I am considering setting up a colony of roaches to feed to my new totally awesome, fantastic, beautiful, clever ackie monitor. Anyone have any experience and or advice - I have a spare 18" fishtank I am thinking of using, with a small heatmat. Or would I be better with a bin with a lid on? Do they need much light or could I just use a bin with a mesh on top. I know there are diff species any views on which are best? My ackie is only a tidge at the min, so thought I could use a small species to start and maybe change to a larger species later - advice would be welcome

Nauphoeta cinerea would be a wise choice if you are only looking to culture a small species. I shall write you a tutorial regarding the culture of the species if you're interested

that would be great - thank you

have you come accross Blatta lateralis (turkish roaches) - I understand they only grow to cricket size, cant climb or fly?

i used freckled roaches they were fab i kept them in a four foot tank with heat pad and heat lamp fresh food every day bug grub powder everyday dry egg trays(cardboard ones) i didnt put bedding down it becomes fouled they were very contented! The thing is i got addicted to them(i wasnt eating them) i mean to watching them they are fascinating beyond belief! The food btw was in tubs so it wasnt all over the place and water was in the food you dont want too much humidity in the viv it causes allsorts of problems!

I have cuban roaches and they're breeding like crazy!! I'm glad I don't get attached to them because my bunch love them!

my partner wont let me have any to try my bds on

just bought some lobster roaches and OMG they are fast think i lost about 3 just trying to get them in the cricket keeper then realising the cricket keeper was not going to contain them have applied vaseline all around the edges and block off any big gaps.... but by hell the buggers were fast im considering investing in a colony soon just bought 50 to see how they went down with the beardies....whats the best way to keep them?? and keep them in??

I have a little oclony of Dubia Roaches.
2 of my BD's love them and my Leo's like the baby ones.
They aren't meant to climb up smooth surfaces or anything but I've found a couple on the floor now and they're in a tall kitchen bin so figure that out.. 'cause I can't I definitely haven't dropped any becaus eI'm anal about them as I hate insects.
The upsid eis, they breed like mad and require little to no maintenance.

Ahh I was offered those when I got my Cuban roaches, they didn't look too nice lol. Keep them in a tub, largish - I take it you got like a cricket tub full? Lots of egg boxes and places to hide, they like bark chips...chuck a bit of fruit and veg in every now and again and voila.