Blatta Lateralis as feeders?

[cyris69]

Ok, so I've been buying Canadian night crawlers by the 1/2 flat ~250 worms. Runs me about 38$ after tax at a local outdoor shop. My dubia colony is running slow so I am leaving them alone.

I drunkenly ordered 1k lats I had been researching them for a while but the drinking made me impulsive

They where cheap, 32 bucks for 1k from arron pauling. The biggest reason for these roaches.

Sample Moisture Protein Fat Fiber Ash


B. Lateralis 63.63% 36.5% 5.31% 2.19% 1.95%


B. Dubia 61.18% 35.6% 6.75% 3.25% 2.01%

They are just as nutritious as dubia, but smaller and breed MUCH faster. Also having 5 pyxies, 3 being males these guys destroy food. They can easily take almost 2 dozen crawlers every other day each, daily if I let them. So my wallet is on fire constantly. Also the fact these don't burrow and play dead like dubia.

My question is, if you've had experience with these roaches or currently have them what are your thoughts? Also, in a central Indiana climate what are the chances of infestation if some get loose? I've read so many mixed thoughts on this, some say no way the egg casings wouldn't survive and other say yes. Some live in much more tropical areas in the US and have kept them for 5+ years and never had an infestation even with escapees.

Did I make a poor choice? I know my frogs love crickets and can handle those easy and having the sheer breeding power of lats I figured I could have an endless source of food.

[Mentat]

I've had a B. lateralis colony and did not like it much. They do breed like crazy, but are very fast (and the males fly a bit) and hard to control when feeding. Expect escapees and be ready to handle that. Since I was feeding mostly males, got no infestation in house, but was always worried a female would get loose. A local shop has brought some larger than Dubia hybrids and will try a colony of those next to supplement the producing Dubia colony I got going. Good luck !

[cyris69]

Thanks for the reply, the frog room is sealed pretty tight and the furthest from the kitchen. I'm just tired of slow dubia colonies (I have thousands of nymphs), expensive worms, and lats are so cheap. I was a bug guy first so I don't like feeding my dubia off much as I find them quite attractive and interesting. I think lat females are quite pretty but still more "roach" looking than dubia so I don't see much attachment so to speak if that makes sense.

My only real concern is infestability, there are to many yes/no arguments. Most people say that it's just hard, they may linger around in your house but the egg sac will dry out and even if it magically hatched the babies would dry up and die. I've found several dubia around the house (males only) either dead or about to be usually not very far at all from the frog room.

[Herpguy]

Latteralis are probably the best feeder out there, as long as your animals aren't too big. They are EXTREMELY fast. You have to shake them into a container, you can't just pick them up like dubia. However, this makes them the most attractive feeder for animals, they never stop moving like crickets, and they will never burrow. You may get escapees, but they need a very high humidity. I have never seen a live one in the house, only dried up husks.

[cyris69]

Thanks for the reply Herpguy, makes me feel better. I think it's just how they look more "roach" like compared to what I'm used to. The worry is fading, now how about this so called smell? I plan on no substrate as well. I haven't cleaned my dubia colony in maybe 6 or so months and no smell at all. It is time for a cleaning though. However my dubia are in a 55 gallon tank

[Herpguy]

No problem. I don't know what people are talking about when they complain about the smell, because I never had that problem.

[cyris69]

I setup their tank last night in preparation for them today. I added packaging tape ~4" of it around the inside near the top, however, it was impossible for me to keep it flat so there are wrinkles all over the tape. Will this make the tape useless for what it was intended to do? Don't know if I should just remove the tape since its wrinkled everywhere.

[Mmfh]

I've kept them for a year now. I didn't want them to breed so I keep the humidity low and have never had an egg case. I keep mine in an open (no lid) Tupperware with egg crate and no substate (makes for easy cleaning), a bowl for water crystals, and a food dish. My males have never flown and neither sex can climb the plastic. They must have enough humidity to molt as they have all grown into adults but like I said , no breeding. The only time I have had an escape is when I dropped one while trying to tong feed my tarantulas. About two to three weeks later I will find it dead in the dogs water bowl. I give them dry foods so I don't need to worry about rotting foods attracting fruit flies and that way I don't have to mess with the roaches much. I basically ignore them unless I need to top off the food dish, give them water, clean, or get some for food. I find mine to be quite calm and they don't even bother to hide or run when I give them food or water anymore.

[cyris69]

Awesome, thanks for the reply Mmfh! Did you ever notice them managing to climb at all? So why the decision not to have them breed even if its just a little.

For food I've switched my dubia/hisser colony over to dumar non-medicated chicken starter mash ground to a fine powder, they love it but it does have a strong feed smell which I think is why they swarm it. Plus it only cost 16$ for a 50lb bag which will last pretty much forever

These will also be going into a 29gal tall aquarium.

[cyris69]

Looks like I will be removing the tape on my lunch break after reading that it cant have any wrinkles going to go the baby oil route.

[Mmfh]

Many people use chicken mash and it is a great food. The reason I didn't breed is that it was the first time I had tried using feeder roaches and I wanted to get familiar with them before making that decision. Also, from things I have read if they breed well it is likely you'll end up with many more than you can use. I do not have a Hugh collection that will eat them and since I go to reptile shows every year it is easy enough to pick up another batch. I have never seen them try to climb out. In fact I have never seen them scrabbling at the sides of the container at all. They just crawl on their egg crate, which are actually Burger King drink holders, and they seem to love them--lots of holes to crawl in and out of. I don't know about other people's experiences but mine are very laid back till I start shaking them into the feeding catch cup then they are fast suckers, but even then I have never had a male try to fly.
btw I have never used tape, Vaseline, baby oil or any type of barrier.

[cyris69]

Hmmm, maybe I'm just being paranoid since it's a been classified a nuisance species. The only roach I've ever seen in Indiana was a wood roach that had wandered into my house when moving in. Had the roach people come out and look at it and they said just let it go outside its a harmless wood roach.

I have 5 pyxies, 3 are large growing boys, 1 adults female and a dwarf and they can destroy everything so when I found out about these roaches I was sold. I knew I'd never have to buy crickets or anything else again.

[cyris69]

Well, I got them in today. Yeah they can't even try to climb glass. They are actually very cute roaches. They are all 1/4" or smaller, no smell whatsoever even after 3 days in the mail the box had zero scent. Hope they get as fat as large crickets. I did jdrop one but was able to easily catch it. I think one may be on the loose but was a little baby.

They are pretty cute, not at all repulsive.

[Herpguy]

That's awesome you like them. I think roaches are the most interesting of all the insects. There's just a few species who ruin it for the rest of them. Imagine my wife's reaction when she found my secret Blaberus giganteus colony in one of my closets.

[cyris69]

ah the hidden roach colony. I remember that when I was living with my parents years ago, they were not happy at all. I was able to talk them into letting me keep them. Granted I assume a wife would be much different

Roaches truely are amazing, I can spend hours watching my dubia, whom surprisingly have a very rich and complex hierarchy.

[annawolv1010]

Aren't lats small compared to dubia?

[cyris69]

Yes, they are only an inch but breed faster, and are just as nutritious as dubia, also softer bodies. They are around the size of a fat adult cricket.

Though the numbers they reproduce is quite staggering so you'd never need food again.

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