G. portentosa (Madagaskar hissing cockroaches) and possible overpopulation of isopods?

[Wolfram1]

Are these common as feeders where you are? I wouldn't mind raising some of these.

Not really, they generally are kept as more of a pet roach since they are slow growers, but on the other hand once they get really going it doesn't matter. What matters to me is that they are extremly hardy, doing well moist or dry, cold or warm and seem to have healthy genetics. As in they don't really crash after some years like other roaches do if you dont bring in fresh blood.
Perfect for a long term roach composter.

I think B. dubia breed a lot faster and are less complicsted in that regard.

L. verrucosa seem to breed even at 18°C, not sure about B. dubia.

In any case if you are thinking of getting a colony going you need to start with a large batch and factor in a few years for it to run smoothly and to build numbers.

But that applies to all larger, slow growing species.

I don't think L. verrucosa is very good if you are only thinking about producing as much biomass as possible in as short a time as possible, go for B. dubias, or honestly S. lateralis if you only care about the feeder aspect.



The other ones i mentioned, Polyphaga saussurai take that long to mature, but are parthenogenic and produce tons of offspring. We will see if i manage to get to that point.

I honestly just got them because they look like little UFOs, not like a roach at all.They also seem to hate water. I dont think they have ever accepted a piece of vegetable or fruit i offered. Only dry oats and dry fishflakes.

 

[aprilmayjunebugs]

I honestly just got them because they look like little UFOs, not like a roach at all.

That's what I like about them. I've raised plenty of hissers, taking a break from them at the moment, but where I live there's money to be made in roaches in general. I'll have to take a look around and see if I can find the species you mentioned.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

That's what I like about them. I've raised plenty of hissers, taking a break from them at the moment, but where I live there's money to be made in roaches in general. I'll have to take a look around and see if I can find the species you mentioned.

Yeah I looked into hissers but I may be better off just getting more Dubias . Hissers seem rather costly to start a colony unless it’s very small. Pet roach species grow so much slower what’s a hissers nymph take to grow to adult ? I do want them someday .

 

[aprilmayjunebugs]

Yeah I looked into hissers but I may be better off just getting more Dubias . Hissers seem rather costly to start a colony unless it’s very small. Pet roach species grow so much slower what’s a hissers nymph take to grow to adult ? I do want them someday .

I can't find where I answered this already in one of your other threads, but I started off with four adults and in three years I sold some twice, gave some away twice, and traded some twice. I think not quite a year to go from nymph to adult. It really depends on how warm, and we'll fed they are.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I can't find where I answered this already in one of your other threads, but I started off with four adults and in three years I sold some twice, gave some away twice, and traded some twice. I think not quite a year to go from nymph to adult. It really depends on how warm, and we'll fed they are.

yeah I remember now.
Only reason I haven’t tried them was rumors about ts breaking fangs on them. Maybe that’s just the adults ?

 

[aprilmayjunebugs]

yeah I remember now.
Only reason I haven’t tried them was rumors about ts breaking fangs on them. Maybe that’s just the adults ?

It's not unheard of, just don't feed the adults off if you're worried about it.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

It's not unheard of, just don't feed the adults off if you're worried about it.

You think they’re a problem for 6/7”+ Ts ?that’s all I intended the biggest ones for but I could just feed nymphs as slow as they grow if I try some. The problem is 5 of them cost as much as a small dubia order . Not cheap .. despite being so common. The latter would feed more Ts .

 

[kadupul]

Yeah I looked into hissers but I may be better off just getting more Dubias . Hissers seem rather costly to start a colony unless it’s very small. Pet roach species grow so much slower what’s a hissers nymph take to grow to adult ? I do want them someday .

Hybrids hissers can often be bought for 1-3 dollars each or even cheaper if you buy in bulk. Another way to find some is oftentimes new keepers get overwhelmed and re-home colonies for very small fee or even just the shipping costs. I think it takes about eight months for a hisser to mature.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Hybrids hissers can often be bought for 1-3 dollars each or even cheaper if you buy in bulk. Another way to find some is oftentimes new keepers get overwhelmed and re-home colonies for very small fee or even just the shipping costs. I think it takes about eight months for a hisser to mature.

You’d have to pm me were because best I’ve seen was regular ones $5 each plus shipping.. and can only afford a few of them without spending too much. How would you find a rehome?

 

[kadupul]

@Ultum4Spiderz Pm sent!