Raising feeder insects

[camilleathome]

This isn't finished yet but this is the general idea I'm going with


When it is finished the lid will close, it is just being propped open now while we are adjusting lighting / heat etc...

Do you stack eggcrates in there for them? Id love to see a photo of them set up in there . Would also love to know how to clean the frass in that thing. Ive seen them put in tubs so they can be dumped from one to another for cleaning and sorting

 

[Kassaundra]

No eggcrates, that is how I started and hated the eggcrates, they break down and stink, when you go to take them out and replace they are difficult to get all the small dubias out of the tiny molded areas. See the wire frames? I wove denim (old jeans legs) through them and that is what the dubias live on and in. My substrate is kitty litter, so far no need to change, I'm thinking it will be quite a while until it needs changing and likely can just put more on top for a while anyway. The small shelf works perfect for the water which is just a automatic cat waterer that I put rocks in so no more putzing w/ water crystals and no more getting substrate wet and stinky.

 

[KayByrd]

I've been raising roaches for years and early on, I stopped giving mine water altogether. I'm in the Southeast, and our humidity is so high, the added water was creating mold and odor problems. A lid full of water crystals, combined with the heat the roaches generated, would cause condensation that turned the bottoms of their bins into soggy, smelly messes. To make it worse, the fruit flies or vinegar gnats - or whateverthehell the little so-and-sos are - thought that soggy, smelly mess was heavenly, and almost made me dump all my bins - roaches and all - in the creek.
Today, I'm successfully raising many thousands of roaches with no water at all. I make sure they always have some sort of vegetable, fruit, or even weeds in their bins. Carrots are my favorite, as the roaches seem to like their sweetness and they last a while. Leafy greens are good, too. I think in the long run, the vegetable juice is better than plain water, since it provides nutrients and food as well as hydration. I don't bother removing the greens if they dry out, since they still nibble on them and they can act as bedding. No egg crates for me.

My approach probably wouldn't work in an arid climate, but I recommend it to anyone dealing with high humidity.

 

[BlueMouse]

I'm totally looking for a free chest freezer now... I'll keep everyone updated... I want to get my colony started now so I can be feeding off of it when the winter weather hits us. Really excited about the roach farming project! (my husband thinks I'm nutters too.... but that's ok.)

 

[shalehperry]

When you get a chance could you post pictures of the armature setup with denim and all? I'd like to see the "final" design.

 

[Kassaundra]

When you get a chance could you post pictures of the armature setup with denim and all? I'd like to see the "final" design.

There are some pics at the top of this page. I'll take some w/ them in use later.

Operating on very little sleep, sorry I just reread the post and see you were wanting to see them covered in denim. lol sorry. I'll post some pics later of that.

 

[Kassaundra]

Here are a few pics showing the freezer and denim houses in use


All the denim racks in the freezer w/ the dubias climbing all over and through them


Flipped the leg over just for the pic to show they crawl up inside and live there, it normally is down over the wire frame



I have both large wire frames and small just depending in what scrap fencing I had available


The raised water dish no more messing w/ water crystals


Heat light is on a timer/thermostat, the protien I feed now is boiled chicken eggs you can see the shells in the bottom of the pic.

 

[Kassaundra]

Still feeding boiled chicken eggs as my free protein, they are thriving on it.

I have access to free old bread, so I thought I'd give it a try and see how it went, they swarmed enmass. So so far my free food is garden veggies, bread and eggs, and cheap food is the quick out fruit and veggies. Which is basically what I use in the winter for veggies, so during the garden time I have completely free protein / treats for my chickens, during the winter it just costs me a quickout veggie every once in a while. (and the heat light in the winter but I didn't even notice a change in the electric bill so don't think it costs much. If I get better at my winter root veggies, it might not even cost me the quick out veggies.

 

[Kassaundra]

Oh and I forgot to add, we now have red wigglers in an outside bed. (at least I hope we do) we put 1000 in a large bed that had been pre filled w/ dirt, grass, newspapers, kitchen waste etc..... for several weeks before adding the worms, but we haven't seen hide nor hair of them since, but the bed is large so??????

 

[Lacy Blues]

Still feeding boiled chicken eggs as my free protein, they are thriving on it.

I have access to free old bread, so I thought I'd give it a try and see how it went, they swarmed enmass. So so far my free food is garden veggies, bread and eggs, and cheap food is the quick out fruit and veggies. Which is basically what I use in the winter for veggies, so during the garden time I have completely free protein / treats for my chickens, during the winter it just costs me a quickout veggie every once in a while. (and the heat light in the winter but I didn't even notice a change in the electric bill so don't think it costs much. If I get better at my winter root veggies, it might not even cost me the quick out veggies.

Quick out veggies?