Feeder colonies for Ts

Hello. I want to start colonies of roaches for my Ts and I've always wondered if different roach species can be kept together?

Why would you want or need multiple species of roaches?

Angel Minkov said:

Hello. I want to start colonies of roaches for my Ts and I've always wondered if different roach species can be kept together?

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I'm pretty sure someone here keeps at least 2 species together, but I can't remember who or in which thread I read that a few weeks ago. I'll leave them to find this thread and answer.

DamonVikki said:

Why would you want or need multiple species of roaches?

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To have different size or have some that move more to produce a bigger feeding response from the Ts.

For different species of Ts. B. lateralis are smaller, faster roaches, while, for exampke, hissers are large roaches which I would use for specues like T. blondi and so on.

Sam_Peanuts said:

To have different size or have some that move more to produce a bigger feeding response from the Ts.

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Makes sense. I know dubias go into statue mode a lot!

Sam_Peanuts said:

I'm pretty sure someone here keeps at least 2 species together, but I can't remember who or in which thread I read that a few weeks ago. I'll leave them to find this thread and answer.

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Sounds familiar. In fact, I want to say that poster also kept beetles/mealworms in their colony also? (Or something "not a roach" was also included).

You can keep little Kenyan roaches (Blaberidae sp. Kenya) with larger species such as cave roaches (Blaberus sp.), provided you have lots of little places the little Kenyans can hide. I don't see why they wouldn't work for medium-large species, such as dubia. I'm currently keeping four species of feeders, mainly to experiment with which species works best for different predatory arachnid and insect groups and it gives one species time to recover from many being fed off as I rotate to the next one.

You can also keep small tenebrionids in your roach bins to serve as a cleanup crew. They work really well and you can feed off the beetles and mealworms as well. I have a small species in my Turkistan bin right now and when the beetle numbers get too high I start feeding them off.