Hey guys. I have a pretty good colony of lobster roaches now that I plan on feeding to my ackies once they arrive. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone has found a good way to sort the different sizes of roaches for feeding. It seems like a pain having to pick out the exact size you need by hand every day. Just wanted to hear your ideas.. Thanks!

i know several people who sort breeders, growouts and feeds into three different bins. i just generally pick out the ones i want to feed with tweezers and do not bother sorting them. they breed like mad. you need some dubia too!

i know several people who sort breeders, growouts and feeds into three different bins. i just generally pick out the ones i want to feed with tweezers and do not bother sorting them. they breed like mad. you need some dubia too!

OK, I don't think I really want to have multiple roach buckets everywhere lol, but I can probably pick them out for now. Maybe just a temporary tub for small roaches would work. IDK. Thanks Robin!

I pick out babies every so often and put them in a seperate grow up tub, then pick from there (just for a smaller variety of sizes). Easiest way to pick I've found is having paper towel tubes in there. Just shake some from the tubes into a plastic cup, like a yogurt container, then just slide the ones you don't want back into the tub.

I pick out babies every so often and put them in a seperate grow up tub, then pick from there (just for a smaller variety of sizes). Easiest way to pick I've found is having paper towel tubes in there. Just shake some from the tubes into a plastic cup, like a yogurt container, then just slide the ones you don't want back into the tub.

Thanks Sara that sounds like a pretty good method as well.

I dont know if this would work for lobsters, but for my dubias and discoids, I reuse the flat 5.5 oz catfood cans as food dishes. Small roaches cant climb the smooth sides so when the food is gone, the bottom of the can is filled with small nymphs that couldnt climb out, and i can easily harvest them for my small lizards.

I dont know if this would work for lobsters, but for my dubias and discoids, I reuse the flat 5.5 oz catfood cans as food dishes. Small roaches cant climb the smooth sides so when the food is gone, the bottom of the can is filled with small nymphs that couldnt climb out, and i can easily harvest them for my small lizards.

Thanks Bob, however my lobsters can pretty much climb any surface so that method won't really work for me. lol Thanks for commenting though.

I pick out babies every so often and put them in a seperate grow up tub, then pick from there (just for a smaller variety of sizes). Easiest way to pick I've found is having paper towel tubes in there. Just shake some from the tubes into a plastic cup, like a yogurt container, then just slide the ones you don't want back into the tub.

This is how I've always done it. I also put the adults back, since they are too big for my lizards.

I know nothing about roaches as far as what size you'd be looking for, but the first thing that comes to my mind would be to use some sort of hardware cloth to sift through them?

I know nothing about roaches as far as what size you'd be looking for, but the first thing that comes to my mind would be to use some sort of hardware cloth to sift through them?

I'll have to try that. Thanks!

joe, can lobsters climb on the inside of a clear plastic rubbermaid container?

joe, can lobsters climb on the inside of a clear plastic rubbermaid container?

Lobsters can climb pretty much anything, including glass.

I know nothing about roaches as far as what size you'd be looking for, but the first thing that comes to my mind would be to use some sort of hardware cloth to sift through them?

Might work, but roaches tend to hang on tight and have small spurs on their legs that would make sifting almost impossible....at least I would think so....I've never personally tried the hardware cloth method.

joe, can lobsters climb on the inside of a clear plastic rubbermaid container?

Yes they can, I line the top of the tub with BugStop and they can't cross that.

Might work, but roaches tend to hang on tight and have small spurs on their legs that would make sifting almost impossible....at least I would think so....I've never personally tried the hardware cloth method.

That's what I was thinking, could work though.

I use two nine inch deli cups and I drilled holes in one side of one deli the size of the small roaches I need. I put the drilled deli into the non drilled and I dump in a bunch of roaches pop the lid on and come back in a little while. The small ones fall/crawl through into the bottom cup. It works well if you have different height deli cups. The large roaches are dumped back into the breeding container. It works great if you need the small newborn nymph size. I am sure you could drill larger holes but you would have to use another deli cup with small holes to get the smaller ones out if you needed medium sized roaches. It works well for me I hope it helps!

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn133/snake15383/DSC_2255.jpg

That's a good idea Tom, I'll try it out. Thanks!!

I use two nine inch deli cups and I drilled holes in one side of one deli the size of the small roaches I need. I put the drilled deli into the non drilled and I dump in a bunch of roaches pop the lid on and come back in a little while. The small ones fall/crawl through into the bottom cup. It works well if you have different height deli cups. The large roaches are dumped back into the breeding container. It works great if you need the small newborn nymph size. I am sure you could drill larger holes but you would have to use another deli cup with small holes to get the smaller ones out if you needed medium sized roaches. It works well for me I hope it helps!

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn133/snake15383/DSC_2255.jpg

Cool! Best idea I've seen in a long time! Thanks!