Question about worms found in roach colony

[MonsterPyxie]

Found these in my lobster colony.




I have to be honest when I give information about these. I pretty much IGNORE my Lobster roach colony. They are at a good temperature, humidity, they get plenty of food and water ........................thats about it. haha.

so mainly I just don't clean up after them at all, other them mold or something. If I remember right these worms can come from flys? or maggots of sort?

Not sure if I have to worry about them. I think they just turn into beetles?

I just don't want the worm's munching on my roaches.



Side note..... Lobsters are still breeding like crazy. I feed 3 adult bearded dragons off this colony atleast twice a week....... and there numbers are STILL growing. I am SUPER impressed at how easily they breed, and obviously the numbers they can breed, but man, what an annoying roach!


any advice is appreciated.


Rob

[tearsmith]

Hi. Those are mealworms. Not sure how they would be in your roaches unless they came from the store that way. They do turn into little black beetles. Not sure if they would chew your roaches at that point but as worms they shouldn't. They can be fed to Pacman frogs or Fire belly toads. Not tree frogs or anything.

[Sublime]

Rob what are you doing trying to interbreed lobster roaches and mealworms. Lol, yeah take them out - they'll chew at your roaches and/or aggravate them while being able to breed.

[BG]

Mark its a new type of feeder we are trying to breed. No kidding i have some type of meal worm living in my dubia roach colony. They eat all the dead roaches and i get no more maggots. I just have to keep them full .

Rob what are you doing trying to interbreed lobster roaches and mealworms. Lol, yeah take them out - they'll chew at your roaches and/or aggravate them while being able to breed.

[Sublime]

Oh haha, that's cool.

[MonsterPyxie]

Hi. Those are mealworms. Not sure how they would be in your roaches unless they came from the store that way. They do turn into little black beetles. Not sure if they would chew your roaches at that point but as worms they shouldn't. They can be fed to Pacman frogs or Fire belly toads. Not tree frogs or anything.

Well the lobster colony came from a friend.... and he is kinda nuts. He feeds his roaches anything, and I do mean ANYTHING. One of his colony's was eating a wild caught bullfrog he had caught, and it randomly died..... So he gave it to the roaches...

So its highly possible knowing him that there is some odd stuff left over in the frass, there where a few bettles in the colony when I first got it, but I removed them all..... So maybe they laid eggs or something?

Rob what are you doing trying to interbreed lobster roaches and mealworms. Lol, yeah take them out - they'll chew at your roaches and/or aggravate them while being able to breed.

haha, yea, Idk what im gonna do.

Mark its a new type of feeder we are trying to breed. No kidding i have some type of meal worm living in my dubia roach colony. They eat all the dead roaches and i get no more maggots. I just have to keep them full .

well thats another thing I was thinking, are they just like spring tail/isopods that will just clean up the extra **** from the roaches, or are they going to try and eat my roaches?

[JeffreH]

I could see darkling beetles laying eggs in frass and surviving on the mixture of frass, dead bodies, and the occasional bit of salad delight offered to the roaches. I'm doubtful that they would actually harm the roaches unless you had massive quanitites of them... they aren't exactly speedy or overly voracious. I'm confident they can survive and breed with very little offered to them as well - I once tried to destroy a meaworm (Tenebrio molitor) colony by neglect. Didn't touch them, feed em, water them, or anything for about 18months and I still had adult beetles and larvae moving around. I feel like I almost created a perfect example of 'conservation of energy'...then I threw them in a big fire =P

If you really want a good clean-up crew for roaches, consider getting some Dermestid beetles; they'll take care of the dead and some shed skins for you. Springtails and isopods are fine for roaches too, although they obviously fare better with some kind of substrate, I really only use them for some collector species.


And on a side note as well - Lobsters kind of scare me at the rate at which they can breed, and the temperatures at which they can breed. They're kind of smelly too... I burn a lot of them if I can't feed them because no one seems to want them (the whole climbing thing, I suspect). If it weren't for the climbing and smell, they'd be the ultimate feeder insect to breed. You can't kill them with neglect either, they just keep breeding... Like you, I pretty much ignore my lobsters...and lats... thankfully down to small colonies now. I only keep the lobsters around because they're adorable.