# HELP-May have made a mistake with roaches



## blooms (Jun 24, 2009)

I had been toying with the idea of feeding my scorpions and tarantulas roaches.  After all, everyone on hear swears by them.  The other day I went to the pet store to buy crickets.  In the cricket bin was a 2  inch winged cockroach.  The owner of the store told me it was a dubia.  I figured it was a dubia male.  At the pet store it was kept in an open top styrofoam chest with about 5 inches of tape around all the sides.  I'm in China and I never had seen roaches on offer before in the pet store, so I was delighted.  Then when I got it home I noticed what looked like (don't laugh) a vagina on the end of its abdomen.  I was puzzled.  

At first I put it in a critter keeper with the crickets and prepared to feed it to my scorpions.  It ran laps around the top of the cricket keeper and then settled on the egg carton in the kritter keeper. This surprised me, because if it could climb why didn't it climb out of the bin at the pet store.  I easily picked it up with tweezers and introduced it to a cage with three adult heterometrus scorpions-one of which I suspect to be gravid. It did laps around the tank and once went up on the side, but  preferred to hide behind the hide covering the scorpions burrow.  

Later that evening I noticed a strange kind of pod that was coming out of the vagina.  I knew that some roaches are live bearers I thought the pod was a baby roach.  The pod was bigger than the ventilation holes at the top of the scorpion tank so i didn't worry.  The next morning the roach was still alive.  The pod was gone and I saw tiny white roach nymphs (maybe half inch or smaller) in the substrate.  These nymphs are definitely small enough to fit through the ventilation holes. After freaking out at the prospect of an infestation I immediately greased the lid with cooking oil (heard this works with lobster roaches).  Today  I didn't see the adult, and am guessing she was eaten because one of the male scorpions looks much fatter than usual.  However, the lack of a bolus and the fact that twice today I lifted the lid to do maintenance makes me wonder.  

Kind of reminded me of the south florida palmetto bugs.  I looked at some pics here it-it kind of looks like b. discoidalis, but to be honest, they all look the same to me.  It did have kind of like an orange patch right behind its head.  I guess my questions are these: what roach could it be? what is the likelihood of the nymphs climbing out of a glass container with glass lid smeared with cooking oil on it?  If they did get out, what is the chance of infestation?  I take comfort from one thing.  The substrate of the scorpion enclosure is very humid (around 80 percent or more), but outside is not (around 50 r 60 percent).  I know that scorplings and tarantula slings could easily desiccate if the humidity isn't high enough.  Is this true of roach nymphs too?If the adult did escape (although I doubt it), what is the likelihood of a resulting infestation?

I'm nervous for a few reasons.  This is a new building, if roaches infest it, my wife and neighbors will be pissed.  Also, the roaches in northern china are tiny, so if this kind showed up, people would definitely ask questions.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## Harlock (Jun 24, 2009)

Can you describe the roach a bit better?  Males and females in most common feeder species (including all members of the Blaberus genus) have a massive sexual dimorphism.  Males wings are the full length of their bodies, while females have tiny numbs that don't even look like wings.  

 I think the "pod" you describe was an ootheca judging by the descriptions, which means you definitely had a mature female.  I wouldn't worry to much about 1 or 2 escape babies, some random house spider will probably get them, and if not depending on the conditions of where you live they might not be able to survive (I don't think it is humid enough for them to breed where you live.)


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## Treynok (Jun 24, 2009)

There was tape around the top of the container in the pet store becasue that is what they used as a barrier, it is too smooth for them to climb, it does the same thing as vaseline.  I'd say the chances of escape especially in a glass or plastic enclosure would be very low, if one of your scorpions is larger than it was before then it most likely ate it.  even without a barrier I don't think it would be likely for a discoid, dubia, or lateralis roach to escape.


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## Matt K (Jun 24, 2009)

I would not be concerned about an infestation, however you have described traits of what could be several different roach species.  To complicate things more, in your locale it could have been any of dozens of roaches not in the hobby necessarily, so your description is useless.  A photo would have been much more worthwhile.  If you have photos of the young I can probably identify what it is....and if not then a challenge is always fun too!


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## gvfarns (Jun 24, 2009)

Yeah tough to identify without a picture.

Palmetto bugs lay eggs, so it's not one of those.  A winged female means it's not dubia.  

Based on what you have seen it could be one of the Blaberus species (winged females, live birth, babies dig into substrate after birth) except for the climbing thing.  Was the surface it climbed actually smooth?  If it can climb the sides of a clean kritter keeper, it's not Blaberus.

By the way, the place to put cooking oil is on the walls of the enclosure...the vertical surface they would have to climb.  From your description it sounds like you did the roof.

Of course there are lots of kinds of roaches out there and we only keep a few as feeders in the hobby, so there's a good chance it's none of the above, as the previous poster mentioned.

The good news is that very few species of roaches infest homes.  If it's not Periplaneta americana, Blatella germanica, or Blatta orientalis you are super unlikely to get an infestation worth talking about.   And your description doesn't really sound like any of these.  There are others that can make a go at living in your house but they don't cause the horribly hard to stop infestations that these three species do.


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## Harlock (Jun 24, 2009)

gvfarns said:


> Yeah tough to identify without a picture.
> 
> 
> 
> Based on what you have seen it could be one of the Blaberus species (winged females, live birth, babies dig into substrate after birth) except for the climbing thing.  Was the surface it climbed actually smooth?  If it can climb the sides of a clean kritter keeper, it's not Blaberus.


He is right, got my genus mixed up..again.  (confused Blaberus with Blaptica)

Females do have wings in that genus.  Sorry for my mistake.


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## blooms (Jun 25, 2009)

First, let me say thanks for all your responses.  I'm not sure if the surface was actually smooth or not.  In the critter keeper it could have had one foot on the top.  As for in the scorpion enclosure, the general area where it climbed had some left over dried silicone from when i put it together.

Also, i saw the pod coming out at night and saw the white nymphs the next morning. I don't know if they were born alive or hatched shortly after the pod was released.

I did put the cooking oil on the roof, because the ventilation is in the center of the roof. I thought it would have the same effect as the tape in the pet store.  I looked at the pic.  It didn't look like the Blatella germanica or Blatta orientalis.  I guess it could have been a perplaneta americana, but how would that get to Northern China?  It was basically a 2 inch orangey brown winged roach with an light orangey yellow blotch directly behind its head.  Also, the two spikes on the end of the abdomen could be seen protuding from under the folded wings.  By the way, the nymphs that I saw were pearly white, i don't know if that helps.


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## Matt K (Jun 25, 2009)

Periplaneta americana and Periplaneta australasia have global distribution.


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## blooms (Jun 25, 2009)

How do these two species reproduce?  Do they lay an ootheca and leave it for a number of days or do they drop an ootheca and have the young alive running around a couple hours later or do they give live birth?  The roach in question dropped an ootheca in the early hours of the morning and white nymphs were seen at about 1-6 hours later.


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## blooms (Jul 3, 2009)

*The little Bugger survived and I got a photo*

I don't know how she did it.  She survived in a terrarium full of scorpions for a few weeks.  Anyways, got some crappy photos of her (my camera is not too good).  Hope this helps with an id.  Also, it's getting ready to drop anothe r ootheca. Furthermore, moved her to a critter keeper.  Smeared 3 inches with cooking oil.  Covered the top with tape.  Gonna sit the critter keeper in a shallow dish full of water.  I'm not taking any chances until I'm sure about what it is.  Now can any of you id this roach?

Thanks


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## bhoeschcod (Jul 3, 2009)

Americian cockroach??


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## blooms (Jul 3, 2009)

I'm in China.  That roach was in a bin of crickets.  The lps sold it to me as a dubia. I now know it is NOT A DUBIA.  Hence, the need for an id.  I has so far dropped at least 2 ootheca and seems to be able to climb glass and plastic.  It is winged too.


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## Warren Bautista (Jul 3, 2009)

Periplaneta americana, American cckroach. It has world wide distribution. Found a pic that looks lik yours right here.


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## bhoeschcod (Jul 3, 2009)

Sweet i was right for once although i spelled it wrong.


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## burmish101 (Jul 3, 2009)

Im culturing P. austrailasiae (sp?) and nymphs climb glass with ease, even vaseline if misted water gets onto it. Very similar species to P. americana but nymphs have yellow spots on them and adults are slightly smaller. They reproduce like rats on viagra and are much too fast to feed to most of my slower scorps, small vials with slings work well for feeding their nymphs are absolutely tiny. As common as pest species are, its quite hard to find most in culture Oo i find pest roaches make the best feeders if caution is taken.


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## blooms (Jul 4, 2009)

So basically, if any of the nymphs escaped I'm screwed.  Is that right?


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## blooms (Jul 4, 2009)

As a former floridian I am well aware of how much of a pest an american cockroach can be.  Well then my new 7 inch centipede will get a sweet treat. I flushed the ootheca down the toilet.  Are there any suggestions about precautions I can take if some of the previously hatched nymphs escaped?


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## ex0tics (Jul 5, 2009)

Board up your house and move? I joke  
No Idea at all, I'm so glad we don't have native roaches they freak me out.


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## gvfarns (Jul 5, 2009)

Haha.  I'd suggest squashing rather than flushing egg cases.  Not that I particularly think they can survive, but i understand in cities these roaches mostly live in the sewer system.  The way I heard it, you get the infestation when they climb out of your drains and stuff.  Not a bug you want in your sewer if you can avoid it and i don't think the sewer is as inhospitable as we sometimes like to think.


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