounds cool :D
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I'm excited for everything. But I think starting with roaches is smart and can have some profit for me. But mostly I'm excited to see the colony grow, and once my dragons are old enough in a few months I would like to try to breed dragons. Once the roach colony is going and established it opens up many doors for me. I can try to sell them, I can breed dragons, geckos, other stuff. Much research is needed for me, but this is a start. Even if I don't breed, or sell as much as I'd thought. I still have infinite supply of roaches. I can now buy tarantulas, geckos, frogs, ect. It allows me to have pets! Heck I'll be trading dubia's for other roaches to other people even.

I've always loved "animals", My mother made my brother and I amazing tanks when we were children. They looked like something from a freaking zoo. So naturalistic and many species of newts, frogs, ect that lived together. It's something I'd like to remake when given time and money. Having infinite feeders that work for many species, opens up so many doors for this, I'm so excited :lol:

- Cliff

 
I haven't looked into many methods of heating the roaches. I was thinking reptile under tank heaters pads? I looked into "Heat tape" but you need a thermostat for it, I don't know the price or how complicated it is.

How do you guys heat your Dubias or other roaches? I saw vfox uses lights and reflecting heat tape (something like that). That seems really smart and would work well for me I think, but if possible I would like to not have to use lights.

- Cliff

 
Cliff said:
I haven't looked into many methods of heating the roaches. I was thinking reptile under tank heaters pads? I looked into "Heat tape" but you need a thermostat for it, I don't know the price or how complicated it is.

How do you guys heat your Dubias or other roaches? I saw vfox uses lights and reflecting heat tape (something like that). That seems really smart and would work well for me I think, but if possible I would like to not have to use lights.

- Cliff
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They breed at room temp., but my house is always 90 F upstairs where they are (so cal)

 
i have them right next to a little stand alone electric oil heater that heat my room but i have use UTH with thermostats before to and that worked ok. most of the people who deal with in the gecko community usually recommend you use a thermostat with a UTH or heat tape in case any thing goes wrong and it over heats. heat bulbs work well and you could also look into ceramic heat emitters too.

 
If you don't want to deal with spending a lot of cash on a thermostat you can buy a rheostat (dimmer). You can find little lamp dimmers for about $10 at home depot, lowes, etc where you plug the heat source into the dimmer and the dimmer into the wall. If it gets too hot simply dim it down a bit.

Costwise heat tape is the cheapest by far, it ends up being about $4-5 per square foot wired and it uses a rediculessly low amount of wattage compared to a lot of other heat sources. I've also never clocked mine ever peak greater than 120 degrees F on the surface, so they don't get so hot that they are an easy fire hazard.

 
ya thats what thay normally go to but there is always a chance of them shorting out, and i have heard alot of stories about that happening so i dont risk it. the dimmer is another good suggestion.

 
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Ozymandias said:
ya thats what thay normally go to but there is always a chance of them shorting out, and i have heard alot of stories about that happening so i dont risk it. the dimmer is another good suggestion.
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+1

I use that on my reptiles along with a light to keep the temp. stable!

 
might be but you should still look into Ceramic heat emitters it's basically a light bulb that doesn't produce light but heat instead and thay last alot longer than most heat bulbs more expensive though, i think the cheapest i've seen was like $18ish for a 50watt also you probably should get a fixture that has a ceramic housing because these do get quite hot.

 
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Ozymandias said:
might be but you should still look into Ceramic heat emitters it's basically a light bulb that doesn't produce light but heat instead and thay last alot longer than most heat bulbs more expensive though, i think the cheapest i've seen was like $18ish for a 50watt also you probably should get a fixture that has a ceramic housing because these do get quite hot.
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Yeah I have heard about them before, never looked into much. I think I'll have to do some research.

Honestly I'd rather not use a thermostat. They are kinda costly, I've already spend alot of $ on the roaches. I think heat tape + thermostat would be like $80 cheapest or something.

I'm thinking ceramic heat emitter and a lamp dimmer? (I don't know how the lamp dimmer works, but I think I saw one at home depot the other day while looking around at plants. (Wanted to buy my GF a plant for valentines day).

I was thinking of getting a 50gallon tub with lid to put my roaches in, or 2-3 30 gallons. I have to see where I have room in my apartment once I move everything in, and figure out if I'm keeping them in a closet or a corner of a room, or what.

Can't wait to start my colony :) yay for roaches :D

- Cliff

 
Ozymandias said:
no and with that dimmer you can control how hot it gets

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Have a 4ft dubia tank so understand wanting a 6ft tank. Got a space heater for my office so I only have to supplement heat for certain species.Then disassembled the walk in closet put in industrial shelves. Then put up thick curtains. The roaches are very happy now warm and dark. Have ceramic heaters but prefer heat mats they dont scare me as much and a lot of roaches stay close to floor. Hope this helps.
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Have a 4ft dubia tank so understand wanting a 6ft tank. Got a space heater for my office so I only have to supplement heat for certain species.Then disassembled the walk in closet put in industrial shelves. Then put up thick curtains. The roaches are very happy now warm and dark. Have ceramic heaters but prefer heat mats they dont scare me as much and a lot of roaches stay close to floor. Hope this helps.
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I've read with heat mats they can kill the babies. They get too hot on the bottom and just die. Read this somewhere, possibly this forum someone had this problem if I am remembering correctly. I might just get two under tank heats and put them on the side of the container? I think this will be cheaper than 2 lamps + 2 lights. But I think lighting could control the heat better with the dimmer? Will be making my colony/tank/everything this next week. Just gotta buy the stuff I need, and figure out which heating I want to do.

 
Cliff said:
I've read with heat mats they can kill the babies. They get too hot on the bottom and just die. Read this somewhere, possibly this forum someone had this problem if I am remembering correctly. I might just get two under tank heats and put them on the side of the container? I think this will be cheaper than 2 lamps + 2 lights. But I think lighting could control the heat better with the dimmer? Will be making my colony/tank/everything this next week. Just gotta buy the stuff I need, and figure out which heating I want to do.
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You may be right. Keep my heating always on one side gives my animals the ability to cool off. With a long tank its easy. Dimmers have there advantages. Enjoy!!!

 
Got a 45 gallon sterlite container. Fits lots of roaches, working on heating it... I have 100 watt bulbs in a 2 socket lamp, dangling above the lid, wrapped to the pole that should hold hangers in a closet, with a ethernet cable...

Will take pics once my girlfriend is home, she just had her wisdom teeth taken out and stayed home. I'll use her camera and take a few pics.

 
If you want to breed dubias you should use a small tank or rubbermaid container. It will take a lot more to keep it heated to 100 degrees and have a humidity of 60%. They also do better with less space and it's easier to maintain. I keep a couple hundred females in each plastic totes or small 10 gallon tanks with heating pads under them. A ratio of 3 females for every male is a good start. The females are live bearers, you will get about 30 nymphs a month from each adult female. I just sorted out one of my colonies and now have approx 5000+ babies, and they will all go into another bin. It's amazing how many fit in a rubbermaid tote. It's a lot of work if you plan on making money from them. I started breeding them to feed my beardies a few years ago. It is nice to always have feeders and not have to buy them. I also make a few hundred bucks a month selling them. My hisser colony just started to explode too, but I found it harder than I thought to sell them.

 
hammerhead said:
If you want to breed dubias you should use a small tank or rubbermaid container. It will take a lot more to keep it heated to 100 degrees and have a humidity of 60%. They also do better with less space and it's easier to maintain. I keep a couple hundred females in each plastic totes or small 10 gallon tanks with heating pads under them. A ratio of 3 females for every male is a good start. The females are live bearers, you will get about 30 nymphs a month from each adult female. I just sorted out one of my colonies and now have approx 5000+ babies, and they will all go into another bin. It's amazing how many fit in a rubbermaid tote. It's a lot of work if you plan on making money from them. I started breeding them to feed my beardies a few years ago. It is nice to always have feeders and not have to buy them. I also make a few hundred bucks a month selling them. My hisser colony just started to explode too, but I found it harder than I thought to sell them.
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I have a 11x29 inch heating pad that can cover the bottom of the container fully in length. I put it diagonally so that it cover about 70% of the container, good chunk of it has no pad directly under it. It gets to 100 degree's on the bottom, I have a digital thermometer with the probe placed on the bottom of the container in the center (core? you could say, of the colony).

I bought a $10 24 hour lamp dimmer/timer. Every 30 minutes the heat pad goes off, and then back on. I'd like something more programmable... so I can have it at mid-high 90's all the time. I check on the temp frequently all day when I'm home, 84-100 all day from what I can tell.

I'm trying to think of ways that I can lessen the heat a little bit..? so that I can just keep the pad on all day without having to worry.. I might try placing the container inside another container so the heat has to pass through something first.

Anyone have any cheap and effective way regulate the temp of the heating pad better?

 
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