Lobster Roach Issue

[tkilgour]

People always said these don't infest, need extremely humid and warm temps to reproduce, etc. Well I have found out the hard way this isn't exactly true. I was given a free colony of the awful roaches and needless to say, they are infesting. As soon as we hit 80 degrees Fahrenheit, lobster roaches started appearing everywhere in our warehouse! I am seeing them race up walls, along cham enclosures, across the glass of my reef aquariums, in the parking lot, and even in dubia bins. Luckily, baits, and pesticides are doing the trick and their population has quickly been put to a halt. This is the second nasty roach species I have had to deal with in the past decade. The other terrible roach species was the red racer or B. lateralis. I recommend hobbyists stick to dubia. The last thing you want is a bunch of fat roaches racing around your mom's shower or all over her bed. My guess is you will never hear the end of that one!

 

[jamjam]

funny you post this seen someone the other day selling their colony and sort of thought about it. good thing i didnt

 

[tkilgour]

Funny thing is, most people I have ever talked to said they don't infest. I searched all over the Web and everything I read said the same. Maybe I have some super species, but I have been on quite the killing spree. Hopefully none return!

 

[Olimpia]

Blegh, what a hassle to deal with! That stinks.

I've never been convinced that these species, the two you mention, were not going to be a problem down the road. I'm definitely sticking to discoids now for sure!

 

[little leaf]

oh geese- that would be bad yours is not the first post about these things taking over - I was offered some of them, but I knew better- I told them to take them to take them out and BURN THEM - sorry you had to deal w/ that - I only keep the dubia and banana - they are "safe" , but I think any of them could be an issue if they have what they need when they get lose -

 

[misshissingroaches]

Yes among many lies. Lobster Roaches do/will infest where as Madgagascar hissers won't.

 

[Montium]

Yes among many lies. Lobster Roaches do/will infest where as Madgagascar hissers won't.

Depends on your climate

 

[tkilgour]

I have noticed now that the A/C is on and the inside temp is 70 degrees, the roaches are staying outside. I have traps everywhere inside and I have sprayed a barrier spray along every wall. It's about 83 tonight and humid and we had a heavy rain about an hour ago. Now I see little nymphs racing around all the exterior lighting on the warehouse. I just dosed them with more pesticide, so hopefully this does them in! I'll stay vigilant and hope that will be enough to eradicate these roaches. If not I'm calling the orkin man!

 

[fluxlizard]

People always said these don't infest, need extremely humid and warm temps to reproduce, etc. Well I have found out the hard way this isn't exactly true. I was given a free colony of the awful roaches and needless to say, they are infesting. As soon as we hit 80 degrees Fahrenheit, lobster roaches started appearing everywhere in our warehouse! I am seeing them race up walls, along cham enclosures, across the glass of my reef aquariums, in the parking lot, and even in dubia bins. Luckily, baits, and pesticides are doing the trick and their population has quickly been put to a halt. This is the second nasty roach species I have had to deal with in the past decade. The other terrible roach species was the red racer or B. lateralis. I recommend hobbyists stick to dubia. The last thing you want is a bunch of fat roaches racing around your mom's shower or all over her bed. My guess is you will never hear the end of that one!

Hey there-
I've used lobsters for over a decade, and like you I had a problem with lateralis (horrible experience with those).

Lobsters aren't like those, at least in conditions here (southern va). I don't know where you heard they need humidity or heat- they do not. They breed all winter here in years past even when the lizard building had temps in the 50s and 60s, and they can take very close to freezing, maybe even light frosts outdoors. Lateralis can take hard freezes and snow on the ground for a couple of months and still come out alive. Lobsters cannot.

If you get rid of them- they will dissappear after a while (few months). I have had summers here where I fed over a million lobsters out to lizards. (literally over a million- not a figure of speach). And my cages aren't exactly lobster proof for babies- almost impossible to do. So in summer there are always more than a few running around the cage area, which is right next to the house (lobsters aren't allowed as feeders in the house- they are restricted to lizard building and outdoor use) and in the winter few creep into the house. But by a few I mean a handful. we might find a dozen over the course of the fall and early winter but by mid winter they are gone not to be seen again. Similarly- if the cages aren't outdoors, we don't see the lobsters any more. A few are always loose in the lizard building, but they don't "infest". The loose are escapees- I think conditions in some of the cages are actually suitable for their culturing, but conditions outside of the cages are not, so any unintended larger scale reproduction is going on beneath the humid substrate in some of the cages. If boxes or banks of cages are moved, etc, we don't find a population of them building up and establishing in tight dark spaces. This is very unlike the lateralis. Maybe with your fish tanks things are more humid in your building though and if they can find some nice warmish dark humid areas, they might set up camp- I don't know about that.

Possibly here they prefer the outdoors and leave the building and cannot survive the outdoors once winter sets in. I don't see them all over the place outdoors though, unlike the lateralis incident which went on for several years after their brief use was discontinued. In fact, other than near the caging outdoors I can't remember seeing them at all.

Still- because they are so hardy my policy has always been no lobsters in my home and every post I've ever mentioned them I've always issued that caution. I allow dubia and would allow things like discoids (I have a giant hybrid that I breed from the same genus) but not lobsters. They aren't my favorite roach- lots of them together makes an odor that "clings" and lingers and I don't like the climbing thing. But they are pretty nearly perfect insofar as they are very soft bodied, eat anything and everything, and babies are small enough for baby chameleons, and they have an unrivaled reproductive rate. Because of their soft and thin exoskeleton, baby bearded dragons can eat any size nymph and not get the twitches unlike crickets where size has to be carefully selected. So I have a love/hate thing going on with them as feeders.

If your warehouse is open to the public or close to other businesses lobsters are a bad idea... But I think if you discontinue using them they will fade out significantly over a few months and disappear altogether over the winter...

Sounds like you are already on the way to clearing them out with the AC.

 

[tkilgour]

Oh geez, thanks fluxlizard! They seem to no longer be inside the warehouse. Luckily it isn't open to the public and there are no nearby homes or offices. Although, no joke, last night I saw thousands of nymphs racing around the exterior lights. I sprayed the day lights out of them with pesticides, so hopefully that does their population in. I'll continue to set fresh baits and spray until I no longer see them. We do have very cold and snowy winters here, so that should take care of any that make it through the summer. The aquariums here are all saltwater. It seems like any roaches that touched salt spray died very quickly. Do you think all the pesticides and baits will kill these things off and keep them outside?

 

[fluxlizard]

Yeah I think so.
I would be very interested in hearing back in a year or so how it went for you.

 

[tkilgour]

Never ever buy these everyone. Don't take freebies either. I have been spraying since my first post and they are still in full force. At least they're outside and not in.