G. rosea 1st Pairing!

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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.

Update on Blaberus fusca Roaches!

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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.

Blatta lateralis (Turkestan Roach) care sheet

Blatta lateralis (Turkestan Roach)

Blatta lateralis roaches

Blatta lateralis roaches originated in tropical areas of Asia and Africa including Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, Soviet Central Asia, Kashmir and Afghanistan. Blatta lateralis were named after the Asian area of Turkestan, were they were once collected.  B. lateralis are a dessert species.

B. lateralis as Feeders, along with B. dubia, Turkestan Roaches are becoming a popular and easily bred feeder roach in captivity. A B. lateralis is about the size of a cricket & is about half the size of the B. dubia at adulthood and they have a similar high meat to shell ratio as the Lobster roach, making them excellent feeders. Much like Lobster Roaches, B. lateralis are very thin shelled roaches making them easy to digest. The best part, unlike Lobster roaches, they can not climb smooth plastics or glass surfaces, thus making them easy to keep in their breeding bin and in your reptile/amphibian housing. Males are tan, winged and females are blackish, bulkier.

These little babies are fast, also known as “Red Runners“! All you see is a blur as they scurry away. They move even faster than Lobster Roaches, which are known for their speed. B. lateralis roaches can be kept and raised in anything from 20qt. – 20gal. Sterilite or Rubbermaid type plastic bins. No substrate is needed for these roaches. Put in a few egg crates for hiding & breeding, a dish of high protein dog/cat food, a water source (water gel, fruits, veggies, etc…) and your good to go. Keep temps from 70*F-95*F and they do well. Humidity level of 20%-50% has worked well for me. Keep in mind, that to much moisture in container can and will cause mold, so best to ventilate to keep air flowing through at all times to avoid a catastrophe.

B. lateralis are very prolific breeders. also a reach adulthood in about three to five months like B. dubia and then usually live another six to twelve months. They do not give live birth but instead lay egg cases here and there in the egg crates, on the bin floor, etc, which they then hatch out later, usually within 2-4 weeks depending on humidity levels. Baby nymphs (see pic below) are about 1/8″ when they hatch. Good for feeding baby T’s & scorpions.

It’s been said that the males don’t fly, not completely true. They don’t seem to fly out of anything, but will fly from higher positions. Example: We have B. lateralis running around locally where I live, throughout the summer months. They will wonder in under the front door & make there way back to my room. I have sat there and watched several males just come out of nowhere, so it appears. What happens, is they climb and the flutter fly to a lower location. I find them often in other containers they landed in. If I don’t rescue them, they die. The males seem reluctant to fly out once contained, from my experience. Because B. lateralis are tropical, they will not infest your home if you live in the USA, excluding possibly parts of Florida that are more like tropical conditions. B. lateralis just don’t do well below 60*F. Overall B. lateralis are easy keepers and very fast breeders.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

This photo shows a bunch of new born (1-3 weeks old) ¼” B. lateralis nymphs that I sorted out to feed to my baby Tarantula slings. Slings are an expression used for baby Tarantulas that are generally ¼” – about 1½” legspan and don’t quite look like the adults yet. I use these B. lateralis nymphs to feed my slings and baby scorpions. There equivalent in size to that of a pinhead to ¼” cricket. Much easy to handle, cause they aren’t jumping all over the place. Oh, they may run onto my fingers or hand, no big deal. I always feed my specimens over a larger container, so if any roaches do fall off or escape from the feeding container, they just fall in the larger one. I then just pour them back into there holding bin. Simple and quick. I also like this particular species for feeding my babies, because if one of my slings should decide to molt, chances are the nymph isn’t going to feed on my incapacitated spiderling as a cricket would. To date, I have never had an incident using roaches, much better feeder in my opinion.

DISCLAIMER: Information contained herin is that of information research via the Internet and own personal experience in raising and breeding this species of roach. Any and all questions / comments related to subject are welcome.

Thanks for reading, Greg Hagedorn.

Raising, Breeding and using Roaches as feeders!

Adult B. dubia females

There are many types of feeders insects available for your reptiles, arachnids, amphibians, etc. The most common is probably the cricket. I myself started with crickets. Widely available at your local pet store (lps) and online via the Internet. Over the past decade, roaches, “yes cockroaches”, those little winged critters people think are a pest have entered the world of feeders.

Roaches are becoming more and more excepted in the pet trade as an alternative to feeding crickets. Although there are about 4,000 species of roaches, only 1% of those are said to be a pest and infest your home. In my opinion, after raising, breeding and keeping a few varieties of tropical species of roaches, I believe there misunderstood. Most people find them disgusting because of there reputation. Well, crickets are probably just as bad if not worse.

Some pros and cons of different types of feeders I use for my collection:

Tropical Roaches: Cost to purchase $0.075 – $0.35 ea. For ¼”-¾” nymphs via Internet.

Pros – Widely available via Internet, great meat to shell ratio, non flying/climbing of smooth surfaces (common feeders), little to NO smell, long lived (12-24 months for adults), NO escapees, higher protein value, easy care-clean every 3-6 months, easy to breed.

Cons – Don’t survive low temps below 60F, The “ewe” factor.

Crickets: Cost to purchase $0.015 – $0.15 ea. M/L thru LPS and all sizes via Internet.

Pros – Widely available, inexpressive, survive low temps down to 40F

Cons- Smell awful, escape while feeding, die off quickly and unexpectedly, short lived (6-8 weeks), very noisy when mature, may be difficult to breed, must clean daily to weekly to keep smell down.

Mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) : Cost to purchase $0.02 – $0.07 ea. M/L LPS all sizes via Internet.

Pros – Easy to keep, just refrigerate to slow production, easy to breed, widely available.

Cons – Fattening, hard exoskeleton (chiton – difficult to digest)

Superworms (Zophobas): Cost to purchase $0.036 – $0.07 ea LPS and via Internet

Pros – Better nutritionally than mealworms, can be used as a staple with certain reptiles, easy to keep (room temp, DO NOT REFRIGERATE), long lived.

Cons – May be difficult to breed, if fed in excess, nay cause impaction in young Bearded Dragons, bite and may chew thru thinner plastics, cannibalize each other if lack of moisture.

See for yourself, roaches are the better feeder (imo) and can be fed as a staple food source. The pros and cons are from my own personal experience. Do your research on the Internet and you will see others agree. I have seen about 28 different species of tropical roaches available via the Internet. Florida is one of the  state in the nation where it is against the law to purchase certain species of roaches due to the tropical conditions year round.

Some of the common varieties available in the hobby. Species in bold are some of the most commonly used for feeders in the reptile and invert hobby / profession.

Different types of roaches used as feeders and pets:

Blaptica dubia – Blatta lateralis – Blaberus craniifer – Blaberus discoidalis – Blaberus fusca – Gromphadorhina portentosa – Eublaberus prosticus – Eublaberus distanti – Polyphaga aegyptica – Archimandrita tesselata – Byrsotria Fumigata – Byrsotria Rothi – Hormetica Subcincta – Blaberus parabolicus – Blaberus giganteus – Blaberus hybrids – Blaberus colloseus – Blaberus boliviensis – Gromphadorhina oblingata – Gromphadorhina grandidieri – Elliptorhina javanica – Elliptorhina Chopardi – Princisia vanwaerbecki black – Nauphoeta cinerea – Neostylopyga rhombifolia – Panchlora nivea – Phaetalia pallidus – Rhypharobia maderae – Corydia petriveriana

2¾" Male B. fusca

Roaches kept as pets: Some people keep Blaberus fusca (Swarf Cave Roach) and Gromphadorhina portentosa (Madagascar Hissing Cockroach) as display pets. Yes, display pets. These species of roaches range in size from 2¾” – 4”. A rather large roach. These large behemoths have quite a grip too when handled. The Blaberus fusca make a beatiful display as both males and females are winged.

Housing and feeding: If your just using as feeders, then there setup needs are very simple and minimal. I’ll give example for B. dubia and B. lateralis. You can use any smooth plastic Sterlite or Rubbermaid bin/tubs anywhere from 20 qt tub up to 55 gal bin for housing. Put a piece of screen in lid or on sides for ventilation. No substrate (soil) is necessary for these species. Egg flats, paper towel or toilet paper rolls work well for a hiding place. Roaches are very private and prefer not to be seen. No lighting, instead use a human heat pad without auto shutoff or heat tape/cable hooked up to thermostat for heating. If your breeding, then temps between 85F-95F are required. Moderate humidity to promote good molting for continued growth. Feed high protein dog/cat food, vegetable/fruit scraps. Water gel is best for there moisture needs. You could also just use oranges. Water gel works both as a moisture source and provides adequate humidity.

¼" B. dubia nymphs

Breeding: Roaches either give live birth or lat egg cases (oothica). B. dubia roaches are live bearers. Each adult female is capable of producing 20-30 ¼” nymphs (white) every 30 days or so. When mating, the male will dance around the female with his wings spread to try and impress her. If successful, she wil produce an oothica (egg case), which she caries inside her until giving live birth. Once in awhile she will push the oothica out her rear end and rotate it and pull it back into her body. So don’t be alarmed to see something sticking out, it’s OK. Keep your m/f ratio about 1-8. The B. lateralis are egg layers. They produce an egg case (oothica) every couple weeks after breeding and paste them under the egg flats or drop them on the ground. They produce a few less, but none the less a lot overtime. The egg cases can take anywhere from 3 – 20 weeks to hatch depending on humidity levels. Babies are about 1/8” in size (great alternative to pinhead crickets).

B. lateralis mixed

Feeding your pets: I use two types of roaches as feeders for my reptiles and inverts. I use the B. lateralis (all sizes) for my Tarantulas (slings and juveniles), Scorpions (babies and adults) because they are similar size to a cricket (about 1/8” – 1¼”), don’t burrow and are very active, good attention getter. I use B. dubia for my larger Tarantulas and Beard dragons. One of the drawbacks for feeding these to your Ts, is that B. dubia either play dead or burrow. Either way the Tarantula ends up getting them eventually. If the roach burrows, it usually will reappear at night when your Tarantulas active. If breeding roaches, feed your excess males off first.

All the above information is from my own personal experience with the species of roaches mentioned. If I left anything out or if you have questions or requests, just leave a comment. You could also look me up and follow on Twitter.

Thanks for reading,

Greg