Blatta lateralis as feeders?

Yuki

Arachnoknight
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Hey there i have been looking into getting some feeders for my Ts and I have been thinking that the Blatta lateralis AKA Turkistan Roaches, are the best. does anyone use them? I like the fact that they stay small, can't climb, and don't fly. and what i looked up said they are easy to breed. only thing that worrys me is that they are really fast, faster then Lobster roachs i was told. will the Ts still be able to catch them to eat?
 

Cirith Ungol

Ministry of Fluffy Bunnies
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They are also known as Shellfordella tartara. I think there is or was some kind of scientific debate going on wether to call them S. tartara or B. lateralis but I kinda forgot who won (but I think S.t.).

If you do a search on either of your name options you'll find a lot of threads on them with lots of useful info! :)
 

Alice

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i didn't like them - kind of creepy ;)

maybe it's personal preference, but i found them to be very skittish, fast, unusually smelly and MESSY for roaches. plus, i had some adult males try and fly out of the tank and succeed... and the babies are so small that sometimes they do climb smooth surfaces...

i'd recommend blaptica dubia, they are much slower, less skittish and smelly.
 

Cirith Ungol

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i didn't like them - kind of creepy ;)

maybe it's personal preference, but i found them to be very skittish, fast, unusually smelly and MESSY for roaches. plus, i had some adult males try and fly out of the tank and succeed... and the babies are so small that sometimes they do climb smooth surfaces...

i'd recommend blaptica dubia, they are much slower, less skittish and smelly.
Strange... I would say the exact opposite to the letter. I guess that means that it depends a lot on how they are set up. One thing that's undisputable though (or two actually) lateralis repruduce faster and their young are better suited to be fed to very small slings.
 

Alice

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huh, maybe, but my setup for both species was identical... maybe i'm just weird, i was really digusted by the lateralis. :8o

oh well, another tip: i started two roach colonies and gave up both after a short time. the reason being: more than half my ts refused to eat roaches. maybe because they only got crix and locusts before, or maybe for some other reason. so maybe try feeding roaches before you start a colony.
 

Stylopidae

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Blatta lateralis is more prone to infestation than any other feeder roach.

I'd wait to see if anything new comes onto the market in the next year or so ;)

I'm going to start experimenting with parcoblatta species later this year so it might be worth the wait until something new comes on the market.

The website says the nymph stage lasts 2 years, but I've gotten them to adult in 3 months or less.
 

padkison

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Interesting about the parcoblatta. I see them all over the place in the woods at night.

How well do they do in a crowded colony? The new nymphs must be tiny!

These guys remind me very much like B. lateralis, only slightly smaller.

I'm going to start experimenting with parcoblatta species later this year so it might be worth the wait until something new comes on the market.
 

Stylopidae

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Interesting about the parcoblatta. I see them all over the place in the woods at night.

How well do they do in a crowded colony? The new nymphs must be tiny!

These guys remind me very much like B. lateralis, only slightly smaller.
Tried them once, before I found arachnoboards. Never got any nymphs, but the adults did OK in a crowded colony. I'm going to be trying them again as soon as I can find some.

Since they come from temperate climates, they shouldn't need any heat.

This is pretty much what I'm going to be experimenting with in 2007, heatless and noninfestational roaches. ;)

They remind me of B. lateralis as well...a less evil type.
 

Yuki

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Strange... I would say the exact opposite to the letter. I guess that means that it depends a lot on how they are set up. One thing that's undisputable though (or two actually) lateralis repruduce faster and their young are better suited to be fed to very small slings.
do you know what setup would be best for them? and are they really smelly?? i would hate that... haha, that and i really can't let any get away my dad would kill me.. he hates bugs.
 

Mina

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I have a colony of B latteralis and they are good. They breed fast, most of my T's love them, I've never had any problems with escapes, they eat just about anything I offer them. The really great thing about having a colony is that I have every size of roach available, from super tiny to extra large.
On the down side, I do have a few T's who won't eat them, they will only eat crickets. However I have a T. blondi, a T. aphophysis, an L. parahybana and a handful of other T's that either are or are going to get really big. It is much cheaper breeding roaches than buying enough crickets to feed each of them 6 to 8 crickets a week.
Yes, they do smell a little, but nothing compared to how bad crickets smell.
 

Cirith Ungol

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do you know what setup would be best for them? and are they really smelly?? i would hate that... haha, that and i really can't let any get away my dad would kill me.. he hates bugs.
My setup is dry and as long as I take out leftovers they hardly smell at all.
If the walls of the container are smooth and kept clean then they can't escape. A lid is still nessessary, just in case a mature male wants to take the chance at a jump.
 

Yuki

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I have a colony of B latteralis and they are good. They breed fast, most of my T's love them, I've never had any problems with escapes, they eat just about anything I offer them. The really great thing about having a colony is that I have every size of roach available, from super tiny to extra large.
On the down side, I do have a few T's who won't eat them, they will only eat crickets. However I have a T. blondi, a T. aphophysis, an L. parahybana and a handful of other T's that either are or are going to get really big. It is much cheaper breeding roaches than buying enough crickets to feed each of them 6 to 8 crickets a week.
Yes, they do smell a little, but nothing compared to how bad crickets smell.
oh geez thats good. i really really hate crickets!!!! haha i used to think befor i had them, they sounded pretty. now i just hate them.. hmm i hope my Ts will eat them.. i have a G. rosea, A avi and a C. fasciatum.. haha and i always have more Ts that I know I will get.
 

Yuki

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My setup is dry and as long as I take out leftovers they hardly smell at all.
If the walls of the container are smooth and kept clean then they can't escape. A lid is still nessessary, just in case a mature male wants to take the chance at a jump.
I have a plastic box high walls and if i put some holes in the top do you think that would work?
 

Cirith Ungol

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I have a plastic box high walls and if i put some holes in the top do you think that would work?
Make that a lot of holes (don't know the size of your lid but in mine I have about 500 holes) and it will certainly work.
 

DavidRS

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I have both lateralis and dubias. To me, the lateralis are the best, very little odor, breed like crazy. My T's have no trouble catching them, and they all eat them.

The dubias are also very good, very little odor and breed fast. The only problems is that they tend to play "dead" especially nymphs, so the spider doesn't detect them right away. Also, they will burrow into the substrate. My larger T's especially love them, I can give the largest dubia to a female versicolor and all you hear is that wonderful crunching sound. As for my 8" parahybana, it's a between meal snack.:)
 

rochi69

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for me i think the smell of a lateralis is a bit stingy and the crickets i would say smoking rotten specially after they moult. i prefer lateralis because all the movements would be great for a hungry T
 

arachnophoria

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These roaches are very suitable for terrestrial tarantulas,since they don't brrow and will seek the refuge of the Ts lair,thus being caught.They should be fine for aboreals also,but they don't climb so much.The males(the only one with wings) can fly sometimes and they can set up in your house,but kept in a 10 gallon or rubbermaid tote with a lid,eliminates that concern.Keep them on coco peat and moisten it once a week slightly...no smell or mess.I prefer to feed a dry mixture of different things as food and 3 times a week offer apples,green,or siilar wet stuff for moisture.Let the substrate dry completely,before adding any moisture.They are very fast reproducers and give a good range of size from medium to small Ts.I like them for Ts,but prefer meatier species for my herps.I have kept 9 species of roaches and compared them as feeders...I rank these in the top 3 for easy and good for your pet feeders.
 

ZooRex

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I don't like this sp. much. They're smell is pretty musky, very fast, and can breed were they aren't supposed to. When I got them I (temporaroly) set them up in a large critter keeper, with no exta heat or humidity, just food and some egg crate. Well so far I've seen a large number of nymphs that I don't remember unpacking so I've reached the conclusion that they can breed at room temp and thus could prove to be a problem in the home. Because of this I'll be getting rid of them soon and finding a better sp to keep, possibly the cuban burrowing roach. ~ Rex
 
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Tunedbeat

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These are the best feeders IMO, their nymphs are perfect for slings. They are fast but not fast enough for Ts, the smell isn't so bad either. I keep mines with no substrate at all, no substrate = no mess. I pick out the eggs and throw them in a container with moist peat moss. Since, I've been doing this, they've been hatching out every two/three days. I started out with just a few, now i have several hundreds and all my Ts love them. I also keep the dubias, their bulk is perfect for big Ts. Though, only a few of my Ts will take them. They are not the best feeders for arboreal Ts, IMO. If you use deep substrate for your Ts, you will have problems unless you pre-kill or crush their heads.
 

musihuto

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I think the main advantages of b. lateralis are as follows:
- the newborn nymphs are small enough for even the smallest slings
- non-glassclimber
- active, and non-burrower, makes them easy to locate by T's & scorpions
- males (as in many roach species) climb up, making them suitable prey for arboreals

DISadvantages:
- too fast for many centipedes (i crush them slightly before feeding them to pedelings, this slows them down sufficiently)
- too small for larger T's, in which case i feed dubia, fusca and tesselata...
- if you over-moisten the substrate, they stink
- if you over-dry the substrate, their egg-cases dry out

the infestation issue:
I think the fact that they lay egg-cases, and that they can't climb make infestation less of an issue in most situations...
Then again, I live in canada, where in the winter, indoor conditions are either too dry, or too cold for egg cases to hatch. Additionally, i don't leave food on the ground, and so their inability to climb greatly hinders their ability to find sustenance...
all that said, given the size of my collection, i have to feed off maybe 100 of these guys a week, and they are pretty good at escaping. Then again, i always find them in my washroom where the humidity is higher, so i just capture and flush them!

cheers! :D
- munis​
 
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