Private breeder feeder & pet exotic roaches. Residing in sunny S. Ca. This blog is all about my collection of various critters, past & present. You'll find care sheets, tutorials and various information on my former reptiles & current inverts.
A quick update to those who have followed the progress of my G. rosea breeding project.
I bred her last November 09′. She was getting larger and larger and was due this month! I checked today and she had freshly molted. So it seems I won’t be getting an egg sac after all. Instead I get a fresh molt, what a trade-off.
She is gorgeous though. It’s probably a good thing she molted. Since I had bred her, my roach production and business has skyrocketed. So I wouldn’t have had much time now anyhow, so all is good.
Setting up your feeder roaches!
The video shows one variation of how a typical setup would be for your B. dubia / B. lateralis and various other feeder roaches. Items you may need are listed below. If you live in a dry climate, less ventilation to hold humidity in. More humid climate, more ventilation. Proper ventilation is necessary to keep humidity levels right and to prevent mold and bacteria from growing. Also try to avoid glass tanks as they don’t hold heat and humidity well. The essential items below can also be purchased from our website.
Supplies Needed:
Plastic tub/bin (shoe box size up to 73 qt is adequate for most).
Shoe box size containers work great if you just need a small colony to feed a couple or a few tarantulas, etc. If you have larger reptiles or need a larger colony, then step up to a larger tub / bin. If all you can find are clear tubs / bins, thats fine too. Roaches are nocturnal for the most part and prefer it dark. Take some black or dark colored paper and mask around your roach bin to give the roaches the darkness they desire. Personally, we use clear bins and the roaches continue to breed without a problem.
Before you begin preparing your roach bin, make some water gel from the water crystals you may of gotten with your roaches. Water crysals are a safe alternative to keeping your roaches hydrated without the risk of drowning. Takes a few hours to make, so now is a good time to start.
Use scissors / razor to cut a hole out of your lid anywhere from a quater the length to full, depending on where you live. If its dry in your area, smaller hole to keep humidity in. If its more humid where you live, more ventilation to keep condensation from building. Use a hot glue gun or similar to glue / secure a piece of metal screen mesh over the hole you cut.
Even though most feeder roaches are non-climbing, the newborn baby nymphs can generally climb because there so small and light. So as a precaution, use clear packing tape, roach barrier or similar along the inside top portion of your roach bin. A good 2″-3″ strip will usually kreep them in.
Now add a few egg flats / cartons, placing them vertically close together. Helps the roaches feel more secure and comfortable allowing them to hide and breed better. Leave room to add a food and water container as well. Any shallow bowl or lid will work just fine. Add some high protein roach chow, dog food or similar to one of the bowls and water gel to the other.
Most feeder roaches don’t require any substrate, so none is needed. It just makes it more difficult to cull your coloony for new nymphs as most like to burrow first chance they get. Well now your reeady to add your roaches. If you bought them from Greg’s Exotic Inverts, they’ll be in a small video size box or similar. Take the box of feeders and open it over your roach bin. Using your fingers, tongs or similar, pull the piece of egg flat out with roaches atatched. Either shake feeders loose or set piece of egg flat in bin and remove latert. Dump / shake remaining feeders into bin and your setup.
Roaches are very easy to keep, breed and maintain. I sugest you use 3 tubs / bins. One for breeders, one for feeders and a spare for containing feeders while cleaning. Happy roaching!!!!
Valid comments on/about/experience are all welcome. Spam, hate, offensive, etc… will be ignored/deleted. Your welcome to share videos as long as it is doesn’t violate any terms. Thanks for reading, Greg Hagedorn.
Short breeding video of my Grammostola rosea’s (Chilean Rose Hair). It looked like it may of been successful. Hard to tell, my son was filming and got excited and lowered the camera below view of possible insertion. I have tried two more attempts to be sure, but the male refuses to get close. Once he detects the female, he is outta of there, up and over the edge running. Time well tell. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Valid comments on/about/experience are all welcome. Spam, hate, offensive, etc… will be ignored/deleted. Your welcome to share videos as long as it is doesn’t violate any terms. Thanks for reading, Greg Hagedorn.
My single pair of adult Blaberus fusca (Dwarf Cave Roaches) produced some babies. I only have 6 or seven babies now. The female layed an egg case almost 2 months ago which produced nothing and just recently noticed a second egg case which produced a few babies. So if these little guys and gals survive, they should be breeding themselves in 3-5 months.
I originally found this pair in my B. dubia roach bin a few months back after they had matured. And just a few days ago, I pulled an egg case just like the ones produced by single pair, out of my B. discoidalis roach bin. I yet to find a female among my discoids. Please note, these B. fusca roaches appear to be egg layers and live baring. On the Internet there are a few sites that say there live baring, some say egg laying. Mine layed egg cases that hatched externally. What’s your experience? Leave comment! This is a start to a new colony of roaches for me. So I was pretty excited for the new additions.
Valid comments on/about/experience are all welcome. Spam, hate, offensive, etc… will be ignored/deleted. Thanks for reading, Greg Hagedorn.
