B.lateralis Roaches

[arachnid dude]

Well I just got my starter colony of 50 of these guys today. Man these guys are very fast movers!!!

Ok...here is the one of the main reasons I decided to go with these guys.
NON-CLIMBING species! Well I have them in a 22q (I think anyways) rubbermaid tub...as soon as I put them in they all started to climb right up the sides of the tub...so my question is how are they doing this?

I have read that they will survive and breed at room temps 70-73 degrees is this true? Right now I don't have supplemental heating on them.



Don

 

[P.jasonius]

Unless your tub is completely smooth, they may be able to get a foothold of the sides.
Heroes is a great show btw.

 

[OldHag]

Like P.jasonius said, if there is any sort of texture to the sides they will climb. I use that clear slick smooth tub with a lid. I havent had problems with them climbing at all.
I also dont have any heat source on my lateralis and they are breeding like crazy. I do have them in the furnace room where it tends to be a bit warmer, but not too much warmer than 75 I dont think. Like any roach, warmer is better, but they do well at room temps in my experience.

 

[Rizzolo]

climbing lateralis

i also have mine in a rubbermaid tub. sometimes i see one climbing up a little ways, but it is rare i never see them climbing over the top. i think that accumulated dirt on the sides can allow them to get a grip though, so i recommend periodically wiping down the sides to keep them clean.

also, i did notice that despite the fact that i never saw any climbing up the sides, some were getting out. i have a colony of B dubia next door to the colony of lateralis, and i started noticing lateralis in the dubia container. it was always males. i never find dubia in with the lateralis though. at first i thought that i was being careless without realizing, but after a while, given the number of instances, i decided that they were escaping from the lateralis colony AND climing into the dubia container. getting back in is probably easier because i have insulation wrapped around the outside of the containers. but, even given this, i decided that these guys are much sneakier and more resourceful than i had given them credit for. no wonder they have survived so successfully!!!

i solved the problem for now, i think. i put foam weaterstripping around the lid, so it seals to the top of the container. i have a screen on the top, because i have to heat mine with a heat lamp, so i made sure that the screen was completely hot-glued, so they could not get around the screen. even though i don't have anything high enough for them to climb to the screen, i decided that maybe they are flying a couple of inches and reaching the screen. i did find some males on the bottom of the lid a few times when i was removing the lid.
i have not done any controlled experiments, but i have notices that when i keep mine warmer and more constant temperature they eat way more and seem to breed more quickly.
whether or not your colony is sustaining itself at lower temperatures probably depends on what percentage of them you are feeding off. they will definitely reproduce more slowly at lower temperatures. also, if they are regularly dipping below 70 degrees or so, then they may stop reproducing at all. there is a reason why they have not gotten established in California! actually, there is reportedly one place in California where they have been able to get established and i don't know the story there, except that it is in southern california, where it is substantially warmer and does not get dip as low in temperature.
i sure don't want them getting established in my house. for sure, they do escape, since, as you notice immediately, they are FAST!

good luck

 

[OldHag]

The weather stripping is an awesome idea!!!! I always put a bead of hot glue down, let it dry then put the lid on. I like the stripping idea better! Guess I need to go to Home Depot!!

 

[P.jasonius]

The weather stripping is an awesome idea!!!! I always put a bead of hot glue down, let it dry then put the lid on. I like the stripping idea better! Guess I need to go to Home Depot!!

You can do this a bit more effectively with gasket maker (or possibly silicon caulking if you're careful), just let the outer portion dry and carefully place the lid on. It will form to the lid.
The weatherstripping is probably the easiest to do, though. I'll have to try that.

 

[arachnid dude]

Unless your tub is completely smooth, they may be able to get a foothold of the sides.
Heroes is a great show btw.

Yeah there must be some sort of texture on the sides of this particular tub. Since they are able to climb the sides. Yeah heroes is an awesome show

I thinking maybe going with an 10-15gallon tank instead of the rubbermaid, but not sure yet...since I sure that getting the little buggers transfered might be an issue.

I must say that I like the weather stripping idea...right now I've got 300mph tape around the lid with window screen on the top for ventilation. So I guess we'll see how this set-up works.

 

[the_frog_kid]

lol
i have 6500 nymphs and 100 adults
the adults are in a ten adn the nymphs are in a 55 gallon rubber maid
vasaline works the best
no weather stripping or silicone lol
as long as you thin it so there are no globs it wont melt
i have 8 to 9 egg cases hatching a day now
but i have a very very very very large cane toad to fix that haha
she can probly eat 4000 adults in a week if she wanted to
she rarly does tho
i feed her dubia and any other sub par roaches
bad molts, old, ruffed up ect.
but this isnt about her




thanx froggy




thanx froggy

 

[padkison]

My lateralis colony got crowded and they started dispersing. I cut way back on them and put them in a cooler with vent holes drilled w/ screen. The cooler makes a tight seal so the roaches can't get out.

They are breeding like crazy again, so I am dropping them down to room temps.

 

[Rizzolo]

Cooler for Roaches!

:clap: I wish i had been the one to think of that. that is fantastic! you are right, no seal would be required then. our house is always cold, i use flexwatt to heat the colonies. i could probably put one or two 8W strips in a large cooler, hooked to a dimmer and a thermostat and be good to go.

How do you heat yours?

 

[TNeal]

Hi,

I keep my roaches in a rubber maid tubb - around 20 gallons. The enclosure is heated by a human heating pad that the enclosure sits on. It is loacated in one half of the tank while the other half is heatless.

I use newspaper for the substrate and paper towel and toilet paper rolls for hiding places. I started off with 15 adults about 2 months ago. Now i have many many babies of different sizes.

I use vaselline to keep the babies in as they love to climb. i have not had a problem with adults climbing out. The lid that came with the tubb covers all but a small area of the top. I used to cover the whole thing but the moisture was too much, mold started growing. Now it stays relativly dry.

For water I supply the water jell on a small lid. For food I feed some fruits, veggies and moist dog food. They realy clean it up. The dog food I use is put out by Iams and comes in small packets.

The colony seems to be doing well and I think I will have good luck with them.

Do you think they would make good food for my tailess whiptail scorpions? My anoles and geckos seem to love the roaches.

By the way - the roaches I have are Blaptica dubia and the whip scorpions are diadema.

Someone please tell me how to post pics I have on my computor. LOL

 

[the_frog_kid]

hey man
dubia really do need substrate
ive heard of some roaches can do kind of well of news paper but if they eat it they will die
try using a inch or 2 of damp soft top soil
your colonie will do alot better and produce more
also most dog foods have small amounts of insecticides so i would stay away from them
i suggest roach diet or if you have somthing against buying that kitten food




thanx froggy

 

[Rizzolo]

substrate vs no substrate

Give it up! It is like a religion with some people - right vs wrong! Lots of people have great success without any substrate. You say they are wrong, lying? what?

How many B lateralis come out of one egg case? does anyone know? i keep my egg cases in separate hatching containers within my main colony. that way, i can keep the humidity up and separate generations if i want. also makes it easier to catch nymphs if i want feeders for the "little guys." Lately, they are hatching in vast numbers, but i have no idea how many might come from a single egg case. i sure would like to watch one hatch out sometime. my eyesight is not great anymore, but the egg cases look the same after they hatch, just empty. i figure that i will have to examine one under magnification to figure how they get out. does it split open along the seam?

i would love to hear any thoughts on this topic.

 

[the_frog_kid]

it does split along the top seam
there are anywhere from 2 to 100 roaches in a oothecea
some have more some have less
shelfordella tartara have about 20
minimum 6 maximum 32
i know there is no where else in the world where there is no substrate other than ppl that think it works
im sick of hearing the tartara suck because stupid ppl dont use substrate
asking why all there egg cases are shrivled :?
THATS WHY
get it threw your head
ive only been posting here for 4 or 5 monthes and there have been more than 10 posts like that
same thing with dubia
ppl complaining they dont breed right then when they put dirt in they say "they are breeding to fast":? :? :?
if dubia breed to fast get discoids
just as good
if lateralis breed to fast
get discoids same thing just use babies
if you need somthing tiny use blatta orientalis
FREE




thanx froggy

 

[Dom]

How many B lateralis come out of one egg case? does anyone know?

I guess it varies. When I was hatching alot out I caught several cases in the act of hatching. Mine were pretty consistently around 14 -16 nymphs per case.

 

[TNeal]

why be nasty

well, my roaches are doing well. They have eaten some of the newspaper and didn't die.

The colony is growing fast.

The dog food seems to be working well.

I have tons of different sized babies hiding in the newspaper.

Just like keeping fish, whaterver works for one may not work for another.

take care

 

[Rizzolo]

thanks Dom. that was the answer i was looking for. i am using your idea for the hatching containers. works like a charm! the cases take longer to hatch than i thought. i have not keep track of actual dates, kind of hard, since i collect all cases over a couple weeks into one container, before starting on another one. still, i could probably get a pretty close idea. i had heard 3 weeks, but i think it has been more like about 4-5 weeks, maybe more. i have them at about 84-87 degrees. had them hotter for a while, but the drying problem was too severe.

the egg cases are amazingly fragile when they are fresh. sometimes i will pick one up (really gently, with tweezers) and i can feel it crack, and then i see juice coming out. i guess they take a little while to harden up once they drop, because they seem pretty tough once they have turned dark.

has anyone broken one open to look examine the insides? i want to look at the little embryos under my microscope. maybe i will actually be able to count them.

i have also been wondering why some egg cases start to shrivel right away. i have heard that the ones that are slightly shriveled/wrinkled will not hatch, but i have a hard time just trashing them all. Maybe they are not viable? anyone know more about why this happens and what it means?

david