Roach Crossbreeding - How To?

BugToxin

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
269
Hello Roach Experts,
Well, I finally ordered my first colony of roaches. I have 200 Blaberus fusca on the way to me now. Hopefully, with time and a little patience these 200 will become 500 or more. Having done some research on the boards however, I am not expecting this to happen right away. As it is, I will likely have to refill my roach colony once or twice as I use them up before they become established.

So here are my questions. If I got a deal on another Blaberus sp. (I got a pretty good deal on these beauties from James), could I just throw them in with my fusca's and get a cool fast-breeding hybrid? Will all Blaberus sp. crossbreed? Is there more to it than that?

Please share with me your wisdom on the incredible, edible, roach. Also, feel free to direct me to other posts if this has been discussed before. I see quite a few posts on roach hybrids, but not any on what is involved in creating the hybrid.
 

Gigas

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 6, 2006
Messages
1,976
they may not crossbreed, the offspring may be infertile or thay may have only bad features from both parents, isnt genetics fun.
If you do want to experiment i suggest you do it on a small scale, once youve pefected your designer roach inbreed the offspring to kingdom come
Goodluck with the project,
Chris
 

Dom

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 20, 2005
Messages
665
I'm not really big on the idea of hybridizing and I'm sure others with more experience will have input but....
I think the first step would be to put only males of one species and only virgin females of the other species in the breeding container. This way any babies born would have to be hybrids.
 

nomad85

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
64
I have some hybrids, most that are available are thought to be fusca x cranifer, I dont know the actual breeding, but I guess those species are compatible, my hybrids breed and grow faster than any other roach I have, they are bigger too.
They also smell the worst...
 

Taceas

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
658
I ordered a colony of Lobsters and with it came a handful of Blatta lateralis. I didn't notice them until a day or so after I set the colony up, but they seem to be cohabitating quite well together.

I do notice the B.lateralis all congregate on the underside of the top layer of egg crate, while the lobsters are more to the bottom. But so far I really adore the personalities of the B.lateralis. They're less skittish and more inquisitive, plus they can't climb glass.

It'd be nice if they'd work themselves into a hybrid, but I doubt it. ;)

Don't know what the point of a hybrid roach would be really, when there are so many species out there to choose from depending on your needs.
 

james

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 20, 2003
Messages
474
roaches

If your just using them for feeders then cross breeding will actually work to your advantage. It's 100% true that your roaches will grow, breed, and produce more offspring with new blood. This is why I do and continue to buy several thousands of dollars in roaches each year from many different sources. The Blaberus hybrid breed very well and probably better than any of the pure strains by themselves because they are not related. I know for sure blaberus craniifer and fusca and fusca/giganteus have been cross bred. I think that pretty much any ofthe blaberus could cross breed if put together. Now the lobsters and lateralis are totally different species and will not interbreed. They will however live together without any issues as most roaches species would.
James
www.blaberus.com
 

Lestat_tnt

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 26, 2006
Messages
50
So James, if I add Blaberus colloseus (a.k.a. Ecuador roach)
or Blaberus giganteus (a.k.a. giant cave roach) to my Blaberus fusca (a.k.a. dwarf cave roach) I possibly will have a good large feeder roach hybrid? ?
 

BugToxin

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
269
james said:
If your just using them for feeders then cross breeding will actually work to your advantage. It's 100% true that your roaches will grow, breed, and produce more offspring with new blood. This is why I do and continue to buy several thousands of dollars in roaches each year from many different sources. The Blaberus hybrid breed very well and probably better than any of the pure strains by themselves because they are not related. I know for sure blaberus craniifer and fusca and fusca/giganteus have been cross bred. I think that pretty much any ofthe blaberus could cross breed if put together. Now the lobsters and lateralis are totally different species and will not interbreed. They will however live together without any issues as most roaches species would.
James
www.blaberus.com
That's awesome news!!! As I mentioned before, I may have to refill a time or two before my new colony becomes established, and I will likely want to refill once a year or so as well to keep new blood in the colony. If the Blaberus sp. will all cross breed, I can buy what's on sale, or whatever catches my fancy at the moment. This is going to be almost as much fun for me as it will be for my T's and pedes!!! :}
 

james

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 20, 2003
Messages
474
no guarantees

I will not guarantee it will work, but from everything I've see I would say there is a great chance that those speices would interbreed. I'm starting to think most of the giganteus sold isn't that great anyway after some zoo stock I received has yeilded the largest adults I've ever seen.
James
 

JohnxII

Avicoholic
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 21, 2004
Messages
899
bugmankeith said:
Can you imagine a German/American roach hybrid, it would be chaos!
Or American X Australian. I believe it's happening in our cities.
 

John J Starr Jr

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 31, 2005
Messages
71
Hybrid Roaches

Hybridizing roach species sure sounds pretty cool and an advantage with a new genetic hybid could arise. I was planning on trying to produce a couple of Blaberus hybrids. That is assuming that the two species reproduction parts will hook up and they are close enough genetically to produce NON_MULE hybrids. :cool:

You have to admit, with small 100 or 200 animals in a startup colony we are producing "Dumb_Inbreed_Hillbillies" where the mother and the aunt could be the same roach several generations down the line in the end. James has the means to aquire fresh genetic material which is a very good idea to maintain the species. The rest of us may want to consider producing our own line of hybrids and maybe we could all do some trading someday. :)

John J Starr Jr
.
 

LeonExotic

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 2, 2017
Messages
27
I know this is an old thread but I'm hoping to find peace of mind here. A few months ago I bought some new discoid nymphs from my local shop. They looked odd but I figured utt was just new blood giving it a slightly skinnier appearance. When they started molting I knew they were not discoids, but they looked like Blaberus sp. So I thought whatever. Fed off what I could find and moved on.
Last night i found one of the odd ones: an obvious female dubia. Being in Florida, this is a huge concern for me.
My question is, do they have the capability to cross breed as different species of a different genus?
 

Salmonsaladsandwich

Arachnolord
Joined
Jul 28, 2016
Messages
633
I know this is an old thread but I'm hoping to find peace of mind here. A few months ago I bought some new discoid nymphs from my local shop. They looked odd but I figured utt was just new blood giving it a slightly skinnier appearance. When they started molting I knew they were not discoids, but they looked like Blaberus sp. So I thought whatever. Fed off what I could find and moved on.
Last night i found one of the odd ones: an obvious female dubia. Being in Florida, this is a huge concern for me.
My question is, do they have the capability to cross breed as different species of a different genus?
The dubia probably just got mixed in there as a nymph.
 

LeonExotic

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 2, 2017
Messages
27
They did. I had bought a few more "discoid" nymphs and there were a few dubia in there. My concern is that they've been molted adults for over a couple of months so I'd like to know of there is any possibility of accidental inter-species breeding.
 

Salmonsaladsandwich

Arachnolord
Joined
Jul 28, 2016
Messages
633
They did. I had bought a few more "discoid" nymphs and there were a few dubia in there. My concern is that they've been molted adults for over a couple of months so I'd like to know of there is any possibility of accidental inter-species breeding.
Between dubias and blaberus? Highly doubtful.
 

Hisserdude

Arachnoking
Joined
Apr 18, 2015
Messages
2,453
They did. I had bought a few more "discoid" nymphs and there were a few dubia in there. My concern is that they've been molted adults for over a couple of months so I'd like to know of there is any possibility of accidental inter-species breeding.
Nope, they can not hybridize, as they are in two different genera. Two Blaberus species could hybridize, (if they are very similar in morphology), but Blaberus can't hybridize with Blaptica.
 
Top