B. lateralis odor?

[Beardo]

I have recently started up a colony of Blatta lateralis roaches and one thing I have noticed about them.....they STINK. I clean out any dead roaches/uneaten food I find on a daily basis and they are kept in a rubbermaid tote with no substrate and egg crates for hiding spots....they smell just as bad as an equal number of crickets (UGH)...anybody else have this problem? :?

 

[nomad85]

Yep. I threw mine away.
btw the little leo is doing great

 

[Beardo]

Glad to hear it man!

This is the only species of roach, aside from the Hissers, that I've ever had that had a distinctly noticeable odor.

 

[Mister Internet]

That's interesting to hear, because I was thinking about giving them a try.... not if this is the case though...

 

[cacoseraph]

they don't smell too bad to me.

i even took a big ol' whiff of the shipping container and could certainly detect an odor, but it wasn't really unpleasant.

what are you feeding them?

 

[kitty_b]

i don't smell it. my fiance complains when i open the container from time to time (if he sticks his head in it, he smells something), but we determined it's the dog food.

are you feeding cat food? i've read that the taurine in cat food causes the roaches to smell.

 

[Beardo]

I'm feeding them ground up dog food and fresh fuits and veggies...the same as I feed all my other roaches.

 

[james]

smell

I think it is very odd how certain people react to roaches. Some people think discoids stink, other don't, same with lateralis, dubia, prosticus. I have huge 55 gallon garbage cans with thousands of lateralis and it doesn't smell at all. In all my conatiners I use vermiculite. I pretty much only feed my roaches a mixture of dry food containing, fish,cat,dog food, and a few other items. I mainly just give them apples, with a few oranges or carrots now and then. I think the most important thing is ventilation. All my bins are very well vented because any moisture build up will lead to mold, bacteria, and smell.
James

 

[nomad85]

I am allergic to dubia frass.. kinda sucks since they are my favorites...
The lateralis die off a lot more often than my other species and fruit flies lay eggs in the dead and the maggots make it smell bad, that was my problem, and I dont have it with my other colonies so I just got rid of them, the roaches themselves dont smell so bad.

 

[padkison]

My colony of B. lateralis stunk at first. I had 500 in a 3g tote. I moved them to a 14g tote with vermiculite and they now do not stink.

I feed dogfood w/ powdered milk and occasional veggies/fruit like carrots/apples/bannanas.

My hissers however have started to stink recently.

 

[Mina]

Mine don't stink. I have about 300 in a 10 gallon tank in my bedroom, and believe me they wouldn't be there if they stank. I do have a thin layer of organic potting soil on the floor, maybe that is the difference.

 

[Beardo]

Perhaps the use of a substrate such as vermiculite would keep the odor down? Do you keep the vermiculite dry w/this species?