Dried Levaes for A. tesselata?

[WeightedAbyss75]

Hola! Comó estás? This is just a quick question, but I have the chanve to purchase some A. tesselata in the upcoming expo near me. I can definitly provide them with the vertical bark to molt, but the leaf matter I am curious about. It's starting to become Spring, and there ARE leaves on the ground. I'm just not sure if anything will eat them. They are very dried out and brown. Do I need fresh leaf matter, or can I just used the dead, dried leaves on the ground. Here is a pic of one leaf. Probably worrying over nothing, but they are my favorite roaches. Really want them to do well

Thanks, Abyss

 

[pannaking22]

Heck yeah A. tesselata! That looks like the kind of leaf you'd want for roaches, dry and brown. Green leaves are no good for roaches because they haven't begun to break down and roaches don't have the enzymes in their guts to break down green leaves. You'll want to make sure that you collect them in an area where they don't use pesticides, and then you'll want to sterilize them before tossing them in the enclosure. I'm not sure if A. tesselata necessarily need leaf litter, but it's always a nice thing to provide and they probably will munch on it a bit (especially the nymphs).

 

[Hisserdude]

Like @pannaking22 said, that leaf looks good. The older, the better!!

Some people insist that their A.tesselata cultures won't breed without dead leaves in their diet, and others have huge colony and never offer them dead leaves, so dead leaves could be vital to their good health or be completely useless, never hurts to offer them though.

 

[WeightedAbyss75]

Awesome to know! Wish I had known sooner though. Turns out, in the Chicagoland area, it was fine a week ago and then BAM! Almost 5" of snow in the middle of March Glad to know for the future, I just really want to have a decent colony with them. Figure I may even give some to my bio teacher's class when they've started breeding! Love the "gentle giant" nature they have