..........

minax · Aug 24, 2003

How is everyones roach breeding going? I breed the B. discoidales, and the E. prostithcus, and they are breeding out of control!!

I have about 1,000 easy, of the babies!! And I still have the original breeders, still producing. Watch out roachman, I am coming to take your title away!!

But.............I have enjoyed breeding them more than I thought I would, and have been more successful than I thought I would as well.

Valael · Aug 24, 2003

Meh. I've seen a few babies. It's still *really* early, so I'm not disappointed or anything.

But I am kind of annoyed that I've had a few deaths of adults.

I've also had a nymph in molting for probably a week (Literally, it's half way out of the skin). It's still alive, but yeah, I realize it has no chance -- the legs are stuck.

Immortal_sin · Aug 24, 2003

my lobster roaches are out of control!
N cinerea? I really *need* to learn the scientific roach names!
Anyway, I LOVE this species! Minimal care, and babies just keep coming .....the little nymphs are the perfect 'sling size'.
The adults feed almost all my Ts, except for the largest ones.

Buspirone · Aug 25, 2003

My orange heads still havn't produced any young yet that I've seen. I started with 24 nymphs in mid june and now have 22 adults but no babies yet. I thought I'd see some around early August but that hasn't happened. I'll give it till late september to early october before I start to worry. Its still frustrating.

chuck · Aug 25, 2003

i had 12 death heads originally. set them up with some soil and hides, i never saw the nymphs or juvi's until i was giving them to a friend. when i sifted thru the soil, there were at least enough for a colony.

my hissers and lobsters were out of control. a dozen of each was too many for 2 Ts.

Buspirone · Aug 25, 2003

I assumed that I would at least see one feeding but so far thats not the case and I'm not inclined to disturb the females who may be gravid to dig up the substrate and move the egg carton around. I hate being patient.

Valael · Aug 25, 2003

I really wanted to order N cinerea (I hope you spelled that right, because if you didn't, I didn't

)

But the flying and climbing thing scared me. I read that vasoline doesn't stop them nearly as well as other glass climbers since they're so light weight.

(You are talking about the green banana roaches -- whatever the common name is, right?)

How do you keep them?

Immortal_sin · Aug 25, 2003

I'm talking about lobster roaches, and they do climb, but the vasoline barrier works fine, UNLESS they get really freaked out...then they CAN get over it.
I transfer them to a clean bin every month or so, but they really don't smell or get dirty.

minax · Aug 25, 2003

Well...........

Originally posted by Buspirone
My orange heads still havn't produced any young yet that I've seen. I started with 24 nymphs in mid june and now have 22 adults but no babies yet. I thought I'd see some around early August but that hasn't happened. I'll give it till late september to early october before I start to worry. Its still frustrating.

Hang in there...........your day will come. I had my orange heads since last Nov., and started with over 40. No sign of breeding for at least 6 months!!

Then...........late spring, early summer, I noticed some babies, so it took at least 7 months, though most of my roaches were not mature when I got them. I didn't even use dirt. But now............they have produced at least 500, and who knows how many more!!!

=D Once they get going, watch out!!

About half of mine have died now...........but the remaing 20 or so are still cranking them out. They go a month or so.............then produce more, and take a break, then more again. I just removed 100 last weekend, after a slowdown of a month or two, and today I noticed about 15 or 20 more!! They will reproduce for you, it is just hard to be patient, I know!

chuck · Aug 26, 2003

Originally posted by Valael
I really wanted to order N cinerea (I hope you spelled that right, because if you didn't, I didn't )

But the flying and climbing thing scared me. I read that vasoline doesn't stop them nearly as well as other glass climbers since they're so light weight.

(You are talking about the green banana roaches -- whatever the common name is, right?)

How do you keep them?

green banana roaches are Panchlora nivea, and maybe able to get across the vasaline

the lobster roach, Nauphoeta cinerea, cannot climb thu vasaline

the Allpet Roaches book by O.McMonigle and good ol' Roachman R.Willis is a good book, wish they had all colored pictures

Code Monkey · Aug 26, 2003

I think you could call this successful

Well, it's taken over a year, but my B. dubia colony is in full swing and now that I got the mites under control I am happy to announce that I can feed 100% with roaches if I so desire (last night was my first all roach feeding). In fact, I think I may have let it get more out of control than I should have. Population pressure seems to be causing a decent amount of die-off in the adult roaches but I've only got a half dozen Ts big enough to take the adults.

Buspirone · Aug 26, 2003

Re: Well...........

Originally posted by minax
Hang in there...........your day will come. I had my orange heads since last Nov., and started with over 40. No sign of breeding for at least 6 months!! Then...........late spring, early summer, I noticed some babies, so it took at least 7 months, though most of my roaches were not mature when I got them. I didn't even use dirt. But now............they have produced at least 500, and who knows how many more!!! =D Once they get going, watch out!! About half of mine have died now...........but the remaing 20 or so are still cranking them out. They go a month or so.............then produce more, and take a break, then more again. I just removed 100 last weekend, after a slowdown of a month or two, and today I noticed about 15 or 20 more!! They will reproduce for you, it is just hard to be patient, I know!

By july I had about 8 adults and I've seen quite a few roaches mate as soon as the females molted mature...I even have some pics of the deed. Recently I've seen small roaches(Male?) doing a vibrating dance around a really large roach(female?) with a pause where they would lift up there wings like they were flashing their butts from under a skirt. This occurred while a bunch of roaches were around the waterdish. You can see the pics here(click on the thumbnail to see a larger version):

http://www.spidertalk.net/SpiderTalk/category.php?cid=69

At least I know the lack of births isn't something I'm doing wrong . My setup has changed slightly than in the pics. I now use a small gravity feed waterdish with water bites in the "dish" part.

chuck · Aug 27, 2003

i would hear and see my death heads mate all the time and i would never see many nymphs thats b/c they all hide in the dirt. check the substrate and you maybe surprised

minax · Aug 27, 2003

Another.........

100 more babies today for me!

They will probably have a short break, then get back to business!

Valael · Aug 27, 2003

Actually, I did a little more thorough cleaning today and came across a little over a dozen babies. Not bad for owning them maybe three weeks.

minax · Aug 27, 2003

Yea..........

Great going Code, thats a mess of roaches there!

I know how you feel, you wait to harvest them, then before you know it, you have more than you can use! These roaches multiply like people!!

I noticed you have the babies with the adults, I do this as well, with the B. discoidales, though I have removed the majority of them. I am leery of keeping the babies with Eublaberus prostithcus, because of their rep. for aggression/biting. But...........I have not seen any problems with mine, in keeping the babies with them, though I have removed them, whenever possible. It's just very hard to keep up...........another 2 days, and there is another 40 or so! Does anyone know if there is any problems with keeping the babies with the adults? I would think the main problem would be competition for space, and food/water, but I have seen no problems.

Valael · Aug 27, 2003

I've talked to Roachman a bit, and while I never specificly asked, he never mentioned it.

This is actually the first time I've heard of seperating them. I never actually talked to him about E. prostithcus, though. I keep B. Craniifer. I've seen one dead baby, the rest are growing pretty fast. They went from about the size of: --- to about ------ in maybe a week and a half?

Code Monkey · Aug 27, 2003

I would think that removing small nymphs would only be necessary with the unusually aggressive species, and still seems like more work than it would be worth. At work we have cultures of B. germanica, P. americana, B. giganteus, and G. portentosa and all are kept in multi-generational cohorts without issue.

That culture started off as just 18 nymphs so clearly competition isn't affecting things too much.

Wade · Aug 28, 2003

Re: Yea..........

Originally posted by minax
Great going Code, thats a mess of roaches there! I know how you feel, you wait to harvest them, then before you know it, you have more than you can use! These roaches multiply like people!! I noticed you have the babies with the adults, I do this as well, with the B. discoidales, though I have removed the majority of them. I am leery of keeping the babies with Eublaberus prostithcus, because of their rep. for aggression/biting. But...........I have not seen any problems with mine, in keeping the babies with them, though I have removed them, whenever possible. It's just very hard to keep up...........another 2 days, and there is another 40 or so! Does anyone know if there is any problems with keeping the babies with the adults? I would think the main problem would be competition for space, and food/water, but I have seen no problems.

I keep E. prosticus and although adults eat each other's wings, I don't think there's much actual cannibalism. I've never seperated the nymphs and they breed like gangbusters. In fact, I'd say out of the 4 species I currently keep these are the most prolific. Use caution when using them as feeders, however, as I think these are more willing to attack a molting T than others. Couple that with the fact that they often burrow out of site in the T cage and you have a recipe for disaster. I lost an adult female P. murinus this way. I'd recomend pre-killing them.

Wade

minax · Aug 28, 2003

Great point Wade........

And well put , as usual. I believe they are the most prolific as well. I am just having a lot of babies being born, more than i can count or keep up with. 100 more yesterday!

I have not seen cannabalism either, though I am wary of these Eublaberus. I have seen them eat the dead males, that have reached their end. And I know you mentioned once, Wade, about them eating pink mice!

What really surpised me is.............My B. discoidales. I caught some babies eating a egg case, twice!

This really suprised me, as they seem so calm, and had plenty of food and water. But obviously this is an exception, or there would not be so high of success for breeding of this species for me. They are not as prolific as Eublaberus, but they do pretty well, though alot slower. I just found this egg-case incident very interesting, and surprising.

..........

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