How do I slow down roach growth?

Spinderella115 · Jul 2, 2015

I bought some pinhead roaches not too long ago. My tarantula is one year old so her abdomen is small and I don't want to feed her roaches bigger than her abdomen but these dang roaches grow so fast because it's summer time. If I put them in the fridge will they slow down growth? I thought I remembered seeing somewhere that that would work but I googled it today and can't seem to find anything about it. I paid $30 for 15 roaches because shipping was outrageous so I don't want to put them in the fridge and find that they all die because I wanted them to stop growing.

pannaking22 · Jul 2, 2015

Feed less but always provide water might work, but I defer to the people with more roach experience here on AB. What species of roach is it? What's the legspan on your T and what species is it? Alternatively, you could separate out some of the roaches and power feed them to adulthood and get a colony going.

Hisserdude · Jul 2, 2015

Keeping them cooler will slow down their growth, but you should never put roaches in the fridge, they probably would die. I agree with panna, if you got them breeding then you would have nymphs all the time.

Tenevanica · Jul 2, 2015

Keep them cold

Keep them at a cool temperature. 60 degrees should be cold enough. Provide less food as well.

ARACHNO-SMACK48 · Jul 2, 2015

Honestly... I wouldn't try and slow down their growth. If you build up a successful colony... you will get roaches of all sizes.

Smokehound714 · Jul 3, 2015

expose them to fox news lol

RomanBuck · Jul 3, 2015

Assuming you bough Blatta lateralis nymphs, I would put ice under half of the container or keep them in a cold area of the house. Lateralis are tough so if you keep them in the warmest part of the INSIDE of the fridge, they should be fine. Plus I find that if the roaches get too big, kill them and feed smaller parts to your slings. Thats what I some times do with my inverts that are too small.

pannaking22 · Jul 3, 2015

I agree with Roman, pulling off legs and things and feeding them to your spider can work pretty well. Tarantulas usually accept prekilled prey as long as it's fairly fresh.

Ultum4Spiderz · Jul 9, 2015

Get more Large tarantulas, Scorps, or whatever you keep.

Spinderella115 said:
I bought some pinhead roaches not too long ago. My tarantula is one year old so her abdomen is small and I don't want to feed her roaches bigger than her abdomen but these dang roaches grow so fast because it's summer time. If I put them in the fridge will they slow down growth? I thought I remembered seeing somewhere that that would work but I googled it today and can't seem to find anything about it. I paid $30 for 15 roaches because shipping was outrageous so I don't want to put them in the fridge and find that they all die because I wanted them to stop growing.

My Larger Ts eat so much , they keep both my roach container populations down.:biggrin: Still I have 1000's probably.

How do I slow down roach growth?

Spinderella115

Arachnopeon

pannaking22

Arachnoemperor

Hisserdude

Arachnoking

Tenevanica

Arachnodemon

ARACHNO-SMACK48

Arachnoknight

Smokehound714

Arachnoking

RomanBuck

Arachnopeon

pannaking22

Arachnoemperor

Ultum4Spiderz

Arachnoemperor