roaches

gloomy_eeyore · Feb 9, 2004

i would like to start a colony of roaches but am debating on which breed is best for me.

i am debating between b. dubia, b. discoidalis and n. cinera.

which is the easiest to breed and the lowest maintenance?

if anyone thinks i am overlooking another breed, suggestions are welcome

thanks
chris

Code Monkey · Feb 9, 2004

You should try searching the insect forum here, ALL of that has been covered on more than one occasion along with pictures of setups.

Short version: N. cinerea will breed fastest but smaller and can escape easier. B. dubia is my favorite as it can't climb and breeds fairly quickly once you get a colony going (but this often takes several months). B. discoids are similar to the dubia; I'd choose dubia over them because of larger adult size.

You should also look into E. prosticus, very fast breeding and can't climb, more likely to bite back than any of the others, though.

webspinner · Feb 9, 2004

Hey CM how can you tell if your female B.dubia is gravid?:?

Code Monkey · Feb 9, 2004

Originally posted by webspinner
Hey CM how can you tell if your female B.dubia is gravid?:?

You don't, unless you feel like dissecting her. If you happen to catch one in the process of switching the ootheca from internal area where it's formed to the internal area where they hold it until hatching you would know that one was "gravid", otherwise you just go with the safe assumption: if it's adult, it's probably either carrying an ootheca or will be any day now.

webspinner · Feb 9, 2004

Cool, thanx for the info CM. I would have been wondering that my colony was infertile

Code Monkey · Feb 9, 2004

Originally posted by webspinner
Cool, thanx for the info CM. I would have been wondering that my colony was infertile

It's about 1-2 months from the time you have both adult males and females that you will see the first nymphs assuming temps in the high 70s to low 80s. If temps are too cool they may not be breeding.

Buspirone · Feb 9, 2004

The other nice characteristic with B. dubia is that it is extremely easy to differentiate males from females.I keep and feed E. prosticus to my tarantulas. You definitinely need to give your Ts a slightly larger size advantage with them since the nymphs put up one heck of a struggle for alot longer than crickets or superworms after they get fanged. I havn't had any situations with E. prosticus fighting back.......yet. Since getting my B. dubia roaches and working with them they seem to be a much better "victim" than E. prosticus(although I don't have enough of them to offer as food yet) but the E. prosticus are more interesting to watch,IMO.

Elytra and Antenna · Feb 9, 2004

Discoids.
Easy to handle and easy all around.
They may not breed quite as fast as lobsters but lobsters are tiny and by weight (which is food) Discoids breed much more quickly.

james · Feb 11, 2004

Having all these species and more I would choose the dubia. The are a very calm roach and easy to deal with. I like discoids, but like deaths head and many others they are very spastic. Survive the 6-9 months it takes to get a good colony going and you will be very happy you did so.
James

roaches

gloomy_eeyore

Arachnopeon

Code Monkey

Arachnoemperor

webspinner

Arachnoknight

Code Monkey

Arachnoemperor

webspinner

Arachnoknight

Code Monkey

Arachnoemperor

Buspirone

Arachnoprince

Elytra and Antenna

Arachnoking

james

Arachnobaron