# Breeding woodies



## Chicken (Aug 9, 2010)

hey guys i'm really interested in breeding wood cockroaches. My parents are really sick of buying food and threatened to force me to sell my reptiles if i don't do something about it. So i've tried breeding crickets but thats really hard and fiddly and i'm struggling a lot. So i'd like to give woodies a crack but i need some info. I've searched around a lot and i have a fair idea on housing, feeding heating ect.. but I'm stuck on something i actually couldn't find. Where do they lay their eggs, do i incubate them? How many eggs do they lay? I only have a 2 beardies and a thick tailed so how many woodies should i start off with? Do i get adults or mixed? How long do eggs take to hatch? Do i separate the babies from adults? Any help would be very appreciated.


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## bfg23 (Aug 9, 2010)

They do everything themselves. 
The females lay egg cases so they dont need an incubation medium.
Just put in some egg cartons and they lay the eggs in there.
No idea how many eggs, but more than you could handle if you _tried_ to separate the young from the adults.

For only two or three lizards you could get away with half a dozen packets of woodies from the shop and they will more than likely get up and running.
Just take the younger ones to feed off rather than the egg laying adults.

I got ~a thousand woodies from a bloke and put them in a tub in a few weeks ago. Feeding off a few to lizards and frogs every day and they are breeding like crazy, I have to get another tub going because there is so many already.


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## Megzz (Aug 9, 2010)

Be careful though cos they stink. I gave up trying to breed them it was gross.


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## lloydy (Aug 9, 2010)

I think i may give this a try aswell.. Spending way to much on woodies!
Even worse now that the herpshop is out of stock..


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## Chicken (Aug 9, 2010)

alright thanks a lot. Sounds so much easier than crickets lol, just kick back and let them do the work were as crickets omfg, move these into here and them into that one, by the time these hatch these ones will be this size lol its annoying, and megzz they'll be in my garage and they don't stink too much if you clean it out regularly.


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## AllThingsReptile (Aug 9, 2010)

are woodies better to feed to beardies than crix?? coz ive heard they give growth spurts but i didnt really believe it lol


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## Megzz (Aug 9, 2010)

Reptilerookie321 said:


> megzz they'll be in my garage and they don't stink too much if you clean it out regularly.


Fair enough, I only had mine for a week but I didn't like it (didn't help that they kept dying in there).

I'm trying silkworms now, they're going much better.


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## AllThingsReptile (Aug 9, 2010)

might try it myself lol sounds easy........................ill find out the hard way if its not


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 9, 2010)

They dont stink that bad, I have never notice mine smelling unless I stick my head in the box, they are nutritionally better than crickets so go for it.
It is very easy, just keep them warm and dont let food go mouldy inside the tub (they wont breed unless they are kept nice and warm and mould will cause problems), follow those 2 rules keep them fed and you cant go wrong.
Btw invest in some fluon form herpshop to coat the top of the box as vaseline will get messy.


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## M-Van86 (Aug 9, 2010)

What sort of temps do roaches need?


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 9, 2010)

I think 25-35 is a good temp range


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## nathanlew (Aug 9, 2010)

yer i agree


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 9, 2010)

Geckoman said:


> I think 25-35 is a good temp range


 Above 28 will create maximum activity (breeding and growth)


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## Bez84 (Aug 10, 2010)

Woodies generally have 20 something babies every 20 something days, they dont lay eggs they incubate the eggsacks inside themselves and sometimes
partially expose the sack from themselves to cool it.
When there ready to hatch the females lay the eggsack which hatches live young immediately.
They dont smell and thrive on little to no maintence.
I have a 4 foot tank with soil in the bottom and an old hollow log and i just throw in some dog biskets and what ever scraps i have and some veggies
for moisture every now and then and there are 1000s in there and i havent cleaned or touched it in over 2 years and it doesnt smell in the slightest.
I also have mealworms breeding in the soil and they feed on the woodie scraps.
I also dont heat them as there in the herp room which is warm enough.
So basically to feed a bearded dragon for a year would cost no more then a large bag of dry dog food.
NOTE: i have a strip of fluon painted around the top of the tank so the woodies cant escape.


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## M-Van86 (Aug 10, 2010)

Geckoman said:


> I think 25-35 is a good temp range


 All the time? Or is there a lower level it can fall to? (ie during winter).


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## PhilK (Aug 10, 2010)

They're so easy to breed..

Source some woodies, put them in a big tub with some egg cartons and fluon painted around the top so they can't escape. Add kitchen scraps/food and sit back to watch them multiply.

The females carry the eggs around inside them and then give "live birth" so you don't need to worry about incubation mediums.

My roaches live outside all year around. In winter they slow down their breeding and eating, but once summer comes around they'll really take off.

Couldn't be easier, and I have probably saved 1000s of dollars!


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 10, 2010)

M-Van86 said:


> All the time? Or is there a lower level it can fall to? (ie during winter).


 If the temps drop below about 25 the slow right down, the lower the temps the slower they get untill they pretty much go dormant, basically if you want them to grow and breed at a rate fast enough to keep you supplied keep them in that temp range


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## lloydy (Aug 10, 2010)

Ok so went to bunnings got a 30ltr tub - check
Went to petshop got 5 tubs of woodies - check
Fluon on upper sides - check
Egg cartons - check

Food? No idea! Lol what do they eat? Do i put the food on the bottom? All in one corner so its easier to replace? Or it dosnt matter?

Do they need water? Lol

Almost there


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## kupper (Aug 10, 2010)

Jemmiwoodies would be s good starting point to anyone wanting a large amount to start a colony up very cheap and she usually has a heap available


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## kupper (Aug 10, 2010)

And They eat anything ..... A high protein dog food and fruit and veg is what I feed mine


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## mummabear (Aug 10, 2010)

I just make a mix of dry dog food, oats and fish flakes and give fruit and veggies (apple, corn, cabbage, celery etc) every now and then. I also put in water crystals for a constant water source. I use little ceramic dishes to put the food and water crystals in.


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## M-Van86 (Aug 10, 2010)

Question - what temps will kill Roaches?

Just wondering cause, understandably, I'm worried about what the sort of costs would be for keeping them warm.


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## Chris1 (Aug 10, 2010)

dont know what temps exactly kill them, but i brought mine in a few weeks ago after pulling out a full 4L icecream container of dead ones,..so whatever the temps in sydney were a month ago kills them. my herp room stays between 21 and 23 and theyre doing fine again.

they only stink if the egg cartons are damp, so use mainly dry food and not too much veg, as in veg that gets eaten within a few hours every second day.

some people use a container fo water with a slot cut in and fabric as a wick so they can drink.

ive never bothered heating mine but i do buy a kilo or 2 per year to top up the tubs.


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## Chicken (Aug 10, 2010)

Thanks a lot guys, i know how to breed now task one complete, now on to the hard task... convinsing mum the woodies cant escape and are fine lol. She hates them, gonna be a hard one but ill get around eventually.....


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## M-Van86 (Aug 10, 2010)

I see.

Sorta trying to weigh up if the costs of keeping a colony beats the cost of buying.


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## lloydy (Aug 10, 2010)

Hopefully mine will take off with no probs!

Ive put the tub ontop of one of my enclosures, the CHE makes the top of it warm so fingers crossed it will be a good temp for them.

My old girl is exactly the same.. Well she used to be, loves the beardies now and has gotten over their "live feeders" lol

Goodluck!


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## Chris1 (Aug 10, 2010)

they wont go over a thin rim of vaseline, but for peace of mind for ur mum, cut most of the top of the lid away and replace it with flyscreen,...as well as the vaso so they dont come flooding otu when u remove the lid,...

if she doesnt like it she cant say no since she's making u breed ur own food under the threat of having to give up ur critters,..


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## PhilK (Aug 10, 2010)

M-Van86 said:


> I see.
> 
> Sorta trying to weigh up if the costs of keeping a colony beats the cost of buying.


 At $7 a tub, there is no way breeding is more expensive than buying.


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## herptrader (Aug 10, 2010)

There is a pretty detailed care sheet on how to breed Feeder Roaches, AKA woodies.

Even though Brian is not supplying SFR's currently he still stocks the Fluon - pretty much vital in my opinion.


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 10, 2010)

Chris1 said:


> dont know what temps exactly kill them, but i brought mine in a few weeks ago after pulling out a full 4L icecream container of dead ones,..so whatever the temps in sydney were a month ago kills them. my herp room stays between 21 and 23 and theyre doing fine again.
> 
> they only stink if the egg cartons are damp, so use mainly dry food and not too much veg, as in veg that gets eaten within a few hours every second day.
> 
> ...


Those temps are a bit low, Iv had my colony going for a year and I only have been really producing any decent amounts since i added heating, previously I also kept them at ambient herp room temps similar to yours.

A good way Iv found to keep them hydrated is by getting a lantern wick from Bunnings and running it out of an airtight container full of water, then just trim the wick when it gets dirty.
For food I either give them cat biscuits or crushed rodent pellets, the rodent pellets they seem to prefer, I also chuck in the odd vegies but not too much as they can make it smell a bit and create mould issues.

One bit of advice I wish I had listened to was not to use vaseline, its ok until your colony gets to a decent temp and then it starts to run down the walls and creates a sticky mess, you can stop this by keeping the temps below 25 but then you will not produce many woodies and you will quickly run out.
Fluon on the other hand seems is ideal


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## herptrader (Aug 11, 2010)

I provide carrot, broccoli stalk or other firm vegetable for moisture. Sometimes they will get the odd bit of fruit that has past its human consumption use by date but they are not fond of citrus.

For dry food they mostly get the dust left at the bottom of the bag of GR2 rodent pellets. The sometimes get dried up bits of what the lizards don't eat.


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## Chris1 (Aug 11, 2010)

lol Geckoman, by 'doing ok' i meant no longer dying and theyre eating and shedding again, most of the adults ended up in the 4l icecream container of dead ones and i have no idea if the few remaining ones are breeding.

i hated fluon, the roaches walked straight over it, and the vaseline needs to be really thin otherwise they walk straight over that too, (and yes it runs)

ive used olive oil when i couldnt find the vaseline before, that worked too.


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## bfg23 (Aug 11, 2010)

I use silicon spray instead of fluon.

I also put the silicon spray in the glass tracks to make the glass slide oh-so-easy.


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 11, 2010)

Chris1 said:


> lol Geckoman, by 'doing ok' i meant no longer dying and theyre eating and shedding again, most of the adults ended up in the 4l icecream container of dead ones and i have no idea if the few remaining ones are breeding.
> 
> i hated fluon, the roaches walked straight over it, and the vaseline needs to be really thin otherwise they walk straight over that too, (and yes it runs)
> 
> ive used olive oil when i couldnt find the vaseline before, that worked too.


 Thats weird, maybe you didnt put the fluon on thick enough, its always worked really well for me on vertical surfaces


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## jbowers (Aug 11, 2010)

Fluon rocks. I've got roaches in the ackie enclosure trapped in a 4cm high plastic tub. It rocks.


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## lloydy (Aug 11, 2010)

So i thought id take some pics of my new woodies tub, lol.
There are alot more in there then it seems,well really only 5-6 tubs full and are all under the cartons.

Does this look ok? lol I dont think it needs to be setup in any particular way, but yeah lol.











Cheers guys,


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 11, 2010)

Looks good, one thing id thought id point out is that if you want to utilize more space then stand up the egg cartons vertically in rows and use flat pieces of cardboard as dividers


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## lloydy (Aug 11, 2010)

Ahh.. What a great idea! lol
Think i may try that out.. thanks gex


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## herptrader (Aug 11, 2010)

Your tubs looks exactly like mine ;-) I tend to use toilet rolls instead of egg cartons because of the way the stack and the ease of shaking the SFR's out etc.


lloydy said:


> So i thought id take some pics of my new woodies tub, lol.
> There are alot more in there then it seems,well really only 5-6 tubs full and are all under the cartons.
> 
> Does this look ok? lol I dont think it needs to be setup in any particular way, but yeah lol.
> ...


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## herptrader (Aug 11, 2010)

I have used silicone spray, vasaline and fluon and fluon wins hands down!


bfg23 said:


> I use silicon spray instead of fluon.
> 
> I also put the silicon spray in the glass tracks to make the glass slide oh-so-easy.


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## lloydy (Aug 11, 2010)

Haha, 12$ tub from bunnings, cant go wrong 

Toilet rolls? probaly would be easier aye, might tray that aswell! lol


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 11, 2010)

This is my setup, each row has about 50 adults and 200 from 2-20mm


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## bfg23 (Aug 11, 2010)

I couldnt agree more herptrader.
I just cannot justify spending 30dollars on so much fluon to do one tub though. I used to have some, but it dried up into a hard block.


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 11, 2010)

bfg23 said:


> I couldnt agree more herptrader.
> I just cannot justify spending 30dollars on so much fluon to do one tub though. I used to have some, but it dried up into a hard block.


 Yeah it is overpriced, but not having to clean out woodie poo that has gotten vaseline all through it and is stuck to everything is priceless lol


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## bkevo (Aug 11, 2010)

a bottle of fluron will last a life time. worth it to me


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## bigi (Aug 11, 2010)

thats all you need, i dont bother placing a plate down for the food, i just throw it in the bottom, i wasnt aware brian wasnt doing the woodies anymore that will leave a gap in the market


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 12, 2010)

bigi said:


> thats all you need, i dont bother placing a plate down for the food, i just throw it in the bottom, i wasnt aware brian wasnt doing the woodies anymore that will leave a gap in the market


 He hasn't stopped all together, he has just stopped temporarily to rebuild his numbers to keep up with the growing demand


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## Jeannine (Aug 12, 2010)

*is brian from the herp shop? *


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## lloydy (Aug 12, 2010)

Yes he is Jeannine 

Quick question, and may sound liek a stupid one.

Which woodies should i try and keep in there to "breed"?
The grey ones with wings? or the black/brown large ones?

Which are the female and male? lol

I dont think i bought enough to start a collony so might run down shop and buy couple more tubs.


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## Megzz (Aug 12, 2010)

How do you guys clean out your containers? Dont the roaches just run everywhere when you lift out the egg cartons etc to clean the crap out? And how to do get the roaches out to feed to your animals?


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## byron_moses (Aug 12, 2010)

i will def be giving this a go


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 12, 2010)

lloydy said:


> Yes he is Jeannine
> 
> Quick question, and may sound liek a stupid one.
> 
> ...


The adult males are the long shiny ones, the adult females have wings.
You can also tell the sex at a young age as the females have a much wider girth than the males


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 12, 2010)

Megzz said:


> How do you guys clean out your containers? Dont the roaches just run everywhere when you lift out the egg cartons etc to clean the crap out? And how to do get the roaches out to feed to your animals?


 The poos are really dry are its quite easy just to shake it into one corner and remove it.
Harvesting woodies at my house is just done by hand, its alot easier when they are cold


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## Megzz (Aug 12, 2010)

Thanks Geckoman. Do you just take them off their heat for a while before you need to harvest them? How long does it take them to cool down and be slow?

Also shaking the poo to one corner - does this mean you dont use anything on the bottom of their enclosure?


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## lloydy (Aug 12, 2010)

Geckoman said:


> The adult males are the long shiny ones, the adult females have wings.
> You can also tell the sex at a young age as the females have a much wider girth than the males



so i shall keep the ones with the wings! lol


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 12, 2010)

Megzz said:


> Thanks Geckoman. Do you just take them off their heat for a while before you need to harvest them? How long does it take them to cool down and be slow?
> 
> Also shaking the poo to one corner - does this mean you dont use anything on the bottom of their enclosure?


Yeah I just keep the bottom bare, I find they slow down quite quickly, 30 minutes is more than enough time


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## lloydy (Aug 12, 2010)

So how long should it take before i start to see some lil woodies running around?

I noticed this today, when getting some out to feed Ruby, its like it was shedding its skin, and was turning into an albino? :S 
The only thing it had left to shed was its head.. lol

- sorry bout the bad quality - iphone.


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## Jeannine (Aug 12, 2010)

*thanks lloyd *


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 12, 2010)

Yeap you have an albino, you should try and line breed it and create your own Albino woodie line


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## lloydy (Aug 12, 2010)

Geckoman said:


> Yeap you have an albino, you should try and line breed it and create your own Albino woodie line


 

Lol, there are like 4 albinos in the tub.

i dont know if your being seriouse gex.. lol


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## bigi (Aug 12, 2010)

crickey, ive only seen them albino's in books, your lucky they are far more nutritional


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## Chris1 (Aug 12, 2010)

Geckoman said:


> The adult males are the long shiny ones, the adult females have wings.
> You can also tell the sex at a young age as the females have a much wider girth than the males



ur joking right, im pretty sure they all have wings once theyre adults,....


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## lloydy (Aug 12, 2010)

Ive got massive ones with no wings? lol

The winged ones make noises though.. like squeels, lol


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 12, 2010)

Chris1 said:


> ur joking right, im pretty sure they all have wings once theyre adults,....


 Thats how I thought they were sexed, If that is not correct please fill me in on how to sex them correctly


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## herptrader (Aug 12, 2010)

bkevo said:


> a bottle of fluron will last a life time. worth it to me


 
You only need to use the thinnest layer to work. 100% coverage is important but, the thinner the layer in my experience, the better.


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## herptrader (Aug 12, 2010)

bigi said:


> thats all you need, i dont bother placing a plate down for the food, i just throw it in the bottom, i wasnt aware brian wasnt doing the woodies anymore that will leave a gap in the market


 
At this stage I think he is just taking a break to build up the numbers.


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## herptrader (Aug 12, 2010)

Have a look at the care sheet on the Herp Shop web site... pretty much explains all you need to know. The adults have the wings and are the only ones that will breed. I think sexing them comes down to the pairs of spines at the back, two pairs for one sex and one pair for the other but I cannot remember which is what!


lloydy said:


> Yes he is Jeannine
> 
> Quick question, and may sound liek a stupid one.
> 
> ...


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## pirahna_08 (Aug 16, 2010)

*here's my five cents*

Hi M8, did u get your woodies sorted. They are way easier than crickets, alot less effort. The cricket problem is water and drowning. I bought a big batch of woodies from from the herp shop and let them go wild. i have inland beardies and they love them, but i must say they liked the crickets more, in summer i breed both. For your woodies i just got a plastic tub and cut out part of the lid and hot glued flyscreen onto it. you have to have good air flow for these guys as their substrate gets wet quickly and you don't want that. I went to my local bakery and asked then to save me some egg cartons, they are flat and hold about 48 eggs. Don't lay them horizontally. they must be vertical so their waste can fall though easier to clean and i tie the together with twine. for food they do well on carrots, apples and oranges. the heat thing is right, the warmer the better, they will breed alot, but like i said you need to start with a lot. from memory i bought about $50 worth of the largest and $40 of the babies and i didn't feed many bid ones . By the time the big ones were gone the babies had grown and started to breed. i literally have thousands. like 7000. buy the fluon, you wont need much one jar would last 100 years easily. Im in brisbane happy to give you some if you would like. cheers


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## PhilK (Aug 16, 2010)

Both males and females have wings when adults - can't tell the difference. The huge ones without wings are simply preadults. You cannot sex younger ones at all - the wider ones have empty bellies and the longer thinner ones are full.

Take some long thing young ones and put them in a container with no food for a week or two and they soon become flat wide ones.


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## Asharee133 (Aug 16, 2010)

the "albino" are just roaches with no carapace, the carapace starts out white, then hardens, ths becomes brown!  i have a heap of wood shavings on the bottom of their box, is that okay we only need to feed 4 gex every 2 days so im hoping they are breeding


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 16, 2010)

PhilK said:


> Both males and females have wings when adults - can't tell the difference. The huge ones without wings are simply preadults. You cannot sex younger ones at all - the wider ones have empty bellies and the longer thinner ones are full.
> 
> Take some long thing young ones and put them in a container with no food for a week or two and they soon become flat wide ones.


yeah thanks, I was readin up about them the other day and found that out, I guess I was ill informed


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## lloydy (Aug 17, 2010)

I just dont think mine are breeding! lol
How long does it normaly take? I try and see some small woodies or the "live young" but nothing.. all the egg cartons just have small bits of poop everywhere lol.
feeding them, bits of bok choy, carrot and bits of apple.. seem to be eating that with no probs, clean it out every 2 days (the food that is)

Any thoughts?

Seem to be loosing numbers rather then gaining lol


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## bfg23 (Aug 17, 2010)

You need to give it time. You have only had the woodies in there for a week or so.

I would still buy packets of woodies and feed off them to let your colony build up.


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 17, 2010)

lloydy said:


> I just dont think mine are breeding! lol
> How long does it normaly take? I try and see some small woodies or the "live young" but nothing.. all the egg cartons just have small bits of poop everywhere lol.
> feeding them, bits of bok choy, carrot and bits of apple.. seem to be eating that with no probs, clean it out every 2 days (the food that is)
> 
> ...


Be patient, make sure they are warm, also give them some sort of dry food like cat biscuits or rodent pellets


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## lloydy (Aug 17, 2010)

sorry guys im the impatient kind.. lol

Yeah i give them cat and dog bisucits 

I think that is what ill need to do, keep buying the packs until they start getting their groove on lol


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 17, 2010)

Best thing to do is set up more than one colony so you can alternate your harvests, otherwise its very easy to over cull if you use alot of them


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## lloydy (Aug 17, 2010)

Asharee, 

I have 3 big "albinos" not small ones, so when would they start turning to the normal colour?

They probly around the 15mm mark..


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## hugsta (Aug 17, 2010)

"Albino" woodies, geez, how much are they worth these days...


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## PhilK (Aug 17, 2010)

The albinos are simply freshly moulted ones, they'll chang to grey/brown don't worry!


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## hugsta (Aug 17, 2010)

oh really, buggar... I had no idea.


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## lloydy (Aug 18, 2010)

PhilK said:


> The albinos are simply freshly moulted ones, they'll chang to grey/brown don't worry!



Damn!
Was hoping to sell them off for $50 EACH woodie.. haha


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## Chicken (Aug 22, 2010)

ok im gonna order some woodies, 500 to start me off and while they get up and running (breeding) i have some crickets left to feed off, but when i order them what size should i get? Adults, med, small or mixed?


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## Sel (Aug 22, 2010)

How long have you had the woodies lloydy? It will probably take 3 or 4 weeks before anything happens. 
Put them on a heat mat, chuck in some food..and leave them alone.. if you are using them to feed lizards, make a seperate "feeding tub" so you don't have to disturb the breeders..i heard that opening the tub all the time stresses them out..don't know how true that is... i have 2 tubs, one i use for feeding and the other one i leave alone and they r breeding madly.


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## AllThingsReptile (Aug 22, 2010)

i know nothing about them but i reckon mixed (just seems like common sense)
and the idea is seems to be growing in my head.. but i only have 2 beardies....well.....they are definatly hungry enough


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## Chicken (Aug 22, 2010)

Lizard, i only have 1 beardie and a thick tailed lol and a green tree frog on the way and i'm finding myself spending more money than comfortable on food lol! Im planning on getting a bigger collection so i'm going to start now. And yeah ill think ill go with the mixed


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## babba007 (Aug 22, 2010)

I didint have any fluon so I used cooking oil spray around the top of the tub, worked a treat. The tub is just sitting on top of the enclosure and they are breeding like crazy. Mine get dry dog food and kitchen scaps, like the end of carrots, apple cores, and other bits and pieces. They go nuts for grapefruit, orange and mandarin. Also gave them the kids leftover tuna sangas, they went nuts!


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## Chicken (Aug 22, 2010)

hmm i might try that! The cooking oil spray


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## AllThingsReptile (Aug 22, 2010)

Reptilerookie321 said:


> Lizard, i only have 1 beardie and a thick tailed lol and a green tree frog on the way and i'm finding myself spending more money than comfortable on food lol! Im planning on getting a bigger collection so i'm going to start now. And yeah ill think ill go with the mixed


we get about $21 a week on crix so breeding seems the way to go coz mom doesnt want to pay more,
lol yeh mine beardies are still juvies....ish and im getting a colony of blueys, and/or cunninghams at the end of the year 
i wouldnt mind a thick-tailed.. they are so random


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## Chicken (Aug 22, 2010)

lol yeah they're cute!


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## nagini-baby (Aug 22, 2010)

lol i have soo many hungry dragons/gex we got a started colony the other week and we depleted it quite a bit in 2 weeks sooo we are leaving them be for a bit to re build... and buying in feeders and toperuperas lol looking to get about 2000 in the next week . that outta do it. we were spending like 60$ a fourtnight and still running out of crix. i LOVE woodies... so much cheaper.. easier .. breed like crazy and i do pretty much nothing sounds good to me!!!


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## Kitmin (Aug 22, 2010)

Can anyone give me any ideas on how to separate the babies from the adults. I cant stand touching them. Stoopid I know I just hate the scrambling sound they make when you take the box lid off. Thanks


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## PhilK (Aug 22, 2010)

Make a baby woodie trap. Put a piece of carrot in a small container and make holes big enough for the young ones to get through but not the adults.. or use tweezers to pick the young ones up individually. Why do you need them seperated?


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 22, 2010)

Wouldn't cooking oil spray slowly run down the sides like the vaseline does when it gets warm?


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## lloydy (Aug 22, 2010)

Sel - i think its been about 2 weeks now since i got them?
Still havent noticed any "newborns" kinda getting inpatient haha.
Hopefully soon though!

I bought 2 more tubs on the weekend to kinda "top up"

I do have a seperate tub that i use but i do occasionaly open the main colony tub to ovbiously get some out for feeding over the next few days, shouldnt be a problem should it?

Im only feeding one beardie at the moment, and she eats like a horse!
Luckily my big male, Chace is still brumating or i would be out of woodies by now as he eats like a horse too! Lol

So yeah hopefully by the end of the week ill notice some littles onea crawling around!


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## Chicken (Aug 23, 2010)

Anyone got a tiny bit of spare fluron their willing to send me? Im happy to pay for postage and i'm in melbourne.


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## lloydy (Aug 23, 2010)

Where in melbourne are you?

I got heaps, lol

PM me


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## babba007 (Aug 23, 2010)

Geckoman said:


> Wouldn't cooking oil spray slowly run down the sides like the vaseline does when it gets warm?


 
No it doesn't. Don't saturate the area when spraying it on though, just a light spray


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## lloydy (Aug 23, 2010)

I have an odd question that i cant really work out.

I did a ring of fluron on the ground and put a woodie in it.. it happily ran over it...? why is this? lol

dont ask me why i did it.. i just did! lol


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 23, 2010)

lloydy said:


> I have an odd question that i cant really work out.
> 
> I did a ring of fluron on the ground and put a woodie in it.. it happily ran over it...? why is this? lol
> 
> dont ask me why i did it.. i just did! lol


It only works on verticle surfaces


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## PhilK (Aug 23, 2010)

lloydy said:


> I have an odd question that i cant really work out.
> 
> I did a ring of fluron on the ground and put a woodie in it.. it happily ran over it...? why is this? lol
> 
> dont ask me why i did it.. i just did! lol


If someone put a ring of slippery ice around you you could run over it, but good luck climbing a vertical surface covered in it.


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## herptrader (Aug 23, 2010)

Nothing beats fluon but I have tried to teflon spray with limited success. The problems with solutions like teflon spray and cooking oil is that it does not last very long. Fluon will usually last you a good 6 months to a year for a single application.... and it is pretty much mess free once applied.


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## lloydy (Aug 24, 2010)

PhilK said:


> If someone put a ring of slippery ice around you you could run over it, but good luck climbing a vertical surface covered in it.



Haha.. very true..


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## bfg23 (Aug 24, 2010)

herptrader- why dont you start selling fluon in smaller batches?

It would be great for the tight****s like me who dont want to spend thirty dollars for one tubs worth.


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## Kitmin (Aug 24, 2010)

Thanks PhilK
I never thought of doing that. I am separating them to put into another container to feed them up to about 1cm for my baby inlands.
Kitmin


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## lloydy (Aug 24, 2010)

i wonder what would happen if i was to crush up some viagra...
get these things pumping out little ones like no tomorrow.. haha


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## Chicken (Aug 24, 2010)

haha nice one


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## herptrader (Aug 24, 2010)

I can quite happily ride my bike on ice when I am in the zone balance wise... but (without studded tyres) I cannot ride it up an ice hill... let alone a vertical one!



lloydy said:


> I have an odd question that i cant really work out.
> 
> I did a ring of fluron on the ground and put a woodie in it.. it happily ran over it...? why is this? lol
> 
> dont ask me why i did it.. i just did! lol


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## Chicken (Aug 25, 2010)

i got a 3.5m 15w heat cord off ebay for $28 for the woodie tub seeing as they have to be outside (when i asked mum she said ok but they have to stay outside..) but i'm not sure if i should tape it and wind it round the inside of the tub or to tape it underneath the tub? Will a 15w heat cord melt through plastic? And if its on the inside will the woodies chew through the wire?


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## Megzz (Aug 25, 2010)

I'm sure this has been asked but whats the best things to feed them? Carrot seems to be going dry way too fast. Are oranges any good?


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## Chicken (Aug 25, 2010)

is this hole for ventilation in lid big enough? It measures 18 by 18 cm. The actual tub is 57L and this is my only hole for ventilation and its got aluminium fly mesh on it. And megzz maybe try ,misting the carrot? Or yes you can try orange or apple pretty much anything just make sure it doesn't mould.


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## Chicken (Aug 25, 2010)

oh the pic didnt work ill try ￼this


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## PhilK (Aug 25, 2010)

Yeah reprookie that looks fine. My mesh encompasses pretty much my entire lid but that should be OK.

Megzz carrot is fine.. mine go without food for months sometimes without a worry so they are pretty tough. They like oranges. I just throw them any kitchen scraps and they thrive.. at the moment you will find they are eating WAY less as it is cold.


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## Chicken (Aug 25, 2010)

phil what do you use for heat? i have a heat cord thats 15w should i wind it round the inside or tape it underneath? If its 15w will that melt plastic? Will the woodies chew through it if its in the inside? my woodie tub is in the garage and i'm afraid that i wont have enough heat as winter is really cold. And i'm afraid that ill feed them off before they even breed. i Ordered 500 mixed woodies but i only have a few herps to feed.


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## Chicken (Aug 25, 2010)

anyone know?


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## PhilK (Aug 25, 2010)

I don't use anything for heat, and mine live outside.. gets down to like 0 degrees here. They die off a little but when summer comes around their numbers boom again..


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## Chicken (Aug 26, 2010)

do they make enough numbers in summer ti last the winter?


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## PhilK (Aug 26, 2010)

Yeah easily. They stop eating much in winter and their numbers drop off but I can still feed my animals no problems. I just pick on one colony and let the other grow slowly, then I transfer some from the good colony to the poor colony to boost numbers and get breeding going at the start of summer.

You can't really stuff woodies up


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## Megzz (Aug 26, 2010)

PhilK said:


> You can't really stuff woodies up


You wouldn't think so... yet somehow I manage to kill mine a lot.

HOWEVER, in amongst all the carcasses today I did find a bunch of little tiny woodies running around so I'm not gonna give it up just yet


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## Chicken (Aug 26, 2010)

Well i got my woodies today i got 500 woodies mixed sizes for $50 including postage. Do you think thats a good price? theres sure a lot lol and at the same time my heat cord came today. I wound it round the inside of the tub and then out the lid and underneath and taped it under the tub only covering half, its quite a long cord. It doesn't do the best job, its only a 15w and the temp only could reach about 19c, they're out in my garage so its cold so i added a lamp with a 45w white ceramic heat disk thingy and now it sits around 24 - 26c, do you think this temp is ok? It will be heaps more warmer in summer but in winter at that temp will they breed? Or will they go dormant? Im going to leave them to breed for a while and feed crickets meanwhile. And i think i might make a bigger hole in the lid or maybe even the sides because the humidity is 53% at the moment but i think could probably exceed 60%. Although i do want a lot of heat in there, so i don't want all the heat to escape what do you think? i have a pic up the page a bit. You guys are a massive help, i'd be in a big mess without this forum and i know i'm asking a lot but thanks so much!


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## PhilK (Aug 26, 2010)

Heat is fine.. as I said you can let them get quite cold without drama. That humidity may stink them up and make them unhealthy so provide ventilation. Remember they are escape artists. They will climb your cord and escape, squeeze out of the tiniest gaps. Make sure you have fluon to keep them in.


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## ravan (Aug 26, 2010)

lol, my woodies seem to boom and grow _in_ my enclosure, but when i transfer them to a tub, they all die off -_-"


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## lloydy (Aug 27, 2010)

PhilK said:


> Heat is fine.. as I said you can let them get quite cold without drama. That humidity may stink them up and make them unhealthy so provide ventilation. Remember they are escape artists. They will climb your cord and escape, squeeze out of the tiniest gaps. Make sure you have fluon to keep them in.



Sent him some today  lol

I have noticed, that the woodies in my tub, well around about 1/4 of what i had initialy, if not a bit more, have died off. :S
Pretty much some of them have gone all soft, and others all hard and stiff.
Any reason behind this? Not hot enough? not enough food?

I put in fresh veggies (carrots, bokchoy) and some petfood every 2nd day and clean out the scraps.

Cheers,


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## Chicken (Aug 27, 2010)

yeah mate i dont think there is enough heat. They go dormant if it gets too cold and die off. What heat source are you using?


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## sasquire (Aug 27, 2010)

Attempted to purchase some woodies myself from jemmi woodies, but haven't heard back. Emailed again and still no reply (been over a week now).
Can anyone suggest another good place to get woodies that post?


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## Chicken (Aug 27, 2010)

email Livefoods Unlimited <[email protected]> i got 500 woodies (mixed sizes) for $50 including postage.They sell crickets too.


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## lloydy (Aug 27, 2010)

Reptilerookie321 said:


> yeah mate i dont think there is enough heat. They go dormant if it gets too cold and die off. What heat source are you using?


 
As for heating i actualy have it placed ontop of my enclosures, so using the heat from them, lol.
Probaly isnt the best way to do, and probaly isnt getting hot enough, might measure the temps tongiht and see what they are sitting at.

Ideal temp around 26c?


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## Chicken (Aug 27, 2010)

yeah 25+ is perfect.


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## sasquire (Aug 27, 2010)

Reptilerookie321 said:


> email Livefoods Unlimited <[email protected]> i got 500 woodies (mixed sizes) for $50 including postage.They sell crickets too.



Thanks for that. Will give them a buzz


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## lloydy (Aug 27, 2010)

Ditto.
Beats buying small tuba for $8 each while herpshops re-stocking


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## bigi (Aug 28, 2010)

I have noticed, that the woodies in my tub, well around about 1/4 of what i had initialy, if not a bit more, have died off. :S
Pretty much some of them have gone all soft, and others all hard and stiff.
Any reason behind this? Not hot enough? not enough food?

I put in fresh veggies (carrots, bokchoy) and some petfood every 2nd day and clean out the scraps.

Cheers,[/QUOTE]



if you are having to remove scraps, you are probably putting too much in, and working too hard on maintaining them

its not hard, mine thrive on neglect

1/ ventilation
2/ heat 28 degrees
3/ rat pellets or simular
4/ carrot every 2nd or 3rd day, just enough for them to eat in a day or so (for moisture)
5/ clean when required

job done, feed to reptiles


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## lloydy (Aug 28, 2010)

Hmm.. I think i may know the problem.

Put in a probe to see what temps are.. Yeah ive been cooking them!
32c!! 
So i moved the tub and keep measuring the temps seems to be dropping now so will keep doing it till i get temps perfect.

I must be paying to much attention to them haha.

Ill keep an eye on the amount of food im putting in too.

Cheers,


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## jinin (Aug 28, 2010)

The worst thing you can do when breeding woodies is when you start your colony, not buying enough in the 1st place to start off and having them die out and making 3 purchases of 1000 Woodies each time once they run out, i was feeding about 10 dragons and i couldnt keep up the numbers. 

I ended up buying an allready established colony from camt44 and they are breeding like crazy, in the 1st place i should have bought about 4000 to feed them and breed them. Dont make that mistake. As it can turn out really expensive and a waste of money.


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## Megzz (Aug 28, 2010)

jinin I've worked out thats my problem, the adults are dying quicker than they can breed :lol:

Also I just sit my woodie tub ontop of the hot end of my beardie enclosure is that good enough? I really cant be bothered getting them their own heat mat...


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## PhilK (Aug 29, 2010)

Mine have no heat and live outside and are fine. Slow this time of year but still alive and still having babies. They really do thrive on neglect.


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## camt44 (Aug 29, 2010)

Good to hear they are going well Jinin. That is the key, you have to get heaps and heaps to start off with. I used to never be able to get them to be sustainable and would have to top it up every few weeks, so then I decided to buy like 3000 or so, and from then on I've never been short, and that was about 18 months ago, instead I have had excess to give away to friends/sell to people


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## bigi (Aug 29, 2010)

how do you guys count the woodies, 1000 here 3000 there, have you counted mixed numbers by wieght, i dont get it


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## lloydy (Aug 29, 2010)

I dont think im gonna have enough..
No breeding as yet and some are dying and most getting eaten, lol.

Gonna order 3-4k from that livefoods.com.au and go from there


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## Wally (Aug 29, 2010)

lloydy what size are you buying from the shop?


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## lloydy (Aug 29, 2010)

Been getting mixed.
Where i buy them from they dont particuly sell large/medium/small, just kinda what you get in the bucket.
Should i try and just buy all large?


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## Wally (Aug 29, 2010)

I think large size shop bought woodies are probably at the end of their life cycle anyway and will die off fairly quickly. But some will probably lay for you before dieing so it's a trade off.


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## Chicken (Aug 29, 2010)

lloydy if you get mixed then they could be breeding you don't exactly know lol


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## lloydy (Aug 30, 2010)

Reptilerookie321 said:


> lloydy if you get mixed then they could be breeding you don't exactly know lol



true true.. lol
Only time will tell.. I ahvent had a proper look for about a week, so ill chekc it out tonight when i get home


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## bigi (Sep 2, 2010)

lloydy said:


> I dont think im gonna have enough..
> No breeding as yet and some are dying and most getting eaten, lol.
> 
> Gonna order 3-4k from that livefoods.com.au and go from there



3-4k,how do you count them?
you are feeding off your potential breeding stock, stop feeding them off or buy some more
i started with a mixed bag of sizes, and now got thousands, well i thinks so, just learning how to count their numbers


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## lloydy (Sep 2, 2010)

Yeah i think ive pretty much fed them all off, lol
Dont think i bought enough to start with..

I think what im gonna do is buy 3-4k, which im in the process now.

Seperate 1k (or round abouts) in a seperate tub for feeding, and leave the rest to breed for a month or so. Gonna negelct the crap outta them and see how that goes lol.


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## Megzz (Sep 2, 2010)

Well mine have now been kicked outside with no heat. Cant handle the stink factor! Maybe I'm being a pathetic girl with an oversensitive nose but they were making my herp room smell like feet. So anyways, I'm hoping they wont die out there.


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## PhilK (Sep 3, 2010)

Yeah they reek. They'll be fine Megzz mine always live outside


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## cheddah (Sep 3, 2010)

If theyre anything like crickets. the smell is often from an unhygienic setup. The bacteria wont grow (causing smell) if you keep things correct. 
Lack of ventilation, and too much moisture are often what cause's the smell. 

hth


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## PhilK (Sep 3, 2010)

Sometimes I smell bad.. do you think I have bacteria growing all over me?

Yes bacteria can lead to a stink... but my woodies stink a day after they have been cleaned out. They do plenty of poos which don't smell like roses and I swear they fart.. sometimes when I pick them up they reeeek


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## lloydy (Sep 3, 2010)

3000 ordered. 

Should recive them next Wednesday..


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## Chicken (Sep 3, 2010)

hey lloydy thats a good idea to keep 1000 or so for feeding, i'm not sure how to tell the sex but try and pick out the males and let the females lay. And 'im not sure but did you put the right address on that fluron lol? Hasn't come yet, i don't mean to sound impatient but i'm only in Eltham so shouldn't take them too long to get it here lol.....


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## Jeannine (Sep 3, 2010)

*livefoods.com.au

is that a real place/address? cause i cant find it and im curious to have a lookie at it please *


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## bigi (Sep 3, 2010)

lloydy said:


> 3000 ordered.
> 
> Should recive them next Wednesday..



who the hell counts them, can someone please tell me how you estimate quantities


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## bowdnboy (Sep 3, 2010)

easy, you weigh a sample of a known amount, ie; 50 roaches may be 10g (no idea of actual weights - just example), then to get 1000 roaches just weigh out 200g. Not going to be exact, but close enough too!


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## Chicken (Sep 3, 2010)

Jeannie, i dont think they have a website but just email Livefoods Unlimited <[email protected]> They are really great they have fast responses and just ask for the price sheet.


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## lloydy (Sep 4, 2010)

Reptilerookie321 said:


> Jeannie, i dont think they have a website but just email Livefoods Unlimited <[email protected]> They are really great they have fast responses and just ask for the price sheet.


 
VERY fast response! lol

Rookie - i got a call from Auspost.. They didnt let me send the fluron through normal post haha, they had to quarintine it or something :S 
I can re-send it again, but ill have to do it through a different thing..
Still in need of it?


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## Chicken (Sep 4, 2010)

yeah mate, i'm not too desperate just the Vaseline is very messy lol, but don't worry if its too much trouble! Im very happy to pay for postage and wasting your time  Cheers mate.


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## jazdan (Sep 5, 2010)

Hi all ,
YES livefoods is a real company 
their details are 
phone 07 55338375
email: [email protected]
If you live in gold coast area email for pick up address

they get their fluon from herpshop as they are the only importers of this porduct to australia

also if want a price list i have one for all their insects and rodents or email them as the above address


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## jazdan (Sep 5, 2010)

their website should be up and running very soon



Reptilerookie321 said:


> Jeannie, i dont think they have a website but just email Livefoods Unlimited <[email protected]> They are really great they have fast responses and just ask for the price sheet.


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## calisto (Sep 10, 2010)

I bought 1000 woodies about 2 years ago and since then I keep them alternating from sitting on top of my Beardie's tank overnight and then move them outside during the day to dry out the humidity build up. 
It's worked great and they have bred up really well. I might pick out about 3 - 5 dead ones per day.


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## frogface (Oct 1, 2011)

Reptilerookie321 said:


> hey guys i'm really interested in breeding wood cockroaches. My parents are really sick of buying food and threatened to force me to sell my reptiles if i don't do something about it. So i've tried breeding crickets but thats really hard and fiddly and i'm struggling a lot. So i'd like to give woodies a crack but i need some info. I've searched around a lot and i have a fair idea on housing, feeding heating ect.. but I'm stuck on something i actually couldn't find. Where do they lay their eggs, do i incubate them? How many eggs do they lay? I only have a 2 beardies and a thick tailed so how many woodies should i start off with? Do i get adults or mixed? How long do eggs take to hatch? Do i separate the babies from adults? Any help would be very appreciated.




ur better off breeding crix then woodies cause they dont feel too much weird like cockroaches and easy way to breed my first try was successful about thousand pinheads. but if ur sick in tired of em then u can do woodies for woodies u need 60-90L storage or normal container dont need substrate but could use organic soil, u need fluon from herptrader just paint it on the inside top near lid or use vasaline, for lid u can cut a big hole in centre and get from bunnings fly wire mesh and stick it under hole of lid or use no lid and use mesh, dont need any breeding containers because they do the same thing like spiny leaf insects the females lay eggs no need of male and they hav live young from an eggsack so yeah no breeding stuff needed, but for the haelthy breeding process must hav heat between 25-30 degrees u can use heat bulb with es fitting cord used for reptiles or low wattage heat mat but not sure about heat cord u hav to loook that up , no light needed whatsoever , egg cartons for hiding and feed them ur food scraps no bones and hard stuff like that just waist food that u just ate and u can use all the veggies and fruits that u buy regurally plus bread dry dog/cat biscuits and other stuff like that, if starts minor smell dw about it if gets annoying then. when u got the setup for it from before remember to buy an other container so when u clean it out u can use the new one and repeat the steps when u clean. and oh yeah u should use a chinese or tubberware container for food so if mould starts its in the container,

bye cheers,
JD


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## veenarm (Oct 1, 2011)

This is a year old post, why restart it...
EOM...


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