Having amassed a collection of 47 tarantulas and counting that now includes many larger spiders, I was finding it more difficult to keep adequate food supplies handy. Although I’ve used mainly crickets for prey, I also keep a small quantity of Blaptica dubia and Blatta lateralis roaches. Having found that the dubias were easier to maintain and relatively odorless, I started keeping a lookout for a fairly priced starter colony.

While perusing the for sale page on Arachnoboards, I stumbled on an ad for 125 count starter colony of large Blaptica dubia for only $27 shipped. The vendor was Jeremy Stichler (Jerm357) who had several pages of sparkling reviews on the boards. Having priced out starter colonies before, I was expecting to pay much more for this many roaches (and that was not counting the 10% overcount he offered on top of it). Even better, he guaranteed all larger roaches unless specified that you wanted smaller ones.  I jumped at this tremendous bargain and immediately emailed Jeremy.

Communication was excellent, as Jeremy emailed me back immediately with payment information. Correspondence was friendly and very professional, which is always a huge plus in my book.  He also shipped quickly, and my package was mailed USPS Priority on that Monday and arrived on Wednesday.

Box arrived in great shape.

Packing was excellent, with the roaches double-boxed and insulated with newspaper. There wasn’t a single dead roach in the bunch, and all were quite lively when I opened the package. In fact, one of the larger males quickly shot out of the package and landed on my arm. Now, I know I have dozens of giant, hairy spiders, and most would find that frightening, but I don’t think I’d ever seen a roach that big. And, perhaps I panicked just a bit when I tried to quickly brush it off and the little beast barely budged. Wow, those suckers are strong…

After opening the first box, I discovered a second box safely nestled in a bed of newspaper. (Note: Notice my 3-year-old’s creepy Mega Blok figure. Those little pagan-looking totems are all around my house. Should I be worried?)

The second box is now open. A piece of cardboard serves as a spacer. You can now see some of the roaches…yum!

With the cardboard moved aside, you can now see more of the little buggers.

With the cardboard (and some of the roaches) out of the way, you can now see a bunch of very large and healthy roaches.

All of the roaches have been rehoused in their new home (I will post later about their new quarters), and all are eating well. I honestly couldn’t have been more happy with my purchase from Mr. Stichler. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy from him again.

This was an A+ experience, and I would highly recommend Jeremy Stichler to any hobbyist looking for a dubia feeder roach starter colony.