fluxlizard
Avid Member
This is a little off topic but because of my experience with these insects, I couldn't let the question pass-
WARNING_
Do NOT believe all the positive press about turkistan roaches (AKA red racers, AKA Blatta lateralis).
These guys are popular among some in the hobby right now, but in much of the united states they are considered an infestive species that your local exterminator will be familiar with how to deal with.
My experience- I purchased thousands one year several years ago to set myself up when they were pretty new on the market. Sounded and looked like the perfect feeder. Breed fast, bright colored, fast moving. I kept them around and tried to culture them less than a season- I don't remember exactly how long, but they were purchased near the beginning of one summer and by the end I had gotten rid of them by feeding them "all" off.
Something about them sort of set off alarm bells inside me every time I saw them move. They moved like german roaches, not like tropical roaches. Gave me the heeby jeebies and I felt they might be a mistake so I fed the colonies off.
But THAT was NOT the END of those roaches. A few had escaped in the meanwhile. And they did really well on their own. They spread and within a few years I had a population living in my lizard building. And they seemed to prefer a cool storage/hibernation room in the building over the part with all the lizards and heat lamps and prayers and things. Or at least I saw them and their hatched egg casings and poopies more in the storage room and it was definately cooler- in the 50s in the winter- maybe they just hid better in the lizard part of the building I'm not sure. They were certainly there as well. Their poop is particular disgusting for a roach- is strongly adhesive and glue like, it doesn't just sit waiting to be swept up like tropical roaches, it adheres firmly to whatever surface it was deposited on. And it has a dinstinctive odor to it that is unique and roachy.
And then I started seeing the roaches outside in the yard. Beneath water bowls and food bowls on my in-ground terraria and beneath stones and wood. That is when I really became uneasy. One winter a few years ago we had record long term sub freezing temperatures. It was below freezing and snow on the ground for 2 months + which is extremely unusual for us where I live- usually sub freezing temps last a few days at most, often we get temps in the twenties and teens at night and above freezing the next day. But this year it was so snowy and cold it killed some of the bushes on our property. After weeks of snow on the ground in this environment, I went out into the yard and was moving some old boards and other things- Under every board I flipped there on the bare earth where there was no soil beneath the board, I found those freaking roaches.
I don't know exactly what happened- they sort of built up over a few years, then decreased in numbers over a few years, but they never went away. Prior to the fire this year, a few would still turn up in my roach colonies out in the buidling from time to time- free food comfortable roach house I suppose so climb up to the ceiling and rop in I suppose. I still see an occasional one out in the yard- but their numbers aren't anywhere close to what they were before. I just thank God they never ever went into my home. I only feed dubia to the "pets" we keep in our home and that has always been my policy and I am just so glad I didn't feed those turks to anything in my home and that they never moved from the yard into the house but remained outdoors and in the lizard building.
I was terrified they were going to dispurse into the surrounding environment and create problems in neighbors basements etc. too. But don't seem to have done.
I feel buying those guys was one of the worst things I have ever done.
I think now they may have even passed laws making them illegal in my state.
I'm in USDA zone 7. If someone is in new england or minnesota maybe things are different. But I have no doubt in an apartment building or something in those areas, these could also become a problem there, because of how well they did in the storage/hibernation room in my lizard building for years- though after building up for a few years, they did decrease down to very few and remained at those numbers for unknown reasons. I don't understand the increase or the decrease, maybe some predator around here increased in numbers after they did and now keeps them in check.
One last story about these guys and then I'll let it go. A few years ago we went camping at the beach. There is a large military base next to the campground and normally the situation is quiet but that year there were military practice things going on with helicopters flying around with spotlights in the middle of the night and gunfire (hopefully not live) etc. Not my favorite camping trip of all time. But guys who else showed up probably from the military base (which is how these roaches got started in the US) to our campsite- that's right the turkish roaches were everywhere at night. It was so creepy. We were cooking hotdogs and sat down at the picnic table and they were all over us and the table LOL. My wife was convinced they were intellligent because they would crawl through the cracks and sit beneath and watch the flashlights searching for them. Somehow they got rid fo them or they didn't like the saltwater air or something because this year we went back and they were nowhere to be seen. Neither were the 2am helicopter raids and gunfire fights over and beside the campgrounds LOL.
Seriously- before you buy Blatta lateralis- search google for that scientific name and you will see articles from pest control places that talk about how they are one of their infestive species that they have to deal with in schools and homes.
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