Roaches

[Kevin1]

I think there are over 20 female's in there. 5-7 males.
I use the smallest one, I believe its the one recommended for 10 gallons.

[John]

How do you mount it and stop the plastic of the container melting?

[Kevin1]

I put the sticky side on the floor of the bin.
So far The heater hasn't gotten hot enough to melt the bin.

[John]

That's an interesting approach. Thanks for the info Kevin.

[Fred]

a cheaper heating solution is an incandescent bulb. i got two over my colony, it,s heating fine. some will say they don't really like the lights, that is correct, but they,re hiding under egg boxes and breeding like mad in my enclosure, so i bet the benefit of heat vs illumination is good. they're not dubias tho.

[Kevin1]

Your welcome John.
Fred What species are you keeping?

[Fred]

Blatta lateralis aka Turkistan Roaches or Red Runners. i feed the babies to my little Redback salamanders, adults and nymphs to my fire bellies, geckos, tarantulas, etc.

[Kevin1]

Oh I apologize I didn't realize you posted on the previous page of this thread.

[Fred]

no prob lol

[John]

Incandescent bulbs are a very expensive way to heat though - they waste so much energy.

[mcap]

I bought 90 mixed size blaptica dubia roaches in January. I have been feeding a 3.5-4" pixie and a 3" adult whites tree frog primarily with the colony and still have at least 90 dubias. The pixie chows several adults at a time, while the whites only likes the little ones.

They live in a 10 gallon glass tank with a under-tank heater that is placed, not adhered, below the tank (I don't remove the liner). The outside walls of the tank are lined with corrugated pieces of cardboard and duct tape, and the bottom is bare glass. A screen lid covers the top, and the lid is covered with black opaque piece of fabric to keep out light so they are not disturbed.

In the tank is a very shallow 4" square tray with wet paper towels that get changed every few days. They also have a very shallow tray with fluker's cricket food. They get trimmings of vegetables that I would normally toss out otherwise. Several egg trays, that I get from a market that sells eggs in bulk, are placed in the tank vertically so the poop drops to the bottom.

Every week or two, I carefully move the egg trays, bugs and all, into another tank, scoop the stragglers with disposable rubber gloves (watch for the tiny ones!), and hose out the dirty tank.

If you see dropped otheca's, I think that is a bad sign, since they are supposed to give live birth.

[Kevin1]

Yeh I know its not good.
I just hope it was because of me bothering them to much,
not lack of humidity or lack of nutrition, with humidity being more likely.
In a couple weeks I think I'm goin' to buy 150 more to see if that helps the colony get going. How often do you fellow dubia keepers see new nymphs?

[Jace]

Wow-it seems like a lot of effort to just get a colony of roaches going. I don't know if Hissing Cockroaches are easier to breed, but all I did was stick 1 female and 2 males together with fresh food, a hide, a water dish and no heat source whatsoever. Next thing I know, my female sucked in an egg case (and, thanks to Kurt, I can never eat a gummy worm again) and she looks like she is about ready to pop any day now. I can't seem to keep a plant alive in my house no matter how much a beg and plead, but I can accidently breed cockroaches no problem!! Attached is a picture of Desta, with her abdomen stretching to accomodate her brood.

[Tom Highum]

is it possible to use them as feeders?

[Kurt]

You can use Madagascar hisser for feeders, no problem. My Colorado River toad has eaten a few.

[Tom Highum]

Awesome my friends have babies some times and doesn't know what to do with them

[Fred]

For all I know, Hissers breed pretty slowly, so it's better off to breed dubias or Giant Cave roaches, blaberus carniifer or any other larger species of roaches. Even at ideal temps and humidity, you would need more than a year to get a decent colony of hissers going for feeding purpose!

cheers!

Fred

[Tom Highum]

I understand that, i am probably getting some dubia later this week.