Roach breeding

Jordan

Jordan

New Member
I have been looking to expand with another feeder. The two roaches that caught my eye where blaptic dubia roaches and blaberus discoidalis.

I guess what I am looking for is a link to explain breeding or someone with some experience to kind of walk through how they are doing it. What kind of containers, temperatures, what type of substrate (if any), how do I seperate them, what size roach to start with, any information is appreciated. I keep looking around on the web but find only people selling them. These are not usually people who tell you how to make your own.

I have mixed in beetles quite a bit so I am hoping they will go for the roaches like them.
 
Hi Jordon,

I keep blaptica dubias. They are a great feeder roach.. they don't climb smooth walls, and they don't fly. I keep mine in drawer like containers out in the garage. I chose the garage because it stays pretty cold out there, and blaptica dubias are tropical roaches. If they somehow got loose, or if the containers got dumped, they wouldn't last too long at freezing temperatures. I also like that they don't move very fast.. they seem to be slower than a cricket. If you can get your hands on adults, that is the best way to go. That said, most people sell them as nymphs. The nymphs take a long time (sometimes several months, depending on the size) to grow up and start producing, but once they do.. lordy, you have a very steady supply. I don't use any substrate in my containers, but have in the past. The substrate makes it really hard to clean the container because of the amount of nymphs that hide in it. When I finally took it all out, I froze the substrate for a couple of weeks to make sure there were no survivors. I use a low wattage bulb to keep the box warm.. it is only a 25 watt black bulb. I use plain ole water crystals that I buy from a seller on Ebay to keep the roaches hydrated, along with lots of fruit and veggies. I also feed WER gutload, alfalfa pellets, and a boiled egg mixed with yogurt on occasion. Some people have voiced concerns over the use of water crystals with feeders because the ingested water crystals can apparently cause problems for chameleons. I haven't had any problems that I have ever seen with this method. I add water to the water crystals for a couple months, and then dispose of them and replace with new water crystals. Works out well for me.

Here are some old pictures of one of the boxes from when I had substrate:

roachbox.jpg


Roachbox2.jpg


roachbox4.jpg


insidethetube.jpg
 
have you ever seen any of the blaptica dubias escapee's running around in your house? i was thinking of raising these ,i'm not sure because i was thinking if one or 2 get loose or more then they will be living in my house.
 
I don't think they would survive.
Only 1% of the world's roaches are actually considered pests.
The rest would never choose to infest a home and would have very little possibility of surviving in that environment.

-Brad
 
Fate X said:
have you ever seen any of the blaptica dubias escapee's running around in your house? i was thinking of raising these ,i'm not sure because i was thinking if one or 2 get loose or more then they will be living in my house.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have had escapees. I have found dead ones in various locations in the house.. I once found a huge dead adult stuck to that fabric that is under a couch. Brad is right, they don't seem to survive well on the run. I do find an escapee close to the cages on occasion, and they seem to do alright there, but I suppose that is because there is moisture and heat available. Even then, I don't think they will live long because there isn't any food. I am still really careful with them, though. I have kept them for over a year now, and don't have an infested house. Someone on this forum, I can't remember who.. was saying they had an infestation of hissers in their house, and that the exterminators had been out a couple times. Stories like that give me the shivers..

Heika
 
I would love to see the house that had an "infestation" of hissers. I can't even imagine how that would be possible.
Hissers are forest floor dwelling animals that couldn't possibly survive for very long in a house.
I guess if you had a lot of really big planters they might be able to survive for awhile in those, but to me infestation means they were thriving and breeding. Can you imagine going to the kitchen in the middle of the night and stepping on a fully grown hissing cockroach? :)

Hey Heika,
Where did you purchase your original roaches from?

-Brad
 
Brad Ramsey said:
Hey Heika,
Where did you purchase your original roaches from?
Click to expand...

Jordon said:
I did a search before I started this thread making sure it had not already been covered good and stumbled across this place.

www.blaberus.com
Click to expand...

I bought my first group from Blaberus. The owner is very nice, and he helped me out quite a bit when I first got mine. He does a great job with the shipping, etc., Jordon. If I was in the market, I would buy from him again. I added to the group later when I successfully bid on a bunch of large nymphs from some guy at reptileauctions whose animals wouldn't eat roaches. Since then, I haven't purchased any. When I had a lot fewer animals, I actually gave away a few colonies because I had more than I could use. Now, my growing collection makes me wish I had more.

Not sure what prices are over at blaberus right now, but I noticed an ad from this store recently on Fauna. May be worth looking in to.

Heika
 
I guess in all my years I never thought that I would be looking into buying some roaches and on top of that being excited about it. I can not wait to see how this works out.
 
Heika,
That last link to "bugchick" is worth checking out.
The prices are the best I've seen so far.
Might be worth trying them out to see.
I think I'm going to wait though....there's a show in Denver on the 27th. I'll see if anyone has colonies for sale there before I order.
Probably not, but would hate order and then have that opportunity, especially since it's been 5 degrees below zero here recently.

-Brad
 
Roaches Escaping

For the sake of conversation, what do you think would kill roaches that escaped in your house? They'd certainly find heat sources, and there would be plenty of places to hide, cat or not. Food might be a little scarce, but there would be enough to survive on, and they're just looking for a reason to breed. As bad as I have neglected roaches in containers before and seen them thrive, I'd hate to assume that they would die off if they were to get loose. Better keep some "Bug Boundary" on hand.... I see lots of these conversations where people say that escaped roaches would die off without their native environments, I just don't see what would be bad enough to kill them.

Also, I would check out Reptayls.com for buying roaches, she's got good prices and good counts.
 
i would like to raise some for the hatchlings because it might be easier to produce 1000's of them just im concerned about them escaping and living on the loose i have 2 dogs that might step on them.

can you use them to feed baby veileds?
 
TylerStewart said:
For the sake of conversation, what do you think would kill roaches that escaped in your house?
Click to expand...

That is a good conversation starter. I really have no idea what kills them, but they are invariably dead when I find them. I suppose it is possible (probable) that there are a few live ones hiding here and there, and when I move cages I occasionally find one underneath a cabinet that is alive.

The real question I have is this: Is there anyone out there whose home has been infested by their feeder roaches? I know there is/was one person on this forum who was, and I believe it was hissers, but I could be wrong about the type of roach. With the amount of people who keep them as feeders, that is the only story that I have heard... are there more? Does it happen often and people just don't care to discuss it?

Heika
 
Okay here's the result of some further research.
These roaches don't want to be in your house. Whether or not they find food/ water/ heat they just plain want out. If an escapee or two do survive they are going to be trying to get outside. Infestation is extremely unlikely.

-Brad
 
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