# Blaberus giganteus



## dtknow (Oct 26, 2007)

Received a group of Blaberus giganteus(5 adults, several large nymphs, maybe 10 smaller nymphs). All I can say is man these are big uns! I think some are close to 3.5 inches(90mm) though I have not measured them. What is the biggest giganteus anyone has seen?






Female. 






About 3.25 or a little more.












Some of the adults+nymph.

For those who've been keeping these do non roach people think these are large? To me they seem almost too big to be bugs. But I always here people talking about roaches(probably P. americana) that are "as big as their hand" or whatever.


----------



## thedude (Oct 26, 2007)

the ones that areas big as your hands are the rhino roaches in australia... they eat dead leaves

but ne way these are my favorite species of roach


----------



## REAL (Oct 26, 2007)

I'm planning to get those next!

They are sooo freaken huge!!

Do they bite or anything?


----------



## thedude (Oct 26, 2007)

nope.. just fly(sorta) when the get to th edge of your hand, every so often i take one outside and throw it into the air and it flies a few yard away (think how grasshoppers fly) oh and they have those nasty itchy leg spikes


----------



## REAL (Oct 26, 2007)

thedude said:


> nope.. just fly(sorta) when the get to th edge of your hand, every so often i take one outside and throw it into the air and it flies a few yard away (think how grasshoppers fly) oh and they have those nasty itchy leg spikes


My discoidis also glides too, its so nice watching them. Discoidis looks almost exactly like giganteus, except their about half the size.

My mom saw my discoidis and she was like OMFG WHERE'S MY BUG SPRAY!!


----------



## thedude (Oct 26, 2007)

funny caus thats what my neighbors said


----------



## dtknow (Oct 26, 2007)

Haha...I am a bit surprised as it seems people may be more scared of these then hissers...even though hissers to me are a bit more "eww"(if I can even say that about a bug). I bet Blaptica dubia males would scare the crap out of any non roach person though!

Thedude: Yeah...but whenever you tell people about roaches(or whenever they'd see the hissers I kept)...they'd mention how they saw roaches much bigger down South.

Btw, for the leg spikes...so far I've found these are actually pretty nice. The adults since their wings more than cover their bodies often can't even reach you to kick if you pick them up correctly. The also tend to stay still once picked up instead of squirming everywhere and pricking you like hissers.


----------



## thedude (Oct 26, 2007)

lol.. alot of people mistake giant water bugs for roaches in VA,NC and FLA but i have seen an american roach thats about 2" long lol. but in short ive never seen ne thing bigger than my huge dead male hisier that i raised from a nymph wich was as big as my S-AM giant roaches lol but that was a rare thing (ive got it mounted) but i love freeking people out w/ my  roaches lol


----------



## dtknow (Oct 26, 2007)

err...you're saying you have a 3.25 or so male hisser? Pictures are needed. I no longer keep hissing roaches but I can assuredly say these are way bigger.


----------



## thedude (Oct 26, 2007)

heres my giant


----------



## dtknow (Oct 26, 2007)

Not quite three inches...but still pretty big! The cave looks to be about 3 inches flat. Is it a male? The males in my group are a tad smaller.

Also, if you pin another you ought to do it with the wings spread.


----------



## thedude (Oct 26, 2007)

dtknow said:


> Not quite three inches...but still pretty big! The cave looks to be about 3 inches flat. Is it a male? The males in my group are a tad smaller.
> 
> Also, if you pin another you ought to do it with the wings spread.


yeh about 3 inches for the S-AM giant i am thinking it was female.. i just pulled out one of the biggest S-AM giants i had and put the hisser next to it with a ruler... i actually just did one ith it's wing spread but it's in the freezer to kill the dermestids/phorids on/in it but not any real big damage

oh and hissers abdomens shrink after they die.. he was prolly topping 3-31/2 inches when alive and the best part i tried some selective breeding between him and a big female but there ofspring arnt as big .. big but not as big


----------



## thedude (Oct 26, 2007)

heres both of those idividuals babies all growed up


----------



## thedude (Oct 26, 2007)

the male hisser is one of the mid sized ones... the smallest ones are maybe 1inch and a half or so and the mid ones are around 2 and the largest are about almost 2 1/2

the females are pretty big but jus normal large sized females at around 3 inches


----------



## dtknow (Oct 26, 2007)

Interesting. So if their are some that are 3 inches and 3.25...I wonder if their are any that are 3.5+?

From the same person I got some midget dubias...LOL I need to take a photo of them next to my original dubias as they are maybe 2/3'rds the size.


----------



## thedude (Oct 27, 2007)

really?? we need pics!


----------



## RoachGirlRen (Oct 27, 2007)

Eee, I love B. giganteus. I have two females and just bought 3 fm nymphs and one male nymph - hoping to breed if at all possible! If I see any at the expo today I am snatching them right up. They're so gorgeous, very mellow about handling, and really only the males seem inclined to fly... and as others have mentioned, it's more of a kindof pitiful gliding. rofl. Here's one of mine:


----------



## dtknow (Oct 27, 2007)

Thedude: will do!

roachgirlren: Yeah, they are so chill! My group is heavy on guys, so consider yourself lucky.


----------



## Vfox (Oct 27, 2007)

How much do these guys normally cost? They seem like a nice species to keep as a non-feeder pet.


----------



## REAL (Oct 28, 2007)

Vfox said:


> How much do these guys normally cost? They seem like a nice species to keep as a non-feeder pet.


I see them around for $3 each.


----------



## bugmankeith (Oct 28, 2007)

nope.. just fly(sorta) when the get to th edge of your hand, every so often i take one outside and throw it into the air and it flies a few yard away (think how grasshoppers fly) oh and they have those nasty itchy leg spikes

A little advice Thedude:

I did the same thing and my roach flew into a tree and I never got it back, male giganteus can fly VERY WELL outside especially if they catch a breeze and your likely to loose them.

A while back many people called me irresponsible because of what happened to mine, and i'm surprised nobody bashed you about it yet, guess it's just me they hate. Anyway all i'm saying is be careful.


----------



## Vfox (Oct 28, 2007)

Do these guys eat the normal roach food; Fruits, dog food, and green? 

Also, can they climb plastic and glass, or no? 

Lastly has anyone ever tried to cohabitate them with any other species? I would love to get a few, but the only place I can keep them would be in my dubia colony. 

There is just something about a winged roach that large that is really appealing to me.


----------



## thedude (Oct 29, 2007)

bugmankeith said:


> nope.. just fly(sorta) when the get to th edge of your hand, every so often i take one outside and throw it into the air and it flies a few yard away (think how grasshoppers fly) oh and they have those nasty itchy leg spikes
> 
> A little advice Thedude:
> 
> ...


trust me im well aware of how they can fly... i had one go about 15 yards or more  through a crowd of people up at pennstate a few years ago but even before then i was well edjucated on how my bugs can fly


----------



## REAL (Oct 29, 2007)

thedude said:


> trust me im well aware of how they can fly... i had one go about 15 yards or more  through a crowd of people up at pennstate a few years ago but even before then i was well edjucated on how my bugs can fly


I believe bugman mainly said it cause he was worried. I'd say you better watch out too cause one day your luck will catch up with you on that.

To VFOX:

They're nonclimber species from what i read. The food you listed should be the same as other roaches, at least from my understanding. 

About mixing different roaches together, I hear you gotta watch out about getting hybrids but this is far out of my current knowledge so I'll stop there.


----------



## Vfox (Oct 29, 2007)

REAL said:


> About mixing different roaches together, I hear you gotta watch out about getting hybrids but this is far out of my current knowledge so I'll stop there.


I don't think mixing a Blaptica species with a Blaberus species would create a hybrid, but I am not 100% certain. Either way, I still would like to get a few adults, like 5-10. It would certainly be easy enough to tell the difference between them and my dubia, hah.


----------



## dtknow (Oct 29, 2007)

The Blaberus giganteus would end up getting outcompeted by the Blaptica dubia.


----------



## Vfox (Oct 29, 2007)

dtknow said:


> The Blaberus giganteus would end up getting outcompeted by the Blaptica dubia.


Oh I didn't really plan on breeding the B.giganteus, but if they did breed that would be cool. I just wanted some adults to keep around, I suppose as a pet moreso than anything else. I certainly wouldn't feed them to my scorps.


----------



## bugmankeith (Oct 29, 2007)

Vfox, I order all female nymphs of B.Giganteus, most sellers are good in that they let you choose what you want to order.That way none reproduce, and I dont have to worry about females fighting like males do. Plus, females live much longer than males and are generally bigger, and if there pets, that means you'll have them longer to enjoy.


----------



## Vfox (Oct 29, 2007)

Does anyone know of a dealer that sells them as freshly molted adults? I'm not really interested in raising one of adulthood, unless it's a subadult and will molt within the next month or so. I just want at least one adult to start, to see how I like them, and if I do, which I most likely will, get a bunch.  As of right now though, I'm just looking for one adult (female because of the age and sizes as mentioned by Keith).


----------



## Stylopidae (Nov 2, 2007)

dtknow said:


> The Blaberus giganteus would end up getting outcompeted by the Blaptica dubia.



I have _Blaptica dubia_ in with _Blaberus craniiferXdiscoidalesXfuscaXgigantea_ and the _Blaberus ssp_ have actually been breeding faster.

Of course, I have more _Blaberus_ adults than _Blaptica_, so if there are any competition problems, it could take awhile for them to rear their head...but as long as there's always food in the tank there shouldn't be any problems.

Both are breeding at a very fast rate, about half the speed of my lobster roaches (lobster colony matured in ~8 months).

Granted, _Blaberus gigantea_ is the slowest growing of that genus I wouldn't count it out. I don't think it would be completely outcompeted.


----------



## Jc millipede (Dec 14, 2022)

Hi, can anyone tell me what age/size can 

blaberus giganteus nymphs be sexed? 

are there colour variations in this species?

Under optimal conditions what is the length of time from birth to adult

any pics of male and female nymphs appreciated and if could also highlight the differences. 

Thanks for any replies


----------

