Please :) ! I need step by step instructions on roaches

[deba822]

 As you all know I am new to this!   I tried the crickets. Henry loves canned and fresh but I have no clue how to keep and raise them to make more food. I got the silkworms today. I was hoping I could buy a "pod" every other week. No way! He loves them and wants to eat them all in one day! So.... I'm grossed out but ready to think of raising roaches. ( I can honestly say that is a sentence I would have bet money that I would never say or type! LOL!) Please explain the "home" for the roaches, the type of roaches, and how to care for them. ( Other than calling pest control! )  OR home and care of crickets would work too. Something that will reproduce food is what I am looking for. I have decided Henry must be around 6 months old because of his size and the fact he prefers insects over greens. I am really new to all this and the dragon books don't really help at all. I take excellent care of all my pets and it would just kill me if Henry got sick because of my ignorance.

[zebrajanie]

Debra, go check out the thread about feeding roaches.  You will see in pics a great set up, and below are what and how to feed them.
Good luck, and it's alright to be grossed out, all that matters is your dragon will have good food, that is safe !
Janie.

[deba822]

 Which one exactly?

[zebrajanie]

Preferred food for Turks.
Janie.

[beardielover17]

yupp right heres the thread http://bearded-dragons.com/boards/index.php/topic,123.0.html

[deba822]

Ok... rubbermaid bucket ,heating pad, screen, cat food.

 How hot?
 How much food/when? water?
 How do I get the roaches to Henry's mouth? Seriously.... scoop? spoon? net? I'm not touching them!
I think I need to raise crickets! Much less EWWWWW factor. Same kind of housing? food? I can scoop up crickets no problem. Not trying to be too girly here but my husband is even more squeamish than me. I want to raise something Henry can eat.

[beardielover17]

 How hot? im pretty sure ideal temps are 88*
 How much food/when? water? offer as needed...if u see the dishes empty then fill it up and use water gel crystals instead of actual water

unfortunately crickets dont breed anywhere near as fast as roaches so its pretty much not even worth ur time trying to breed them...coldbloods.com sent me a caresheet for crickets and how to raise them...the reason i chose turks as my roach of choice is because they look very similar to crickets and dont look much like a roach...i personally was absolutely terrified of them but i reminded myself of how much money i spend on food for my dragons when i cud save so much money and get them better things like enclosures, treats, decor etc etc  nd then the roaches didnt seem so bad...if u dont wanna touch them u can go the route i did wen i was terrified of crickets....you can use tongs to pick them up one by one or u can shake the paper towel rolls in ur bin into a thing to shake and bake them with calcium or u can invest in a cheap bug vacuum to suck them up...theres many ways to go about not touching them...believe me ive done them all lol but u will eventually grow out of the fear and pick them up like its nothing

[zebrajanie]

The fearless Janie just snags them out and feeds... Though I will admit, the first time one crawled up the sleeve of my sweater, it tickled...
Janie.

[Thewolfmantom]

use paper towel rolls if you dont want to touch, but youll end up touching. It cant be helped