feeder roaches for T's

I was wondering if anyone could hook me up with a scientific name for feeder roaches that are not able to climb on glass... I want to start using them instead of criks.
tanks, tanks for eberyting

What you are looking for are Blaberus discoidalis they dont climb glass or fly, I am just getting a colony set up myself...

Regards, Mike

Blaptica dubia and Eublaberus prosticus are good ones too

Lobsters climb but are cheap and breed like crazy.

I went with lobster roaches myself (Nauphoeta cinerea, :razz: yes I know they climb glass). I keep them in a very large sterilite container, I have a heat pad, and lots of egg crates for hides, vaseline smeared at the top, and I have yet to have a single escape, even though nightly I keep the top off for several hours to "air em out". The main reason I went with them is they are very prolific breeders, easy to care for, and were VERY inexpensive.

To eliminate issues with them climbing away from hungry T's, I pre-kill em. (crush the head) I know this isn't the most fun thing to have to do, but it kept me from having to spend well over $100 for the same size colony I was able to get for $20.

Even if you removed the head completely the roach will still move quite a bit, therefore you'll still be able to see some hunting. None of the 22 T's I own will refuse pre-killed prey, even if the prey does not move at all. Arboreals love em too, it gives em something to chase on their level.

I know you wanted some non-climber, I only posted this to point out to folks who are on a tight budget that all the negative things associated with climbing species can usually be taken care of fairly easily with a little bit of planning, and some creativity.

What does the Vaseline do?

It keeps em from climbing out of the enclosure when the lid is off, it also prevents having to knock the roaches off the lid since they can't get past the vaseline.

lol I love the avatar Soupy. NES, Know your roots.

hmm

k i use vasaline 2. i was told that it;s not good for your roaches.it;s sapposed to be heavyer then air when it heats up.most ppl would use some kind of heat sorce with roaches.So it was sapposed to sloww every thing down and makes the roaches heavy and sluggish.And i was told not to use the {vas} cus it really hurts your breeding process even limited the number of babies per female.

I have noticed this in my roches also even if i provide the correct conditions there not breeding as much as i like . i even have 2 different colony of the same roach and both r haveing the same problems and i them both keep at slighty differnt conditions for breeding.both should be doubleing each month under poor conditions .So i have reason to beleive it is the vas!

does anyone have any info on vas or a better product? i kno ppl have been using it for years but what if all this time u could of been doubling or tripping your colonies

If any one has any good ideas for escape proof roach containers without the {vas} let me kno ?Roaches are bastards and will get out of anything they can shrink and flatten out. some of the babies are pin head size and can crawl though screen {don;t learn it the hard way}:wall: I will try an experiment, and post my info

:lobsters
:hissers

Kazmins T's said:

I was wondering if anyone could hook me up with a scientific name for feeder roaches that are not able to climb on glass... I want to start using them instead of criks.
tanks, tanks for eberyting

Click to expand...

Here is a good thread on various roaches

Blaberus Discoidalis suck for tarantulas. They burrow into substrate, they don't breed fast, and the smallest nymphs are too large to feed to some slings. My colony I've had since october is only now getting established, and I started with 100 nymphs, many of who were sub adults, and 2 breeding pairs.

Get Blatta lateralis, they are cricket sized, so you can feed the babies to the smallest slings. They are fast breeders and they don't burrow often. They like to climb, but can't climb glass, so they are good for arboreals.

somberloathing said:

k i use vasaline 2. i was told that it;s not good for your roaches.it;s sapposed to be heavyer then air when it heats up.most ppl would use some kind of heat sorce with roaches.So it was sapposed to sloww every thing down and makes the roaches heavy and sluggish.And i was told not to use the {vas} cus it really hurts your breeding process even limited the number of babies per female.

If any one has any good ideas for escape proof roach containers without the {vas} let me kno ?:wall: I will try an experiment, and post my info

:lobsters
:hissers

Click to expand...

You are talking about petroleum jelly right? Of course its heavier than air, its a solid...are you thinking of something else?

SoupyC said:

You are talking about petroleum jelly right? Of course its heavier than air, its a solid...are you thinking of something else?

Click to expand...

yes those type of products
the fumes it gives off when it;s heated up

As Whiskeypunk stated.........Blatta lateralis are an excellent choice. Breed like crazy......mine never burrow......quite active......grew mine at room temps & they did just fine.......don't climb glass or very slick surfaces......are quite affordable.......are cricket sized..........heck, I've even fed off the big females because I had too many of these guys......easy to feed & take care of.......don't die like the crickets.:razz:

Beth

My heating pad is at the bottom, more than a foot from the vaseline. I'm not sure how warmed up it could get. The heating pad is small. I'm not looking to produce as quickly as possible so I don't push it as far as temps go. Most of my care information came sites that sold feeder roaches exclusively. I have to imagine they are looking to produce as quickly as possible, and keep heat up. Many do mention that too hot near the top and it can run down the sides. While some claimed to use bug stop (or whatever it's called) exclusively, they also sold it as well. The rest usually claimed they used vaseline.

I haven't had the colony for long enough, nor have I experimented with different substances, so I can't comment. I can only share what I read. I'd love to see a few short, care sheets with things that you do differently than what you have read and what has worked the best.

Eventually I may just try non-climbers myself, I just didn't have much to spend and didn't want to waste it if I just plain decided I could not live with roaches.

I've had roaches in the past for my bearded dragon and leopard geckos, so when I decided to get into the keeping of tarantulas getting roaches was a no-brainer for me. They are so much easier to take care of than crickets, and cheaper too.

While you are ideally wanting a non-climber, the lobster roach is a great roach, as others have recommended. They're cricket sized for most life stages of T's, they're cheap, breed like crazy, and are easy to keep in the container despite the fact they climb.

Sizes of Lobsters:


I ordered a starter colony of 100 lobsters and in the month or more I've had them they've been breeding like mad at room temp (70-74*F). Although if you can get them in a warmer room they will do even better. Right now I've only got 4 spiders and 3 tree frogs that eat them, so I'm not really looking to feed an army at this point.

I keep mine in a 2-3 gallon Sterilite container of which I've modified the lid with aluminum screen for ventilation. Around the upper 2-3" I've smeared a thin layer of Pam cooking spray. It's not as gunky as Vaseline, and if the roaches do get into it it doesn't coat everything they walk on (spraying Pam in a newly cleaned cat litter box and wiping it around before you put litter in also keeps the cling-ons off). Although if you can find that Bug Stop teflon stuff, its really nice. Mine have a few paper egg cartons to hide on, a water bowl with some sphagnum moss to prevent drowning, and feed pre-prepared diet. Although to be completely honest, mine rarely even try to climb the walls. Everything they need is right there, so I never really see anyone climbing just to climb.

Roach Container:


In my order of lobsters came a few Blatta lateralis which have been thriving in the same container as my lobsters. They tend to hang out in the upper egg cartons and all in all I like them better than the lobsters I think. They're not as skittish, they can't climb smooth surfaces well, breed just as fast, and easier to catch (most crawl right onto your finger).

Blatta lateralis with a couple lobsters:


James from Blaberus is having a sale on roaches down in the For Sale section. 100 Blatta lateralis for $20 or so. So far for me, he's been a great guy to deal with.

Juraki said:

I went with lobster roaches myself (Nauphoeta cinerea, :razz: yes I know they climb glass). I keep them in a very large sterilite container, I have a heat pad, and lots of egg crates for hides, vaseline smeared at the top, and I have yet to have a single escape, even though nightly I keep the top off for several hours to "air em out". The main reason I went with them is they are very prolific breeders, easy to care for, and were VERY inexpensive.

To eliminate issues with them climbing away from hungry T's, I pre-kill em. (crush the head) I know this isn't the most fun thing to have to do, but it kept me from having to spend well over $100 for the same size colony I was able to get for $20.

Even if you removed the head completely the roach will still move quite a bit, therefore you'll still be able to see some hunting. None of the 22 T's I own will refuse pre-killed prey, even if the prey does not move at all. Arboreals love em too, it gives em something to chase on their level.

I know you wanted some non-climber, I only posted this to point out to folks who are on a tight budget that all the negative things associated with climbing species can usually be taken care of fairly easily with a little bit of planning, and some creativity.

Click to expand...

I couldn't have said it better myself! I got some lobsters from David Beard as a freebie and I've been cricket free ever since (THANK GOD)!! They do climb but are easily contained using vasoline around the edges.

Taceas said:

Although to be completely honest, mine rarely even try to climb the walls. Everything they need is right there, so I never really see anyone climbing just to climb.

Click to expand...

I agree with this. I very rarely see any on the sides, and as for the pam cooking spray.. Do you need to re-apply it often? Do you spray it directly on the side, or into a sponge and apply it?

Knowing me I'd prob use so much that I'd have it running down the sides. (I REALLY don't want any getting out so I'm very paranoid lol)

I just grab a sheet of paper towel, slightly wad it, and spray a bit on it and then "grease" the sides, as though I were greasing a baking dish. I just wipe that around the top 2-3", firmly and then go back with a clean spot of the paper towel and wipe off the excess if there is any.

So far I haven't had the need to re-apply, and it still feels greasy to me if I grab it. Then again I've only had the colony going for about a month.

I'd used the Bug Stop in the past which worked great, but when I went to use what I had left over from when I had roaches years ago, all of the teflon was congealed into a single mass. And I didn't feel like spending $10 for another container that would likely do the same thing. Maybe if I end up with more than one container of roaches, it'd be worth it. But so far the Pam is doing good.

My vote goes for the Blatta latteralis. My colony is kicking behind and taking numbers as far as breeding goes. I opened the screen to give them more water crystals the other day and had to put the water dish back down because it was alive with baby roaches! They were all over the floor around and under the dish as well. A couple of females must have dropped eggsacks in or near the water dish, boy do they breed fast, I've had them for less than a month!