Bit The Bullet

[HeartBum]

So after being overtly paranoid of the possibility of B. lats infesting my house (it's England, not gonna happen) and being convinced they could climb smooth surfaces for the longest time, I've spent more time looking into them and have decided, sod it, let's have a change from Dubia. Don't get me wrong, my colony are currently doing really well. However, I have quite a few dwarfs/growing slings that I am fed up of crushing Dubia nymph's heads, just for them to wiggle every 30 minutes and for my T to ignore them. Pre-killed works, sure, but laaaaame!

Anyway, I've ordered 100 lats from a breeder that provided me with my initial Dubias. All arrived alive, most females came in gravid. Hopefully the lats will be the same. The issue is, and I hope to get everyone's experience on this before they come in; humidity, incubation, and temperatures.

What have you found works best for hatching? Do you separate the ooths into an incubation tub, with moist substrate, or leave them in the bin? Speaking of bins, I've seen so much conflicting information on how humid people keep them. Some mist, saying it stops the ooths drying up, some say it must be bone dry, only with fruits/vegetables for moisture. On that note, some also say to keep at 80 otherwise it's too hot, some say 90+ for best results.

It seems everyone is pretty unanimous on how to keep Dubia, but lats are near-on impossible to understand as everyone has different experiences, with some not having any breeding until they change one or more of the above.

Any info + your best results and conditions would be massively appreciated.

Cheers,

HeartBum

 

[Edan bandoot]

I didn't take you for the type to have enough spiders to warrant two roach colonies, how many have you got rn?

 

[JonnyTorch]

@l4nsky just did a great post recently going into detail with photos. I'll try to link it. We just discussed this yesterday or the day before.

Breeding your own feeders

What? How? I literally had to feed off every adult I had to stop them from breeding for a few months so I could attempt to put a dent in their numbers. For reference, those are 15" tongs and that's a 10g in the background. Do you use them as feeders? what are you feeding? if it is T's, how...

arachnoboards.com

 

[JonnyTorch]

I'm with you though, I hate using dubias. My least favorite feeder altogether. The feeding response is terrible for my T's. Crickets and B. lateralis are by far my favorite. I've tried my hand at breeding red runners but I think I disturbed them too much to lay the ooths, or they didn't have enough protein in their diet. So I'm trying again on round 2 from about 150 or Jamie's Tarantulas roaches since they're only an hour from me. Lets keep this updated or chat to see progress because I'd like to get these little buggers to breed, and would like to see what works. I don't use a heat pad though like @l4nsky does, I keep them room temperature and with substrate and moisten the sub a bit once a week (I didn't do that the first try).

 

[HeartBum]

I didn't take you for the type to have enough spiders to warrant two roach colonies, how many have you got rn?

28 at the moment, buuuuut I have a Birthday coming up and literally all I've said is "vouchers for x online breeder"

 

[HeartBum]

@l4nsky just did a great post recently going into detail with photos. I'll try to link it. We just discussed this yesterday or the day before.

Breeding your own feeders

What? How? I literally had to feed off every adult I had to stop them from breeding for a few months so I could attempt to put a dent in their numbers. For reference, those are 15" tongs and that's a 10g in the background. Do you use them as feeders? what are you feeding? if it is T's, how...

arachnoboards.com

Hmmmm I may be a bit of a moron because I think this thread is what peaked my curiousity. Clicked the link and there's only 2 new comments since I last looked

 

[HeartBum]

I didn't take you for the type to have enough spiders to warrant two roach colonies, how many have you got rn?

Should also mention I have just become fascinated with colonies and love looking after them just as much as my T's. Having an excess and selling a few off here and there won't hurt, either

 

[JonnyTorch]

In an effort to keep my red runners undisturbed to get a population going, I've been feeding off crickets. Waiting for ooths to happen, but some need to mature. I've had this batch of 150 for about a month now. I see at least 2 or 3 adult male red runners with wings. Hoping in the next month or two I can get some ooths at least, or some newborn nymphs.

 

[Vermis]

Should also mention I have just become fascinated with colonies and love looking after them just as much as my T's. Having an excess and selling a few off here and there won't hurt, either

This. The biggest reason that warrants two or more roach colonies is that roaches are great.

 

[Wolfram1]

You really cant do much wrong with these.

I bought 2 feeder boxes at an expo last fall, one with very small nympths and one with large nympths and adult roaches. I have been feeding them off since then and actively neglected them to reduce the numbers some more, since i was not planning on keeping a colony and i still have more than i need for my slings....

At least all the adults seem to have died at some point.

 

[Pmurinushmacla]

Should also mention I have just become fascinated with colonies and love looking after them just as much as my T's. Having an excess and selling a few off here and there won't hurt, either

I don't get ya'll. Tarantulas are fun, but roaches? A necessary evil to have in my house imo.

 

[HeartBum]

I don't get ya'll. Tarantulas are fun, but roaches? A necessary evil to have in my house imo.

I was pretty terrified of Dubias when I ordered my first lot. I'd seen people getting them and they arrived packed loose in a cardboard box and some egg crates - no cricket box. Made me cringe so badly at the thought of having to deal with that. ... Then it happened to me. I got thrown in the deep end as I wanted to know my male/female ratio. I actually think they're adorable now.

Last lot of roaches I got had a couple lats in, which I was quick to dispose of for fear of them getting loose. One was out the cricket box when I opened the cardboard and was crawling up the side - it freaked me out big time because they look like "typical" roaches. But the more I looked the more I thought... Hey... They're not really that bad. Which, I guess, is how I was when I first started keeping T's!

 

[JonnyTorch]

I was pretty terrified of Dubias when I ordered my first lot. I'd seen people getting them and they arrived packed loose in a cardboard box and some egg crates - no cricket box. Made me cringe so badly at the thought of having to deal with that. ... Then it happened to me. I got thrown in the deep end as I wanted to know my male/female ratio. I actually think they're adorable now.

Last lot of roaches I got had a couple lats in, which I was quick to dispose of for fear of them getting loose. One was out the cricket box when I opened the cardboard and was crawling up the side - it freaked me out big time because they look like "typical" roaches. But the more I looked the more I thought... Hey... They're not really that bad. Which, I guess, is how I was when I first started keeping T's!

I would rather feed off multiple red runners instead of even an adult dubia to my larger T's.

 

[Pmurinushmacla]

I was pretty terrified of Dubias when I ordered my first lot. I'd seen people getting them and they arrived packed loose in a cardboard box and some egg crates - no cricket box. Made me cringe so badly at the thought of having to deal with that. ... Then it happened to me. I got thrown in the deep end as I wanted to know my male/female ratio. I actually think they're adorable now.

Last lot of roaches I got had a couple lats in, which I was quick to dispose of for fear of them getting loose. One was out the cricket box when I opened the cardboard and was crawling up the side - it freaked me out big time because they look like "typical" roaches. But the more I looked the more I thought... Hey... They're not really that bad. Which, I guess, is how I was when I first started keeping T's!

Im not afraid of them, i just dont see how they're cute or fun to look after lol. Same with crickets, they're just another feeder.

 

[HeartBum]

I would rather feed off multiple red runners instead of even an adult dubia to my larger T's.

I am kind of looking forward to feeding more. An adult Dubia seems to be an awful lot for some of mine, but they still end up eating all of it. Little piggies.

 

[HeartBum]

Im not afraid of them, i just dont see how they're cute or fun to look after lol. Same with crickets, they're just another feeder.

I bought one lot of crickets when I first started and tried to breed them (obviously, didn't work lol) and then one night I was cleaning them out and one jumped in my face. Yup... That was enough to put me off. That and the chirping... The endless chirping...

 

[HeartBum]

Well. They came today, 2 days earlier than expected. And so did the tub I ordered, which I thought I was getting ahead of myself about. Just walking home now and having visions of dropping them all on the floor

 

[Wolfram1]

Truth be told, i do like some Roaches quite a bit, but the B. lateralis are just too much of a possible household pest to like.

Do not drop them!!! If even a single female escapes you could have them living under your kitchen utensils forever. Luckily they are quite easy to handle safely. Not like some of the truly awful pests like Periplaneta americana or Blattella germanica.

 

[Pmurinushmacla]

Truth be told, i do like some Roaches quite a bit, but the B. lateralis are just too much of a possible household pest to like.

Do not drop them!!! If even a single female escapes you could have them living under your kitchen utensils forever. Luckily they are quite easy to handle safely. Not like some of the truly awful pests like Periplaneta americana or Blattella germanica.

What are your go to? Dubias sound annoying, and no way in hell am I gonna have my house infested with roaches.

 

[Wolfram1]

As i mentioned in other threads i started keeping a colony of Lucihormetica verruosa. Mostly in anticipation of my slings growing up ober the next 2-3 years. They are basically a slower growing armored B. dubia. Absolutely unkillable by poor husbandry. They eat everything even wood. After a year or two the wooden boards used will look like driftwood because they slowly eat them.

Never worked with B. dubias before.

Thats my current setup, the are still reproducing slowly despite the colder temperatures.



it doesnt look like it but there are probably close to a 100 adults + countless nympths in there currently, they are very light sensitive however so the moment i open it up they are mostly gone from sight.