Blatta Lateralis as feeders?

[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.