Small Woodies

Keepers size feeders by a rule of thumb: a feeder should be no wider than the space between the animal's eyes. Judge width, not length.

On a hatchling that gap is only a few millimetres, which is what this grade is for. Too wide risks choking and impaction; too small and a growing animal burns more energy hunting than it gains.

These are supplier grades rather than a measured size, so check the feeder against your animal's eyes rather than trusting the grade name alone.

Hatchlings and young juveniles are usually fed daily. Most keepers offer what the animal takes in ten to fifteen minutes, then remove the rest.

Buy about a week's worth. A small animal eats only a few feeders at a sitting, and the most common mistake at this grade is ordering for the appetite you expect rather than the one in front of you.

Like almost every feeder insect other than black soldier fly larvae, woodies carry more phosphorus than calcium. That imbalance is the direct cause of metabolic bone disease in captive reptiles, and it does the most damage at this stage, when a hatchling is laying down skeleton at its fastest rate.

We do not publish a calcium-to-phosphorus figure for woodies, because there is no published nutritional analysis for the roach supplied under that trade name in Australia. Treat them as calcium-poor and supplement accordingly – the handling is the same either way.

Do both. Gut-load for 24 to 48 hours on a calcium-rich food, dust with calcium immediately before offering, and feed out promptly.

Do not rely on gut-loading alone. Published work on feeder insects shows the calcium sits in the gut contents and is shed again once the calcium-rich food is taken away. Use calcium with D3 where the animal has no UVB; where good UVB is provided, plain calcium is usually the better choice, since D3 can be over-supplied.

Keep them in a smooth-sided, ventilated tub at room temperature and out of direct sun, with egg carton or cardboard for surface area.

Keep it dry. Damp and crowding kill a tub of roaches faster than hunger does. Feed a dry grain-based chow with a slice of carrot or similar for moisture rather than an open water dish, and clear out dead feeders and soiled cardboard as you go.

Suitable for hatchling and juvenile geckos, bearded dragons, skinks, water dragons, froglets, and small insectivorous birds and fish.

Not suitable for adult animals, which cannot get enough from a feeder this size – move up to medium woodies. Not suitable as a sole diet, and not suitable fed undusted to any growing animal.

Woodies are quick and head straight for cover. Remove uneaten feeders at the end of the day rather than letting them burrow into substrate, where they are easy to lose and easy to forget.

Keep the lid on the tub, and wash hands after handling feeders or cleaning containers.

• Exo Terra Calcium + D3 Powder – the dusting step that makes any feeder roach safe to offer a growing animal.
• Zoo Med Cricket Block – gut-load and moisture in one, with no drowning risk in the tub.
• Medium Woodies – the next grade up, for when your animal outgrows these.
• Black Soldier Fly Larvae 100 g – a calcium-positive feeder worth rotating in alongside roaches.

Live feeders are supplied for in-store collection or local delivery, with our live arrival guarantee.

Bulk counts are order in only and are not held in store. Place your bulk order by Monday for arrival on Wednesday.

Bulk orders are for in-store pickup only and cannot be posted or delivered.

What size woodie is safe for a hatchling gecko?

Offer a feeder no wider than the space between the animal's eyes. For most hatchling geckos and young juvenile lizards that means the small grade, moving up once the animal clearly outgrows it.

Do woodies still need dusting with calcium?

Yes. Feeder roaches are calcium-poor relative to phosphorus, so dust with a calcium supplement immediately before every feed. Only black soldier fly larvae are routinely fed undusted.

Why choose woodies over crickets for a young animal?

Woodies are near-silent and generally live longer in a tub than crickets, which suits a keeper feeding small quantities daily. Crickets are also known for biting a sleeping reptile, so uneaten ones must always be removed.

Why are my woodies dying in the tub?

Usually damp, crowding or heat. Roaches need ventilation, dry bedding, room temperature and cardboard surface area to spread out on; a sealed humid container kills them quickly.