Make sure u start small....I made the mistake of starting with 3.15 colony and my population exploded within a couple months. I pretty much give them away to my friends and keeep my snakes and tegus more then happy. The odor was not so bad untill all the babies actually got bigger, the smell of nitrates in the morning is rather unpleasing. I clean every sunday, new substrate n wash tubs. It def. worth it, because i dont know how i would have been able to feed my collection this past couple months w/out my colony but at the same time its a lot of work to keep them odors down and the room clean.