Questions About Roaches

1) Do roaches breed continually untill they die, and how long does it take for them to reach maturity?

2) Would it be cost-effective to breed roaches for 5 T's? (2 slings, 3 sub-adults)

3) Do they need alot of space, and if i limited space would it keep the colony down?

4) for good feeders, what should the roaches eat?

5) What is one of the most easily-managable roaches?.. dont fly, slow enough to grab.. Do any roaches bite????

Bellis said:

1) Do roaches breed continually untill they die, and how long does it take for them to reach maturity?

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There are many, MANY species of roaches out there. Some take 3-5 months to mature, and some take less or more time. They will breed babies for most of there adult lives. Your best bet is to purchase a starter colony of around 100, most roach dealers sell starter colonies in that size of common feeder roaches for around 40-70 bucks.

Bellis said:

2) Would it be cost-effective to breed roaches for 5 T's? (2 slings, 3 sub-adults)

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Not really, unless you plan on buying a ton more Ts. Otherwise your roach colony will breed until you have roaches up the wazoo. My colony is absolutely crawling with baby nymphs right now. I predict by july I will have at least 4-500 roaches. I have 10 Ts (and going up) right now, and am slowly switching to pure roaches.

Bellis said:

3) Do they need alot of space, and if i limited space would it keep the colony down?

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No, I keep mine in a big 15 gallon rubbermaid container in a corner of my room. You can increase the colony's floor space by making a roach "motel" out of cork sheets as in THIS. I also use no susbtrate, as the last thing I need is picking 500 roaches out of a mold infested tank.

Bellis said:

4) for good feeders, what should the roaches eat?

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Either buy the roach food online from your dealer, and/or use dry dog food (not cat food). For hydration I give mine oranges, bannana, and some grated carrot every once in a while. You can also buy water crystals, but they don't sell them around where I live.

Bellis said:

5) What is one of the most easily-managable roaches?.. dont fly, slow enough to grab.. Do any roaches bite????

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Most roaches jaw action is weaker then a crickets, so biting you is out.

Most roaches are fast runners, but I find them easier to grab then crickets.

Blaptica Dubia, and Blaberus Discoidalis. These are good roaches that Ts will take. One problem if you switch entirely to these species is that the nymphs maybe to large for a very small sling to take. In other words, if it needs pinheads, then it probably can't take a baby of either of these species.

I own B. Discoidalis. However, I sometimes have trouble with them burrowing, or charging into my Ts hide so fast my spider goes running for it. One trick is crush the head of the roach with a pair of tongs. A roach's brain is only partially in it's head, so it will stumble around drunkenly. This will prevent it from burrowing into the substrate.

However, I will be switching to or adding either:

Nauphoeta cinerea as they seem to be an especially excellent feeder for Tarantulas, due to the small size of the nymphs for tiny slings. Yes they do fly, but you can prevent escapes by putting a line vaseline on the top of their home.

Or Blatta Lateralis. This another species that would be good for tarantulas of all sizes due to the small size of nymphs. These are fast. Apparently these don't burrow much which is good. Roaches burrowing into my Ts substrate and me finding it a week later is my main problem with B. Discoidalis.

I feel your best bet is N. Cinerea or B. Lateralis for T food.

I would reccomend N. cinerea for your first colony. I think they are a great investment as you can usually get 100-250 for under $20. They are also baby machines, and will breed fast even at room temperature.

The only problems with them is that they can climb smooth surfaces such as plastic and glass, and may breed to fast if you don't having anything to keep their numbers reasonable (this is why I'm buying a leopard gecko ).

Probably the most commonly kept roach is B. dubia. They don't climb smooth surfaces, are slower moving that N. cinerea, are extremely extremely easy to sex, get quite large, and I've even heard they have a kind of "sweet" smell to them. They also breed relativity fast, but will require higher temps to breed. The only thing though is that they are substantially more expensive than N. cinerea, around 10-15 for $10.

I would stay away from lobster roaches, they climb and are great at hiding, lateralis is a good choice they move a lot and dont hide very well. dubia and the other popular feeders, burrow and are in my opinion only good if yuo are hand feeding or pre killing them, I use them for my reptiles and they gobble them down, but inverts dont always go right after the prey, and they will have time to hide.

it's so hard to get theres from where i stay. I'm resorting to looking for wild colonies for my coming holiday

Blatta Lateralis have become my favourite over dubias to be honest. I'm now only maintaining my dubias because I can sell them to other people and for when my parhaybanas and blondi mature. Other than that I hardly use them anymore unless I put them into a burrowers tank.

Cirith Ungol said:

Blatta Lateralis have become my favourite over dubias to be honest. I'm now only maintaining my dubias because I can sell them to other people and for when my parhaybanas and blondi mature. Other than that I hardly use them anymore unless I put them into a burrowers tank.

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How are B. lateralis? I was wondering, because it seems like they're pretty much just expensive N. cinerea that can't climb glass. How do they do with egg cases instead of live birth? I've heard that they breed about as fast as lobsters, but like 1/3 - 1/2 of the egg cases never hatch because they get layed on the floor, on the egg crates, etc. and dry out. Also, do they hide as much as lobsters?

ShadowSpectrum said:

How are B. lateralis? I was wondering, because it seems like they're pretty much just expensive N. cinerea that can't climb glass. How do they do with egg cases instead of live birth? I've heard that they breed about as fast as lobsters, but like 1/3 - 1/2 of the egg cases never hatch because they get layed on the floor, on the egg crates, etc. and dry out. Also, do they hide as much as lobsters?

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They're medium sized, fast, non climbers, non diggers... well non climbers is a bit wrong. They like to go up if given the chance, but then they need a rough surface to cling on to. That makes them perfect for arboreal T's.

Yeah they dump ootheca allover the place. I havn't managed to equip the colony with a substrate that makes the little ones hatch on their own but instead I have to hatch the ootheca in an incubator. But I'm just as happy about that since it's not much of an effort.

They breed very fast but grow slowish and live for quite long.

They do hide but they can't usually sit still for very long.

I have dubias and lateralis. The lateralis were a little freaky when I first got them because they move quickly. Now I'm used to working with them I think they're fantastic.
The lateralis breed super fast and don't burrow. I separate the egg cases out and am becoming overrun with them. I start a new container each month and now have several size graded containers of nymphs which is a little more efficient at feeding time.
The dubias are much slower breeders for me and will burrow if left in the cage. As mentioned the baby nymphs may be too large for some inverts.