# Orange Headed Roaches "Eublaberus Prosticus"



## Buspirone (Jun 14, 2003)

I just got 2 dozen Orange Headed Roach nymphs "Eublaberus Prosticus" for 20 bucks at a reptile show. I plan on using them as my staple food source for my Tarantulas. Anybody have any hints, tips or need to know info on these. I do have one question....What should I use as a substrate in their enclosure? I'm clear on dog food/catfood, 3 grain cereal and fresh greens and fruit as food source and the need for high protein cause they will attack each other. These are live bearers and can't climb smooth surfaces. So is there anything else I need to know. Thanks in advance!

Rob


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## Buspirone (Jun 14, 2003)

I used peat as the substrate. I figured it would be safe to use. I went to the trouble of supplying them with egg carton to hid and crawl in. Within 5 minutes of placing them into the enclosure they all dug themselves down into the substrate, all I can see are sets of antennae sticking up out of the substrate fluttering around. Oh well...you live and you learn  They have shown no interest in the crushed up dog biscuits and cheerios I supplied for food til I can buy some dry dog kibble.


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## Buspirone (Jun 15, 2003)

Some pics of the roach motel I set up for these guys:


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## Wade (Jun 15, 2003)

This is a VERY prolific species and is very easy to raise. I have read that they need alot of protien in their diet, more than most roaches, and my experience is consistant with this. Adults will eat one annother's wings off if not given an alternative source. I use chick mash for most of my feeder insects, but these guys get dog food as well.

Be careful when using them as feeders. As with all feeders, they could attack a molting T, but because of their burrowing and need for protien they are a bit more dangerous. I lost an adult female T last year to a couple of these that were burried in the substrate (unknown to me) and attacked when she was molting.

I now crush their heads and drop them in front of the retreats when using this species.

Wade


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## Buspirone (Jun 15, 2003)

Thanks for the warning I'll keep that in mind.Even so I still would rather use these instead of crickets. I guess I'll have to look for some unmedicated chick mash too. The dish I have in the pictures is crushed up nutromax senior dog biscuits and healthy essentials beef dog treats. I just put in some nutro MaX Salmon flavored cat food. The salmon flavor is from salmon meal. They weren't much interested in the dog buscuits but once I put the cat food in they started coming up out of the substrate and swarmed the food dish


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## Buspirone (Jun 15, 2003)

One more question if you don't mind,  do the adults dig into the substrate too or do just the nymphs? Thanks.


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## Wade (Jun 15, 2003)

The adults do it some too, but the nymphs do it more.

Wade


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## Buspirone (Jun 17, 2003)

Well. I found out quite a bit more about these so I thought I'd throw the info in here in case someone was actually interested or somebody in the future does a search on the same topic:

Orange Head Cockroaches
(Eublaberus Prosticus)

Daytime temps 90 to 95 - night time temps above 68
Lifespan 1 year +
Max length 2"
Reach adult size in 3 to 4 months
Sexual maturity in 3 to 4 months
Gestation period approximately 25 to 30 days
Flightless
Non glass climbers

They require a higher protein diet(which has already been stated) so it was recommended to me to use High quality cat, ferret or Koi food with a minimum protein content of 30% . I also have some zoomed anole food(dried lab flies) which claims it can be fed to tarantulas....I tried using it for slings without success but the stuff is 63% protein, fortified with vitamins and the roaches aren't too picky. They like lettuce, apples and bananas as fresh food. I've been told that they relish oranges but mine showed no interest it.


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## Wade (Jun 17, 2003)

I just thought I'd mention that I don't think they really need those high temps. I don't heat mine at all and they reproduce like gangbusters. Normally it ranges from the low 70's to the high 80's in my animal area. More heat equals more reproduction and faster growth, but 90-95 makes it sound like you need a heat lamp or something for them, which you don't unless you're in a really cool area.

Wade


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## Buspirone (Jun 17, 2003)

I thought those temps were kind of high too. The 90-95 range is optimum breeding/growing temps and its stated as a daytime temps not a constant but I was also told that a keeper would see less breeding and successful births when they are maintained at temps  below 75. Right now I only have 2 dozen nymphs so I'm keeping the temps between 85 and 90 till the nymphs mature and I get my first generation of new births. 

Thanks for the info Wade....I had some trouble scrounging up what I did find on these. Most sites focus on hissers with a brief description of deathhead/false deathheads and the orange heads get an honorable mention with out any of the particulars that I listed which is what I really wanted to know.  

I never thought I would be this interested in a roach or trying to actually breed them.


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## Buspirone (Jun 21, 2003)

It took me a long time but I actually/finally found a care sheet for these roaches:


http://www.progeckos.com/caresheets/care_oranroach/cohroach.htm


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## Buspirone (Jun 25, 2003)

Here's some pics of my roaches:




















I think these two are breeding. I find it interesting that the one roach is still very white from recently molting.


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## Marc_C (Jun 25, 2003)

Hahahahahaha! Roaches are so cool. look at them mating even before the exoskeleton has hardened. That is truely roach like.


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## Mendi (Jun 27, 2003)

I've found several good roach sites out there...

*Allpet Roaches*
Has pics and descriptions of lots and even a roach board for questions and trading.

*Hissing Coack Roaches* 
Read the caresheets and other pages there for lots of good ideas on care


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## heyjeyniceid (Oct 27, 2003)

Hey Wade(or anyone who knows for that matter),  I was looking at one of my Orange Heads the other day and found that its abdomen was REALLY disk shaped for some reason compared to all the other ones Id flipped over before. 

Does this mean anything?


Oh and, Just like in the pics, I saw a mature roach mateing with an as-still white freshly molted one.   Is their banging gonna pay off in some nymphs soon?


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## Wade (Oct 28, 2003)

I've noticed some of my roaches (of several species) are sometimes diferently shaped, sometimes rounder, than the others. I have no idea what it means however. It doesn't seem to have any effect on the colonys' productivity.

Hopefully, sombody else will be able to help you out with the time table between mating and nymphs. I started out with a colony om mixed adults and nymphs, so I had babies from the start. I've never tried to keep track of growth/mating/gestation etc.

Wade


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## james (Oct 28, 2003)

*oranges and more...*

The rounder ones usually turn into females. I do keep mine at higher temps for most of the day 90-95F (bottom heat with heat tape). They will breed and grow faster. Also, the darker the better. I keep all mine in dark places and they are much more active. The peat is good substrate, but I use very little. It can be hard to get babies out during cleaning, so the less subtrate the better. Mine breed immediatly after molting into adults. They feed the best on high protein dog food and they thrive on oranges. If you want a less aggressive roach I recommend the orange spots (blaptica dubia). They stay a little smaller than the orange heads, but they are one of the best feeders I have. As adults females do not get wings like the males it is very easy to tell them apart and feed off extra males. These are both good roaches.
James


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## Buspirone (Nov 11, 2003)

Once these guys start breeding they do so quickly. I also had concerns about them not eating the dry foods I was offering. Now I alternately toss in a handful of dog food  then cat food every other day and they come out in mass and feed like crazy. I've basically stopped offering fresh food and have been just giving dry dog and cat food along with water crystals for moisture and they are thriving.


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## jaijjs (Nov 11, 2003)

Buspirone, It looks like your roach motel setup works. I couldn't tell from the photo if the holes near the bottom are covered or not. Is the holes covered or are the nymphs too large to escape from them? I went to a garden supply company and bought the water crystals at about 1/10 the cost of the ones sold at petstores. I also had problems in the past finding enough egg flats. I started ordering them at a site that I found called eggcarton.com.  [If I'm not to add sites please feel free to delete it.] This site is a must if anyone is really into keeping a lot of different roaches..


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## Buspirone (Nov 11, 2003)

I covered the holes near the bottom with tape when I noticed some bugs in my  substrate...lots of them. The holes at the bottom are 1/16" so no nymphs could get through.  I think the bugs were book lice. They definitely weren't  mites...they moved way too fast and didn't seem interested in the dog/catfood and I couldn't locate them living on or crawling on any of the roaches. Covering the holes didn't make much of a difference but removing my gravity water dish with  water crystals in the bowl did. It was keeping the humidity in the enclosure high enough to let them reproduce in large numbers. Since removing the gravity waterer the book lice(?) have disappeared. Its a shame because the waterer works really well.  I'll try using it again in the height of winter when the air gets drier here.


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## heyjeyniceid (Nov 17, 2003)

I finally saw my one of my roches squeeze an egg case out and rediposit it in her body.  

How long does it take after this before the babys are born?

I keep their enclosures at around 75-80+ F, with a dip at night.


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## Buspirone (Jan 18, 2004)

My first generation of offspring from my starter 24 roaches have begun to mature over the last two weeks. The adult population is increasing more and more every day now.  I've been feeding off the colony now but only nymphs that are ~1 inch in size. anything larger is being allowed to mature.  There is a huge population of large nymphs so the colony should be bursting with babies in a couple months. Its cool to watch them now because there are so many that they just rip through food. They will go through 4 orange slices in an hour or so and leave peels that have been picked clean. Its almost bizzare to see a bunch of lettuce or other veggies crowding the feeding area and then look back in a few hours and its all gone.


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## Mechanical-Mind (Jan 19, 2004)

About how many times can you inbreed roaches? Not that the quality is much of an issue to me; but, do you owners of roach colonies eventually introduce new bloodlines? Or, do they fair all right from say, 3 adults as in Buspirone's case?

-Matt


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## james (Jan 21, 2004)

*bloodlines*

When I first started getting roaches two years ago I started a few colonies. Since then I have added a few more and am up to seven species. I was lucky that most of the people I bought from had several species so I always bought some of each. Except for my 6-spots and giant caves I have at least 2-3 different bloodlines. I actually just ordered 2 dozen more giant caves from a differant source to add some diversity. I don't have any clue if this matters or not, but it can't hurt. My next goal is to seperate my death heads into groups of brown and black. I want to see if I breed the black to black if all the nymphs will stay black. I guess will know in a few months.
James


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## Israel2004 (Jun 24, 2004)

James,

how goes the test to see if black true. any results yet.

Israel


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## Israel2004 (Aug 19, 2004)

YES!!!   I finally caught some of my orange heads in the act. funny thing was one was freshly molted like in Buspirone's pic.

Now it's just a waiting game for these guys and all the little nymphs of my Six spots to grow up.


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## Archangel (Aug 19, 2004)

*I'm so confused*

I was told that if I bought 2 dozen orange heads I would need a colony of about 150 to support around 40 T's and that it would take those 2 dozen about 1 year to get to 150.   I was going to keep them in 2 10 gal tanks next to the T's since they don't stink. Tell me where I'm going wrong and who's feeding me BS please.  And what are those hard bodied little guys with the winged adults?

Thanks


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## Israel2004 (Aug 19, 2004)

They take around 3 to 4 months to go from newly born nymphs to adults, so if what you get is nymphs (which it mostly will be) you'll have to wait for them to reach adulthood then you have to wait around a month for them to have babies. Then you have to wait the 3 to 4 months for them to become adults. So around a year is a good estimate on getting a self-sutaining colony going.

Those little hard bodied guys in the picture are the nymphs.

You could keep all 24 in a ten.
I keep my orange heads and six spots in 66 quarts (16.5 gallons) storage containers. Right now I have about a 100 of each.

Hey James,

The two weeks ago I had a big die off of adults in the six spots i bought from you. I don't know if it was something I did or just age.


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## james (Aug 19, 2004)

*6-spot*

Its really hard to tell. I loose one or two a week from my adults and you never really now if its old age or if they are not eating and getting enough water or what. Good to hear the orange heads are breeding now. Its very important to keep the heat up, plenty of food, and as dark as possible. They are a great breeding roach and you will start seeing lots of tiny babies soon.
james


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## Israel2004 (Mar 24, 2005)

Ok update on my Orange heads. The first batch of babies didn't last very long, they just seemed to dissapear, I think they got eaten, but who knows.
Had not seen any breeding for a while then this past weekend I caught some of the orange heads and some of the six spot breeding, also found a good number of tiny nymphs in the orange head bin. Was shifting through the debris on the bottom of the bin and noticed something small move so i took a closer look. Yup a bunch of babies  . Hope these ones live.

I have pictures of my bins, just need to find the time to put them up.
They're on the home computer and i never find time to get on at home.

Israel


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## james (Mar 24, 2005)

*roaches*

Really got to keep those orange heads fed well. Mine breed like crazy and it seems  like I produce tons of them. I started using a small amount of substrate again with them and a couple others to protect smaller babies. I decided to sell my cross colony as I figured it wasn't worth it. I have true colonies of craniifer and fusca going. I have several hundred nymphs from each and hope to have 500+ breeders of both in the next few months. True craniifer have become one of my more favorite roaches, but with 10 new species coming in they will have competition.
James
www.blaberus.com


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## Israel2004 (Mar 24, 2005)

I've noticed by having alot of debris in the bottom of the bin it helps with the babies, more places to hide, the adults and larger nymphs stay up in the egg crate.


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