I had been toying with the idea of feeding my scorpions and tarantulas roaches. After all, everyone on hear swears by them. The other day I went to the pet store to buy crickets. In the cricket bin was a 2 inch winged cockroach. The owner of the store told me it was a dubia. I figured it was a dubia male. At the pet store it was kept in an open top styrofoam chest with about 5 inches of tape around all the sides. I'm in China and I never had seen roaches on offer before in the pet store, so I was delighted. Then when I got it home I noticed what looked like (don't laugh) a vagina on the end of its abdomen. I was puzzled.
At first I put it in a critter keeper with the crickets and prepared to feed it to my scorpions. It ran laps around the top of the cricket keeper and then settled on the egg carton in the kritter keeper. This surprised me, because if it could climb why didn't it climb out of the bin at the pet store. I easily picked it up with tweezers and introduced it to a cage with three adult heterometrus scorpions-one of which I suspect to be gravid. It did laps around the tank and once went up on the side, but preferred to hide behind the hide covering the scorpions burrow.
Later that evening I noticed a strange kind of pod that was coming out of the vagina. I knew that some roaches are live bearers I thought the pod was a baby roach. The pod was bigger than the ventilation holes at the top of the scorpion tank so i didn't worry. The next morning the roach was still alive. The pod was gone and I saw tiny white roach nymphs (maybe half inch or smaller) in the substrate. These nymphs are definitely small enough to fit through the ventilation holes. After freaking out at the prospect of an infestation I immediately greased the lid with cooking oil (heard this works with lobster roaches). Today I didn't see the adult, and am guessing she was eaten because one of the male scorpions looks much fatter than usual. However, the lack of a bolus and the fact that twice today I lifted the lid to do maintenance makes me wonder.
Kind of reminded me of the south florida palmetto bugs. I looked at some pics here it-it kind of looks like b. discoidalis, but to be honest, they all look the same to me. It did have kind of like an orange patch right behind its head. I guess my questions are these: what roach could it be? what is the likelihood of the nymphs climbing out of a glass container with glass lid smeared with cooking oil on it? If they did get out, what is the chance of infestation? I take comfort from one thing. The substrate of the scorpion enclosure is very humid (around 80 percent or more), but outside is not (around 50 r 60 percent). I know that scorplings and tarantula slings could easily desiccate if the humidity isn't high enough. Is this true of roach nymphs too?If the adult did escape (although I doubt it), what is the likelihood of a resulting infestation?
I'm nervous for a few reasons. This is a new building, if roaches infest it, my wife and neighbors will be pissed. Also, the roaches in northern china are tiny, so if this kind showed up, people would definitely ask questions.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
At first I put it in a critter keeper with the crickets and prepared to feed it to my scorpions. It ran laps around the top of the cricket keeper and then settled on the egg carton in the kritter keeper. This surprised me, because if it could climb why didn't it climb out of the bin at the pet store. I easily picked it up with tweezers and introduced it to a cage with three adult heterometrus scorpions-one of which I suspect to be gravid. It did laps around the tank and once went up on the side, but preferred to hide behind the hide covering the scorpions burrow.
Later that evening I noticed a strange kind of pod that was coming out of the vagina. I knew that some roaches are live bearers I thought the pod was a baby roach. The pod was bigger than the ventilation holes at the top of the scorpion tank so i didn't worry. The next morning the roach was still alive. The pod was gone and I saw tiny white roach nymphs (maybe half inch or smaller) in the substrate. These nymphs are definitely small enough to fit through the ventilation holes. After freaking out at the prospect of an infestation I immediately greased the lid with cooking oil (heard this works with lobster roaches). Today I didn't see the adult, and am guessing she was eaten because one of the male scorpions looks much fatter than usual. However, the lack of a bolus and the fact that twice today I lifted the lid to do maintenance makes me wonder.
Kind of reminded me of the south florida palmetto bugs. I looked at some pics here it-it kind of looks like b. discoidalis, but to be honest, they all look the same to me. It did have kind of like an orange patch right behind its head. I guess my questions are these: what roach could it be? what is the likelihood of the nymphs climbing out of a glass container with glass lid smeared with cooking oil on it? If they did get out, what is the chance of infestation? I take comfort from one thing. The substrate of the scorpion enclosure is very humid (around 80 percent or more), but outside is not (around 50 r 60 percent). I know that scorplings and tarantula slings could easily desiccate if the humidity isn't high enough. Is this true of roach nymphs too?If the adult did escape (although I doubt it), what is the likelihood of a resulting infestation?
I'm nervous for a few reasons. This is a new building, if roaches infest it, my wife and neighbors will be pissed. Also, the roaches in northern china are tiny, so if this kind showed up, people would definitely ask questions.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
