Question for the NERD crew about feeder roaches

[PadraigC]

do you keep any non-wall climbers (discoids) for breeding? and if so can you hook a brother up. This New England weather sucks for shipping feeders I.E. the box of dead lobster roaches in my basement


Peace

[JonT]

Not sure what Kev is keeping these days for roaches but I would be more than willing to bring up lobsters for you out of my colony next weekend... little TLC and time and I find myself with FAR too many!

[PadraigC]

thanks i like lobsters alot but the wall walking crap bothers me.......just wondering if kev still kept the death heads them being my favorite, but if I can get a box ready before them I could use like 150-200 to start...ill keep you posted

[JonT]

Not a problem... last I knew Kev pretty much had hissers and that's about it. You should have come to White Plains and seen Roachman Ritchie... he's got them all...
Let me know!
Jon

[PadraigC]

every time i plan to go to white plains I get called into work(when of the many perks of working at a hospital). Yea Ill be in touch How do you set yours up I was thinking of getting a small rubbermaid container and heating it with a inexpensive zoo med heat pad they need around 90+ in my experience

[JonT]

I use a sterilite tub...cut the center of the lid out...hot glue some window screen in...add a little masking tape at the seam to avoid a rough edge. Make a nice thick vaseline barrier around the upper edge...usually around 2" across. Toss a little peat moss and bed-a-beast in the bottom. Add some egg crates and toilet paper tubes. Add roaches and some food...veggies, fruits, tortoise diet, hamsters (I'm not kidding either! They make quick work of uneaten prey...)... I used to keep them in the snake room...daytime of 82, night in the mid 70's.... then in the hallway at ambient room temp (65-70)...now in my basement (50's-60's)...they seem to do fine... funny though now that they are in the basement I have fewer adults but tons more little ones. When they were heated I would have more adults and fewer babies. Temperature vs. metabolism/maturity... I like the little ones more... I would always hate feeding off adults b/c I one point I was looking to maxmize my numbers...don't need to go culling perfectly good breeding stock! Feed them a few times a week and mist the container down is about all I do for them.
That's about it!
Jon

[PadraigC]

john so your saying your colony is doing good in the 50's and 60's temp range. I was thinking 80's ive never kept Lobsters only hissers but, its looking like once i get a box ready Im going need some from you since cricket shipping is ridiculous and my ackies are pissed at me and me Im pissed at DHL

[JonT]

Yeah it doesn't seem to be doing all the bad... I'm kinda wondering how many are stuck mid-way through maturity though.. I haven't taken the time to really look at production presently but as I said before I am seeing WAY more babies than when it was kept hot... kinda works out nice I guess if you only want lil munchkin roaches!

[PadraigC]

just another question when you say you put in hamsters did they completly eat them?

[Schlyne]

Yeah it doesn't seem to be doing all the bad... I'm kinda wondering how many are stuck mid-way through maturity though.. I haven't taken the time to really look at production presently but as I said before I am seeing WAY more babies than when it was kept hot... kinda works out nice I guess if you only want lil munchkin roaches!

That's an interesting idea JonT. I keep B dubia roaches, and I'm seeing a few babbies, but not too many. The roaches stay nice and warm, they've got a dedicated heat pad stuck to the back of the rubbermaid. Of course my colony is still fairly new, but I'm not seeing a lot of litters. I'd be much happier if I knew I had more than one adult male roach running around... He has several ladies, and there's plenty of nymphs still, but for peace of mind, I want more males in there :P

I keep my roaches without substrate, but they have long pieces of cork tile and egg carton chunks to hide in.

[JonT]

I would be left with a hamster "shell" within a matter of hours... fur and a skeleton but it kinda looked like jerky...all fluids drained and crispy...the busted gut and "halves" seemed to go the fastest... next time I see Roachman Ritchie I'll have to ask him if he's tried this... seemed to be a feasible alternative to dermestid beetles.. although a little clean up work would be needed with the roaches....
Give it a try Schlyne....just a little FYI I allowed my colony to grow for 6 months before I even touched it.. at least with the lobsters... never was able to "harvest" any Surinams... colony never took off... had me stumped!

[Schlyne]

Give it a try Schlyne....just a little FYI I allowed my colony to grow for 6 months before I even touched it.. at least with the lobsters... never was able to "harvest" any Surinams... colony never took off... had me stumped!

Yeah, I'm still buying crickets and feeding them off, along with mealies. I hadn't planned on feeding any off for at least 6 months, and I would happily buy pure dubia from another supplier and toss those roaches in with the colony for some "fresh blood".

I've only fed off 4 roaches. The first two were taste testers to see if the crested geckos would eat them. With all the lip licking that went on after, they seemed to be very tasty.

Ther two were also feed off to geckos, as the guy I bought the roaches from r was/is? offering a free dozen for pictures of pets eating the roaches for his website if he acutally used the pictures on his site. If I get a dozen freebies, I'm going to start another colony of a differen species, hopefully something smaller than dubia and closer to cricket size. I want another non climbing species though.