Green cuban roach

[susurrus]

I've been looking through the Chameleon! E-Zine that's referenced off and on here and was reading up on roaches and saw the green cuban roach. It looks pretty cool and I would love to have a short-range flier for my chameleon to eat. Looks like their available from www.blaberus.com. Has anyone had any experience with them? They're also known as green banana roaches.

 

[desultadox]

It's my understanding that those roaches are decent fliers. That's too much for me ;p

 

[Brad Ramsey]

They fly great but are not too scary to keep.
I used a plastic bin that salad came in from Costco that I pricked teeny holes in for ventilation (their nymphs can get out through screen).
I used a moist moss substrate and fed only wet food (mostly fruit), which had to be changed often to avoid mold. Small pieces of pvc tubing make good hides for them, buried in the moss or peat. It's easy to change out the food ... they hide, just make sure you don't throw out any nymphs.
They aren't that big but are loved by chameleons. Their bright green color has a lot to do with this ... chameleons love green insects!

-Brad

 

[susurrus]

Where'd you buy yours from? Seems I need to custom order them from that website I mentioned. Also I assume they climb around a bit when they're in the cage since they can fly, I'd like a somewhat active feeder for my chameleon.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

I had them a while back, but they all died in a cold snap. They are more delacate than dubia, by far, whicvh is good cause they climb and fly. I do nto want a hardy roach that can escape.

Only adults are green. They are small, but very pretty. Really, if you had these crawling around your house, it's not bad - hard to get disgusted at a green insect. I am going to breed them when I get a permanant lizard room setup.