Starting a roach colony

[Minty]

Been thinking about starting a roach colony, to have a supply of feeders for my tarantulas.

I've had a look at a guide online and it's headed by a warning about the potential of developing an allergy. Is this common? Has anyone here experienced it? This would be the main thing that would put me off starting one.

More importantly, is it worth the effort? Getting a colony started seems fairly straightforward, provide an enclosure, access to water, food and ventilation, enough heat, then wait. Anything I'm missing?

 

[BoyFromLA]

For my Blatta lateralis I provide:

• Enclosure.
• Dry dog food / seldom veggie.
• Room temperature.
• Just a little ventilation.
• No substrate.
• No water.

They are growing in numbers.

 

[CheshireGleam]

I have pretty terrible allergies and asthma but so far, I haven't had an allergic reaction to my roaches. They can still be triggers to asthmatics and might make you sneeze while doing maintenance, I wear a respirator mask just in case. Wash your hands afterwards, they can make your hands irritated. I've only experienced this when their prickly legs accidentally jab my skin while trying to escape.

My roach colony has been going for over a year now, started out from several orders and I haven't had to replenish them for months now, unless I want to add some new blood. I don't know the body count, but over several hundred with many babies on the way. It's definitely been worth it to me, not only due to their very easy care, but they're pretty much my pets, too. I have B. dubia and more recently, B. lateralis. Both species are quite interesting. A big reason I got into tarantulas in the first place was because I needed more roach killers! I don't think you'd regret it, plus you don't have to keep a huge colony to serve if you want a smaller scale one.

 

[Minty]

I have pretty terrible allergies and asthma but so far, I haven't had an allergic reaction to my roaches. They can still be triggers to asthmatics and might make you sneeze while doing maintenance, I wear a respirator mask just in case. Wash your hands afterwards, they can make your hands irritated. I've only experienced this when their prickly legs accidentally jab my skin while trying to escape.

My roach colony has been going for over a year now, started out from several orders and I haven't had to replenish them for months now, unless I want to add some new blood. I don't know the body count, but over several hundred with many babies on the way. It's definitely been worth it to me, not only due to their very easy care, but they're pretty much my pets, too. I have B. dubia and more recently, B. lateralis. Both species are quite interesting. A big reason I got into tarantulas in the first place was because I needed more roach killers! I don't think you'd regret it, plus you don't have to keep a huge colony to serve if you want a smaller scale one.

I don't have asthma or any known allergies, but I do have a respirator handy if needs be. What type of respirator do you use?

Would using long tongs, be a way to negate having to handle them? Might just use rubber gloves, actually.

 

[CheshireGleam]

Yeah, tongs/gloves are a good idea. I use a stiff sort of cloth one, I'd type the label if I had it still. If it covers the nose and mouth, it's probably fine.

 

[Minty]

Yeah, tongs/gloves are a good idea. I use a stiff sort of cloth one, I'd type the label if I had it still. If it covers the nose and mouth, it's probably fine.

Ah that's cool, the respirator I have will be fine then.

 

[draconisj4]

I keep small colonies of both B. lateralis and Dubia, they are easy to maintain and since I need all sizes of feeders for my Ts and my Harvestmen eat about 30 pinheads a week it's been worth the bit of extra time they take and the money saved. I keep mine at room temperature and they still breed fine just at a slower rate.

I already have respiratory problems but I haven't noticed any difference in the year since I've had the roaches.

 

[Goopyguy56]

I have been thinking of starting a colony myself. I thought you would have to heat them up to breed. Guess I was wrong. I wonder if adding springtails to the roach colony would help clean up waste

 

[Liquifin]

I have been thinking of starting a colony myself. I thought you would have to heat them up to breed. Guess I was wrong. I wonder if adding springtails to the roach colony would help clean up waste

For the lateralis, warmer temps actually helps ootheca (eggs) hatch faster. Warmer temps also affects metabolism rate as well, oddly. I feed my colony the same amount every time, and in cooler temps their is less poop than in warmer temps. Another thing I can say about temps is that the warmer it is, the more active they are. Do spring tails help with the poop matter? the answer is actually no. As the colony grows bigger, the more droppings of poop their is going to be. Which means it's going to be a huge amount of spring tails in your colony, but no actual poop being dealt with. I tried using spring tails for a short while, but it didn't make a difference in the end. I have to clean my lateralis colony once every week. And it takes almost 2 hours to do so. Note: if you don't clean your feeder colony often, their is going to be a god amount of grain mites, which their not harmless, but are super annoying to deal with.

 

[Minty]

For the lateralis, warmer temps actually helps ootheca (eggs) hatch faster. Warmer temps also affects metabolism rate as well, oddly. I feed my colony the same amount every time, and in cooler temps their is less poop than in warmer temps. Another thing I can say about temps is that the warmer it is, the more active they are. Do spring tails help with the poop matter? the answer is actually no. As the colony grows bigger, the more droppings of poop their is going to be. Which means it's going to be a huge amount of spring tails in your colony, but no actual poop being dealt with. I tried using spring tails for a short while, but it didn't make a difference in the end. I have to clean my lateralis colony once every week. And it takes almost 2 hours to do so. Note: if you don't clean your feeder colony often, their is going to be a god amount of grain mites, which their not harmless, but are super annoying to deal with.

Why does it take two hours to do the cleaning?

 

[Liquifin]

Why does it take two hours to do the cleaning?

I have a huge colony, and I have to feed them sufficiently. Too little food causes cannibalism and females to eat their own eggs. I use to have a food dish for them, but I took it out recently, because maggot phorid fly larvae's started eating off the food dish and reproducing godly fast. I take two hours to clean thoroughly for my colony, because roach poop is super rich nutrients for phorid fly larvae to feed off and good for adult phorid flies to lay eggs on. So I have to make sure I take as much poop and stuff out as I can.

 

[Minty]

I have a huge colony, and I have to feed them sufficiently. Too little food causes cannibalism and females to eat their own eggs. I use to have a food dish for them, but I took it out recently, because maggot phorid fly larvae's started eating off the food dish and reproducing godly fast. I take two hours to clean thoroughly for my colony, because roach poop is super rich nutrients for phorid fly larvae to feed off and good for adult phorid flies to lay eggs on. So I have to make sure I take as much poop and stuff out as I can.

Would it be possible for you to post pictures of your colony? So I can get an idea of what to expect.

 

[cold blood]

A second thread on the subject this week...nice

 

[Liquifin]

Would it be possible for you to post pictures of your colony? So I can get an idea of what to expect.

At the moment, i'm just throwing dog food in without a food dish, to distribute it, to prevent all the food being in one spot for the phorid larvae. But a food dish is recommended, but i'm still dealing with a little bit of phorids left. As for water gel, I'm currently using small Pringles lid for them. The idea actually worked for me and most of them are gone. But here's an idea of my colony at the moment. Don't mind the ootheca on the front, its placed on the warmer side of the spacer heater.

 

[Minty]

At the moment, i'm just throwing dog food in without a food dish, to distribute it, to prevent all the food being in one spot for the phorid larvae. But a food dish is recommended, but i'm still dealing with a little bit of phorids left. As for water gel, I'm currently using small Pringles lid for them. The idea actually worked for me and most of them are gone. But here's an idea of my colony at the moment. Don't mind the ootheca on the front, its placed on the warmer side of the spacer heater.
View attachment 293652
View attachment 293653

Thanks for that. Need to go out and buy some dubia for my colony, now.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

I thought you would have to heat them up to breed. Guess I was wrong. I wonder if adding springtails to the roach colony would help clean up waste

Red runners won't produce oothecae at all if kept under 25°C IME so I keep their tub on top of a heat mat now (had a month long period where temps didn't go over 24°C, went to clean them and there wasn't a single ooth in there), I keep a small tub of soil seeded with springtails in with mine but only to deter grain mites from setting up shop in there.

More importantly, is it worth the effort? Getting a colony started seems fairly straightforward, provide an enclosure, access to water, food and ventilation, enough heat, then wait. Anything I'm missing?

Yeah, if you sell off excess roaches then they basically pay for themselves and then some. That pretty much covers everything.

 

[Galapoheros]

I thought I had an allergy going with roaches, couldn't figure it out. I got desperate and tried the "no gluten" thing and all those problems went away. I wouldn't worry about an allergy prob until I found out I had one. Definitely been worth raising my own feeders, they can be kind of interesting to watch also, if you're bored haha.

 

[Ellenantula]

I think some people do develop roach allergies the more they are exposed to them. I've always had asthma and allergies to most everything yet I've been lucky so far -- 4+ years in and not experiencing any issues.

 

[Zevil]

I too, has asthma and also major dust allergy. I kept both lateralis and dubia colony for 8 months now. I do sneeze sometimes when doing maintenance on both of these colonies. I believe I have around 1500 dubias including the adults. As for my lateralis, probably 3 times more.