cleaning b. lateralis

[guitarlust]

what methods work best when cleaning b. lateralis?? do people use hot water? hot water w/ soap? i have heard vinegar does well when cleaning. i just would like to figure out a way to disinfect while not killing my roaches. i currently use extremely hot water. some other methods will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Hot water should be fine. But if you wanna go serious some mild soap and hot water would even be more fine. Just do a good rinsing afterwards.

But if you really wanna desinfect you could use bleach.

All in all it depends on what you want to kill with it. Do you wanna kill mites and other very small athropods then warm water with soap will do. If you want all the bacteria to go too then bleach would to my knowlage do a better job.

 

[guitarlust]

my roaches are really giving off an odor now and am wondering if it is due to feeding it fish food. how have others fared when feeding fish food? do others feed fruit and vegetables to them? if so, do the roaches give off an odor?

 

[TNeal]

I have a thriving colony of Blaptica dubia. I have found the enclose tends to stink if it is kept too moist. I misted it in the beginning (about a year ago) but quit it because of the odor. Now I leave the cover of their bin cracked open a couple of inches to allow fresh air in. Now the odor is very minimal.

As far as cleaning their enclosure, I just replace the newspaper substrate and cardboard hides when they start to look nasty. I have never washed out the bin. This colony has been running over a year now and growing like heck.

As far as foods are concerned I feed them mostly canned carrots and moistened dry dog food. I usually feed the veggies to a ratio of 2-3 parts to 1 part moisened dry dog food. I also feed them various fruits and vegtables whenever I have them in the house. They always prefer the fruits and veggies over the dog food and consume them first, before they clean up the dog food. You would be amazed at how much these little suckers can eat !!!

One other thing. Remove any excess food the minute you see mold on it or you start to smell it. This rotten food really stinks up the enclosure.

I hope this helps.

 

[guitarlust]

yes, this helps out quite a bit. thanks for the info.

 

[Aquanut]

I feed fish, dog, cat and chicken food in varying amounts depending what i run out of. My results are the same as TNeal, fairly odor free unless the humidity gets to high and have mold in the substrate. Except for produce i only feed dry foods so mold isn't a problem with the food (produce vanishes before it can spoil) I went over a year without cleaning with little odor, when i changed my set up it was much more humid and the substrate molded.