Future roach colonies?

[Andee]

So planning future roach colonies. Where i currently live (i plan to move in 3 years or so) i probably can only have 6 feeder roach colonies and 1 pet roach colony.

1 feeder roach colony i plan to have are Ivory heads

But other choices (mostly general names)-
Red runners
Orange heads
Dubias
Discoids
Halloween hissers
Six spot
Nocticola sp. “Malaysia” (would be good replacement feeder for springtails and fruit flies)
Headlamp roach
Peruvian Cave Roach
Strawberry long wing

Pet roaches-
Centurion
Giant Rhinoceros
Rosy
Bornean leaf
Ember
Patchwork
Big black beetle mimic
Warty glowspot


Anyone have any preferences. Yes these will be sold off when my colonies get big enough and yes they will be raised on the fruit and veggie scraps and healthy dry homemade chow

 

[Andee]

The possibility of having all my colonies and more back are high. Mom is more open to more insects as long as i go slow with this. We are fixing the ant problem in the shed and then once thats fixed all we need to do is deal with temp stability. Which i dont think should be an issue with my idea. My plan for the ants is simple but should be relatively fool proof. Should last 3-6 months of ant free periods and then i just need to look at rebuilding barriers each time. I am almost considerjng creating a barrier outside the shed and then doing a barrier of diatamecious earth inside. The outside barrier is something different that has high reviews. Idk i will see how it goes. Take it slow. Split colonies and work from there. I know the issues now and can tackle them methodically

 

[Thompson]

You can't go wrong with Dubia Roaches for feeders, but first of all, how many chams/other pets are you feeding? That's gonna be a lot of roaches once your colonies get to producing. You have a plan to sell or do something else with the excess ones you'll end up having once they get going? I probably wouldn't keep them anywhere near your ant problem. Try and keep them indoors if possible? Dubia's can't climb the sides of a Tupperware container so escapees don't often happen at all. Dubia's also don't stink, if you keep them well ventilated/and remove any dead ones you see often (the males die off faster) and also clean up any rotting veggies/fruits before they mold over. I also recommend getting isopods or some other cleaner insect, like the beetles people often put with their roach colonies to help clean up decaying matter in their container to stop them from molding over and causing further health problems for the colony (same concept as a bioactive enclosure type thing but with your roaches and you don't necessarily need any substrate, although you may for isopods).

 

[Andee]

Prefer keeping dubia in an eggcrate set up with a mixture of cleaner beetles if i do them. Sadly my entire house ends up being an ant problem at.various times of the year. We arent sure why. Thankfully they arent fire ants but they are still dangerous in large droves and the addition of the instability of the temps last time in the shed were what hit my colonies last time. But i moved them too fast ngl. Pushed too hard. Didnt realize the future issues. I currently have 3 geckos, a blue tongue skink, and a cham, but i usually sell off excess of roaches. I am apart of three forums once again and a couple groups on Mewe. I will also have jumping spiders who end up accepting small nymphs of small softer bodied species at second-third instar.

 

[MissSkittles]

@jamest0o0 @JoXie411 What are those pretty silvery roaches that you guys have?

Being in Florida, I have discoid and had a colony of Surinam. I liked the smaller size of the Surinam for my leopard geckos and chameleons, but I hated how fast they were and their climbing skill. Still not being able to bring myself to touch a roach (it’s very hard to catch escapees with tongs), I almost never fed off the Surinam and eventually sold off my colony.
I don’t know what your criteria for pet roaches is, but question mark roaches are pretty cool looking, as are death’s heads.

 

[Andee]

Ive had question marks before, they were never truly something i fell in love with sadly. Death head's i loved but they are a skittish species when i last interacted with them? Not sure if they still are? And Death head's establish slow as watching paint dry if i remember correctly. Its so weird considering their relatives. They also seem to have some more sensitive molt requirements. I occasionally had some large one that did not pump their wings well.

 

[Persnickety Parson's]

So planning future roach colonies. Where i currently live (i plan to move in 3 years or so) i probably can only have 6 feeder roach colonies and 1 pet roach colony.

1 feeder roach colony i plan to have are Ivory heads

But other choices (mostly general names)-
Red runners
Orange heads
Dubias
Discoids
Halloween hissers
Six spot
Nocticola sp. “Malaysia” (would be good replacement feeder for springtails and fruit flies)
Headlamp roach
Peruvian Cave Roach
Strawberry long wing

Pet roaches-
Centurion
Giant Rhinoceros
Rosy
Bornean leaf
Ember
Patchwork
Big black beetle mimic
Warty glowspot


Anyone have any preferences. Yes these will be sold off when my colonies get big enough and yes they will be raised on the fruit and veggie scraps and healthy dry homemade chow

For feeders you MUST have red runners, and Green banana roaches. (Panchlora nivea)

Alternatively Periplaneta roaches are both good feeders and pets, but can climb.

For dedicated pets, I am thoroughly amused by my hissing roaches, from males talking smack to each and trying to flirt with the ladies, their hissing is most amusing.

Dorylaea orini is another candidate for pet only given its difficult nature to care for.

Simandoa conserfariamcan be both kept for pets and feeders, this species is extinct in the wild, so more people caring for them, the better.

Orange heads are one of the few predatory roaches, watching a colony consume prey is impressive.

There's my roach list.

@MissSkittles I'm guessing a Gyna species.

 

[ERKleRose]

I’d say at least red runners and discoids (dubias are way too slow and can’t even flip themselves over) for feeders and rosy roaches as pets. Rosies have always intrigued me, but I don’t have the space, so I can live through you if you get them!

 

[MissSkittles]

I’m thinking it’s chrome roaches.

 

[jamest0o0]

I've had almost all of those species. I had a huge Peruvian colony, great feeders, but I sold the entire colony off cheap since I've downsized. They were easy, liked moist substrate, pretty similar to dubia. I've had 2 big colonies of deaths heads, also easy, take sometime to get started, but I've got hundreds. They are voracious feeders in large numbers.

I have a big question mark colony, nymphs are known for the long time they take to mature. Got mine to adults in 8 months, but can take up to 2 years if temps/food aren't optimal.

The gyna roaches can range from pretty simple(chrome for example) to difficult(yellow porcelains I've struggled with, but I think I have them down now... don't give them too big of a space or they kind of get lost lol).

Struggled a bit with glowspot too, they lived for a long time, but wouldn't breed. Never followed much up on it.

Feeders my favorites are red runner, blaberus, eublaberus, byrsotria, halloween/dwarf hissers, Dubia(parsons likes them, panthers didn't), ember/shadow, and banana for handfeeding treat... I usually tell people to just start colonies that would interest them the most(or be afraid of the least). Can make them work as feeders with most of the species.

Some species I'd really like in the future would be more types of gyna roaches, P. Magnifica(so expensive), orange domino, glowspots, and a few other rare species

 

[Andee]

For feeders you MUST have red runners, and Green banana roaches. (Panchlora nivea)

Alternatively Periplaneta roaches are both good feeders and pets, but can climb.

For dedicated pets, I am thoroughly amused by my hissing roaches, from males talking smack to each and trying to flirt with the ladies, their hissing is most amusing.

Dorylaea orini is another candidate for pet only given its difficult nature to care for.

Simandoa conserfariamcan be both kept for pets and feeders, this species is extinct in the wild, so more people caring for them, the better.

Orange heads are one of the few predatory roaches, watching a colony consume prey is impressive.

There's my roach list.

@MissSkittles I'm guessing a Gyna species.

Green bananas i had the hardest time with collections and feeding. Red runners are definitely high on the list. Simandoa may be a good candidate to add. They look like good feeders and are beautiful,plus the wild population being so low means they definitely need to be preserved.

 

[jamest0o0]

Green bananas i had the hardest time with collections and feeding. Red runners are definitely high on the list. Simandoa may be a good candidate to add. They look like good feeders and are beautiful,plus the wild population being so low means they definitely need to be preserved.

I had a large speckled banana and giant banana colony that crashed out of nowhere. I think temps got too high, in the future I'd keep them several degrees lower than my regular p Nivea which thrive at 90+

Simandoa are super cool and would make nice feeders. They have a really cool story behind them too(extinct in the wild they say).

 

[Andee]

Rosies and patchwork and the gyna species that interest me the most. Centurion probably come around third.

Ooooh the P. Magnifica are beautiful, would have to look into their care more. They actually arent the most expensive ive seen and wouldnt be out of my price range later on.

 

[Andee]

Interesting the magnifica requirements are SOOOO different than anything ive ever seen.

 

[jamest0o0]

Rosies and patchwork and the gyna species that interest me the most. Centurion probably come around third.

Ooooh the P. Magnifica are beautiful, would have to look into their care more. They actually arent the most expensive ive seen and wouldnt be out of my price range later on.

There are a few people selling rosies I believe, not sure about patchwork. I have a large centurio colony atm too.

P. Magnifica are pretty easy for most people, but $30 per nymph is a lot to commit for a newer species lol. They like good ventilation, but some moist substrate. I've heard they can be prone to fungi too, but just what someone told me. I came so close to ordering them twice, but the one guy wasn't in the US and the other had an emergency and lost a handful of his.

 

[Andee]

Yeah the good ventilation, high humaditiy reminds me of the leaf insects i used to keep. So thats no real issue, i just need to screen in two sides maybe 4? Of a bin as well as the top

 

[Persnickety Parson's]

I’m thinking it’s chrome roaches.

Chrome Roach = Gyna caffrorum

 

[Andee]

buying stuff for substrate, new temp control things, a better hand mister for smaller enclosures, just generally prepping for enclosures.