any keepers of Macropanesthia rhinoceros?
- Thread starter lychas
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- Jul 22, 2004
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I don't have any pics of my setup but I do have 3 adult pairs currently (I've had them on and off for the past 7 or so years).... If you do a search on this fourm there are MULTIPLE threads about them and a few pics of my roaches.
Cage setup: 20 gallonh Long
3"-4" substrate: Mixture of sand, coco fiber, rotten hardwood & decaying hardwood leaves.
I have a few medium sized pieces of cork bark ontop of the surface (they like to burrow & hide underneath them).
I keep one side moist and one side dry... this gives them a humidity gradient... they can choose where they are comfortable.
Food: A large variety of items. They do eat the rotting hardwood leaves and wood... but I supplement this with dry dogfood kibble (they really like it), fresh shredded carrots, premade roach diet, and other misc food items.
They are doing great.
In the past I have had a few unexpected deaths...I now realize it may have been caused by the dried eucalyptus leaves I was supplementing with. ALMOST EVERYTHING YOU READ ONLINE SAYS THE HAVE TO HAVE EUCALYPTUS LEAVES IN THEIR DIET OR THEY'LL DIE. I DISAGREE... in nature they may eat they as a majority of their diet, but in captivity they do fine of the diet I listed above. There are alot of different types of eucalyptus...I believe I heard somewhere that only 2 or 3 species her ein the US are safe for them to eat. I do not risk it anymore...
Orin McMonigle wrote a good little article on them a few years back in his magazine... he was the one that "opened my eyes" to the fact that they do not need the eucalyptus leaves (Thanks Orin).
In the US they are still very expensive (usually about $350 to $450 a pair IF you get lucky enough to find them). I have paid up to $500pr in the past. Recently (past few years) you are finding them availiable a few times a year in the US hobby... no one has captive produced them yet INSIDE the US (They are bred in Europe, Japan, & Australia with some regularity)...I hope mine produce for me this year... allowing me to be the first person in the US to produce CB babies (I believe- please someone correct me if I'm wrong)...
Good luck- you'll love them. They live ~10 years and take ~3 years to mature in captivity....
Hope that helped.. these are things that have worked for me...others may have different ideas on their husbandry.... there is still alot to learn about them...
Graham
Cage setup: 20 gallonh Long
3"-4" substrate: Mixture of sand, coco fiber, rotten hardwood & decaying hardwood leaves.
I have a few medium sized pieces of cork bark ontop of the surface (they like to burrow & hide underneath them).
I keep one side moist and one side dry... this gives them a humidity gradient... they can choose where they are comfortable.
Food: A large variety of items. They do eat the rotting hardwood leaves and wood... but I supplement this with dry dogfood kibble (they really like it), fresh shredded carrots, premade roach diet, and other misc food items.
They are doing great.
In the past I have had a few unexpected deaths...I now realize it may have been caused by the dried eucalyptus leaves I was supplementing with. ALMOST EVERYTHING YOU READ ONLINE SAYS THE HAVE TO HAVE EUCALYPTUS LEAVES IN THEIR DIET OR THEY'LL DIE. I DISAGREE... in nature they may eat they as a majority of their diet, but in captivity they do fine of the diet I listed above. There are alot of different types of eucalyptus...I believe I heard somewhere that only 2 or 3 species her ein the US are safe for them to eat. I do not risk it anymore...
Orin McMonigle wrote a good little article on them a few years back in his magazine... he was the one that "opened my eyes" to the fact that they do not need the eucalyptus leaves (Thanks Orin).
In the US they are still very expensive (usually about $350 to $450 a pair IF you get lucky enough to find them). I have paid up to $500pr in the past. Recently (past few years) you are finding them availiable a few times a year in the US hobby... no one has captive produced them yet INSIDE the US (They are bred in Europe, Japan, & Australia with some regularity)...I hope mine produce for me this year... allowing me to be the first person in the US to produce CB babies (I believe- please someone correct me if I'm wrong)...
Good luck- you'll love them. They live ~10 years and take ~3 years to mature in captivity....
Hope that helped.. these are things that have worked for me...others may have different ideas on their husbandry.... there is still alot to learn about them...
Graham
thanks for that, i have found other threads but wanna get all the keepers together. I got my pair for free and they are approx 3 years old, the lady 2doors down breeds them, being in aus gumleaves are very easy to find and we have 100's of species. They got for about $120 a pair in pet stores over here.
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- Jul 22, 2004
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- 538
It's a screen top tank made for reptiles...they cannot climb glass and there are no reasons to keep them covered (unless you have other loose pets- ie cats)... I hope one day they are commmon enough in the uS that they are sold in pet stores... Good luck with them, you'll REALLY love them...plus, next to megalablatta, they are the holy grail of roaches (I consider them the best of the best)!
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- Oct 13, 2004
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I don't feel like posting pictures, but I'd be glad to answer any questions.
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- Jul 22, 2004
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Good luck Lychas....
I don't know if you'll be able to find any of the other larger burrowing species from Australia... But being in Europe you have a much better shot than I do.
There are some smaller panesthia sp. that pop up every now and then...australian and surrounding areas... that are related to the Rhinos ...look alot like them... but smaller. I should hopefully be getting some of these here soon.
Roaches are super addicting... Invert hobbyists don't know what they are missing out on...I've kept tarantulas, scorpions & centipedes for a long time.... Now I'm addicted to rare roach species and true spiders (I have a nice sized group of Spanish Funnelweb spiders...awesome... you can get these in the European pet trade...check them out!)
I don't know if you'll be able to find any of the other larger burrowing species from Australia... But being in Europe you have a much better shot than I do.
There are some smaller panesthia sp. that pop up every now and then...australian and surrounding areas... that are related to the Rhinos ...look alot like them... but smaller. I should hopefully be getting some of these here soon.
Roaches are super addicting... Invert hobbyists don't know what they are missing out on...I've kept tarantulas, scorpions & centipedes for a long time.... Now I'm addicted to rare roach species and true spiders (I have a nice sized group of Spanish Funnelweb spiders...awesome... you can get these in the European pet trade...check them out!)
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- Nov 27, 2005
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I like roaches too. Even my feeders are fun to keep. I can't wait till there are more Australian species in the US. Some of them are really beautiful.
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I have "some" in breed...
you can "make money" with them... ;-)
you can "make money" with them... ;-)
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- Oct 29, 2004
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M rhinoceros
Hello All,
Lychas, you should keep them around 18-26 c
There has been a recent colected roach from MAdagascar, related to the Hissers family that is the same size of a male Rhino, I don't remember where I saw that, but goggle MAdagascar fauna or roaches of madagarcar and see what comes up.
If I find the post I will share here. In fact I think the link should be here somewhere in the forum in the Insect section. It was posted I think by the a guy in Taiwan, who posted pics of his rhinos CB babies.
regards
f
Hello All,
Lychas, you should keep them around 18-26 c
There has been a recent colected roach from MAdagascar, related to the Hissers family that is the same size of a male Rhino, I don't remember where I saw that, but goggle MAdagascar fauna or roaches of madagarcar and see what comes up.
If I find the post I will share here. In fact I think the link should be here somewhere in the forum in the Insect section. It was posted I think by the a guy in Taiwan, who posted pics of his rhinos CB babies.
regards
f
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2004
- Messages
- 557
You can try also oak,
regards
FT
regards
FT