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#1711567
Reptictale92
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Message To: BTbandit In reference to Message Id: 1711561
Feeding price a week 
I think I am the only kid on here who has a job to care for his own reptiles. And how is it wasting money when it is going to my monitors.
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04/21/08 06:14pm
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#1711581
BTbandit
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Message To: BTbandit In reference to Message Id: 1711567
Feeding price a week
let me re-phrase that. you aren’t wasting your money to feed your monitors but are just spending too much. Like i said if you want to spend that much feel free, it isn’t my money but you could be feeding all your reptiles for 10% of that if you knew what you were doing with the feeders. I am sure whoever you buy your feeders from doesn’t want you to breed your own feeders because they will miss your business. The lady at the pet store where i got my mice for breeding was trying so hard to talk me into not breeding them because she said it is so hard but she just wanted me to come in and buy feeders all the time. you aren’t wasting your money in the sense that you are feeding your monitors you just aren’t being very cost effective. you will learn though, once you hit the real world unless you have an amazing job that $200 probably won’t be affordable. thats $2400 a year on feeders if you are spending the $200 a month. wow!!!!!! thats a lot. i am just trying to help you out
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04/21/08 06:22pm
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#1711583
BTbandit
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Message To: BTbandit In reference to Message Id: 1711581
Feeding price a week
also in another post you said you wanted to get a breeding pair of niles. how are you going to manage that when you can’t breed mice properly? you gotta crawl before you can walk
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04/21/08 06:24pm
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#1711611
Reptictale92
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Message To: Reptictale92 In reference to Message Id: 1711583
Feeding price a week
In a year I would be makeing 27 dollars an hour. I would have enoff money to supply my monitors. I would try my hardess to breed some mice, rats, roches, mealwroms, and roches.
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04/21/08 06:41pm
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#1711619
BTbandit
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Message To: BTbandit In reference to Message Id: 1711611
Feeding price a week
I think you are going to be just fine and your husbandy is good i am sure since you have that many reptiles. i am glad you will be making good money but that still isn’t a reason to overspend. rich guys didnt’ get rich by spending all of there money when they made it. when you make that hourly wage i would want to save especially more then since you will want to save for your future. keep up the good work
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04/21/08 06:44pm
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#1711637
Reptictale92
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Message To: Reptictale92 In reference to Message Id: 1711619
Feeding price a week
Thank and I hope I do my mom will not let me fail. got to love her.
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04/21/08 06:58pm
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#1711659
Betarev3
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Message To: BTbandit In reference to Message Id: 1711510
Feeding price a week
Quote: I have never bread mice and it was a piece of cake.
You should work in a bakery.
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04/21/08 07:17pm
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#1711723
Geezle
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Message To: Geezle In reference to Message Id: 1711659
Feeding price a week
Holy crap, $200/month on feeders is crazy! I’m not dumping on you, but there’s gotta be a better solution. It won’t be much help for your snakes, but roaches would seriously help you with your lizard feeding, and once you’ve got a colony established it’s practically a neverending source of free food.
Just get a starter colony of roaches (From Mike!) toss them in a bin or two, feed them every day or so, and in a couple months you can start feeding them off, and keep doing so ad infinitum.
I’m doing reasonably well for myself, but I’m always looking for a way to cut costs...just because I can afford it doesn’t mean I need it. A year ago I was spending around $100/month feeding the herps I had, getting all my feeders from the pet store. I’ve since added two more reptiles, one being my timor monitor, and a colony of Discoid roaches and now I’m spending maybe $20/month, and much of that is going to feeding my feeders.
I wanted (and still do want) to get a mouse breeding program on the go as well, but my girlfriend put an end to that pretty quick...apparently the roaches are enough for her...she said I could get the mice but I’d have to ditch the roaches, but since the roaches are so versatile I decided to keep them. I’m sure down the road I’ll manage to convince her the mice are a good idea too though!
The moral of the story is just because you can afford to spend that much on feeders doesn’t mean you have to. Just think, the money you could save on feeders could be going to something else you want instead.
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04/21/08 08:07pm
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#1711770
Reptictale92
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Message To: Reptictale92 In reference to Message Id: 1711723
Feeding price a week
Man my mom says the same thing"Spend less and buy stuff you want." The thing I want is for my monitors to be happy. If they are happy I am happy. They come first, like y’all said they are like kids, and you wont give your kids 10 dollars, and spend the rest on your self.
Now I am going to start a breeding thing with mice, rats, ect. And thank you all for the help.
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04/21/08 08:40pm
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#1711837
Geezle
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Message To: Geezle In reference to Message Id: 1711770
Feeding price a week
It’s good to see you’re deciding to maybe get into breeding some feeders for yourself...trust me, the amount you’ll save will far outweigh the little bit of work it’ll take.
Quote: The thing I want is for my monitors to be happy. If they are happy I am happy.
You make it sound like by breeding your own feeders you’re somehow depriving your monitors, when in fact you’re probably doing them a favor since you can control the quality of your feeders by ensuring they’re being fed a proper diet. Remember, your feeders (and therefor your monitors) are what they eat!
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04/21/08 09:19pm
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#1712322
BTbandit
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Message To: BTbandit In reference to Message Id: 1711837
Feeding price a week
Geezle, soo well said!!
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04/22/08 12:01pm
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#1712343
Reptictale92
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Message To: Reptictale92 In reference to Message Id: 1712322
Feeding price a week
OK I already have the setups. I will be getting 3 female mice 2 males, 2 female rats 1 male. The rats are going into a 4 foot long tube, and the mice are going into a Rather big tank. Their diet are going to have fruits, nuts, seeds, and pellets. Tell me if their thing wrong, and I would fix it.
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04/22/08 12:45pm
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#1712345
BTbandit
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Message To: BTbandit In reference to Message Id: 1712343
Feeding price a week
good job, you are on your way. remember it takes about twice as long for them to give birth the first time then after that it is much quicker. after your colonies are established add a couple more mouse colonies. You saw the pic of my blackthroat and i have 8 female mice and their litters are barely enough to keep mine fed. This next litter around though I am going to start to have surplus which is a good thing.
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04/22/08 12:49pm
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#1712355
Reptictale92
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Message To: Reptictale92 In reference to Message Id: 1712345
Feeding price a week
The part I am stuck on is the roaches. I got a tub for them, but no under heater pad. Is OK if I use a light, and what type of roaches is easiest to breed. I tried hissing roaches, but did not work as well as I wanted to.
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04/22/08 01:01pm
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#1712377
BTbandit
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Message To: BTbandit In reference to Message Id: 1712355
Feeding price a week
see the problem is that hissers are very slow breeders and probably one of the more challenging roaches to breed. I would recommend Lobster roaches if you have other reptiles to feed them to also. My Bt loves the lobsters but I am going to breed hissers soon because soon my BT will have to eat a hundred or more lobsters in a day because of there size. I have beardies also and am getting a leopard gecko so the lobsters will work out well for them. Hissers breed slow but are much bigger.. I just use a 30 gallon rubbermaid container and have a 11" X 7" under tank heater under one side of it with a stack of about 5 egg craes above the heat spot and it is like a roach hotel. the love it. use the other side for water and food. i either tong feed them live to my beardies and BT or i prekill and freeze them and then defrost and throw a handful in for him to eat. I probably feed them 50/50 between live and dead, he doesn’t mind either way. he eats anything i give him, not that i give him bad stuff to eat. he has never had any pieces of meat from the store or anything processed.. he has had some chicken eggs though.. i can’t wait to give him his first chick..
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04/22/08 01:18pm
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#1712406
Reptictale92
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Message To: Reptictale92 In reference to Message Id: 1712377
Feeding price a week
Do you know a web site where I can buy some lobster roches.
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04/22/08 02:00pm
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#1712418
Reedie
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Message To: Reedie In reference to Message Id: 1712406
Feeding price a week
Go to Mike for all your roach needs, his prices are DA BOMB!!! ;)
-Reed
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04/22/08 02:07pm
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#1712419
BTbandit
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Message To: BTbandit In reference to Message Id: 1712406
Feeding price a week
go to aaronpauling.com he has a great deal of 1,000 lobster roaches for $29 and shipping is like $8 bucks. The count on the roaches is usually about 250 over also. i started feeding heavily out of the colony as soon as I got it and they are growing and growing in numbers. i just throw in leftovers and lots of veggies. you can buy a head of collard greens and some other greens for like $3.00 together and that will last all month. if you feed them enough veggies they won’t need any water but I offer water. Make sure if you do offer water to make it a very shallow wide dish. you will loose some babies in the water but I don’t loose too many so it shouldn’t be a problem. they can climb anything so you will need to put a 5 to 6 inch wide strip of vasaline along the side walls of the container near the top so they can’t escape. I use a cardboard lid with hole in it for ventilation but it helps to keep the heat in. If its too cold they won’t breed and if it is too hot they won’t either. soon once summer is here I won’t even use any heat for them but I live in Ca and it gets in the 100’s all summer. you can use a light for them but make sure it is a red one because they don’t like regular light. its sounds like a lot but it is super easy. i think for the work and the $35 bucks to have a never ending supply of roaches is totally worth it.. thanks and hope this helps
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04/22/08 02:09pm
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#1712549
Geezle
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Message To: Geezle In reference to Message Id: 1712419
Feeding price a week
I’ve got a colony of Discoid roaches on the go in two 21 gallon tubs. They’re reasonably prolific, though I don’t think they breed quite as fast as the lobsters. One thing they have going for them though is that they’re a non flying/climbing species, so they’re easier to keep under control and you don’t have to worry about escapees. I can feed them out of a dish that’s got smooths sides and is tall enough they can’t crawl out of. I also like them because they go through such a variety of sizes...I can get little ones around 1/4" for my baby leopard gecko and I have ones up to 2" for the timor monitor. I’m not sure what species Mike has, but check with him because he’ll probably be able to give you the best price.
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04/22/08 04:02pm
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#1712563
BTbandit
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Message To: BTbandit In reference to Message Id: 1712549
Feeding price a week
i think i might look into the discoids. I am adding to my herp collection very soon as I am having a bedroom in my house free up to become my reptile room.. i want to have a variety of insects to feed. the lobsters are good but tough to feed a large amount in one sitting without having to stand there and give him 50 of them with the tongs. I love it but I work and i don’t have all the free time in the world.. so the discoids get a little bigger then lobsters then?
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04/22/08 04:09pm
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#1712584
Geezle
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Message To: Geezle In reference to Message Id: 1712563
Feeding price a week
Yeah, they get a little bigger...around the 2" mark for the adults and large nymphs, and like I said, you can feed them from a bowl which is quite handy.
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04/22/08 04:31pm
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#1712599
Reptictale92
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Message To: Reptictale92 In reference to Message Id: 1712584
Feeding price a week
Do you have a pic of the setup where you hold your roaches.
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04/22/08 04:50pm
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#1712603
Repti_Man3
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Message To: Repti_Man3 In reference to Message Id: 1712584
Feeding price a week
I personally dont like the hastle of Lobsters or Hissing roaches they both are very annoying...lobsters can climb and hissings are just over all like really slow breaders. I would say go with Dubia or Orange Headed or FakeDeath roaches. They bread fast, one of the fastest, get big, dont fly or climb. But if you were going to get climbers use olive oile around the rim they cant walk,grip, climb or anything through olive oil and they dont like the smell. Im glad to see someone of a yound age like myself take such enthusiasm in lizards. Everyone was complaining of him over paying. Considering 85% of children get their lizards and they under feed, under cage and to some extent abuse them. Take into consideration that he is one of the few who doesnt. Right on man. Anyways Dubia roaches and flase death( orange headed) roaches have a high meat to shell ratio very good. An average female will lay around 30 eggs a month. The best place to go is Nyworms.com they are super reliable and have a ton of selections for roaches and other critters. If ya need more info just post. :)
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04/22/08 04:55pm
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#1712610
BTbandit
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Message To: BTbandit In reference to Message Id: 1712584
Feeding price a week
they seem to be a lot wider, is this true or is the picture just deceiving me??
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04/22/08 04:58pm
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#1712809
Geezle
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Message To: Geezle In reference to Message Id: 1712610
Feeding price a week
Discoids are often referred to as "false death’s head" roaches since they sorta resemble B. Craniifer.
And yes, they have a wider body than lobsters, and they’re nice and meaty.
Reptictale, I’ll get you some pics of the setup a little later.
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04/22/08 07:59pm
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#1712813
Repti_Man3
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Message To: Repti_Man3 In reference to Message Id: 1712809
Feeding price a week
Sorry about that i ment false death heads i barely got sleep last night lol
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04/22/08 08:03pm
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#1713070
Geezle
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Message To: Geezle In reference to Message Id: 1712813
Feeding price a week
Here’s the pics...I hope this works, the new Photobucket upload is being a piece of crap and won’t work right for me...
So here’s the two bins I have. They’re 21 gallons each, with a big hole cut in the top and covered with aluminum screen. Each has a large 45 watt UTH stuck to the bottom on a rheostat. I have two bins so I can feed from one for a few weeks and then give it a break and feed from the other so I don’t overfeed the sizes I need for my various reptiles.
[img]http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/7e09a7e0fc.jpg[/img]
And here’s inside one of the bins. I just have the one dish in there for food, and a bunch of egg carton for added real estate...nothing fancy. I always have my dry mix in there...some wheat bran, 7 grain cereal, ground up beans and skim milk powder. I also give some sort of fruit/veggie every day...usually either romaine lettuce or whatever happens to be leftover from the kitchen, and give everything a good spray. I’ll usually throw a fuzzy mouse in there every few days for some extra protein as well.
[img]http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/6285f0bb14.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/d1acc5d13f.jpg[/img]
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04/23/08 12:22am
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#1722007
Jtmoney528
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Message To: Jtmoney528 In reference to Message Id: 1713070
Feeding price a week
Dubia’s are the best IMO :D I have two LARGE groups of them to feed all the geckos.
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05/01/08 09:41am
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