Help with lobster roaches!

[gvfarns]

Naw, all my roaches are toast. It's ok because I was going to switch over anyway and they were beginning to reproduce way too fast. I felt silly after killing them, though.

I'll totally second the fast reproducing thing. I have had all three major species of roach people keep and lobsters are by far the fastest growing and reproducing. Even after I turned off the heat they kept going at it. Grrr.

Well, it's all a memory now. Going to take a second shot at lateralis.

 

[Thompson08]

Thanks guys! I do like these lobsters, they are my first roach, but I really want some dubia :] I've only heard good things about them.

 

[Silverbinder]

I live in Houston. It dosen't get cold enought to kill off any thing that escapes in the house. I tried lobsters for a while when I had a few Veils. They escaped no matter what was done to keep them in. I gave up and went back to crickets for a while. Some one gave me some dwarf hissers, I have been using them and they seem to work much better. They are a little faster than the regular hissers. Spiders and reptiles seem to like their taste and they gut load easily.

 

[GartenSpinnen]

Im liking the B. boliviensis, they are nice roaches. Very clean, fast breeders, very meaty, overall just really nice to keep.

The best way to take care of a lobster roach colony is these 3 steps....

1.) Get a 10 gallon enclosure, put petroleum jelly on the sides about 2" wide all along each side of it making a continuous stream so they cannot escape. Throw in some egg cartons, etc.

2.) Buy a gallon of gasoline and take them outside.

3.) Pour gasoline all over them, throw a match on them. Light a cigarette over their burning roach bodies, then go buy some good roaches!

 

[gvfarns]

Thanks guys! I do like these lobsters, they are my first roach, but I really want some dubia :] I've only heard good things about them.

I'll tell you something bad about them: finickey T's will not eat them. When they get scared they freeze and do not produce any vibrations to attract the T's. An optimal feeder would run around a lot, like crickets do. Lateralis are pretty good for that too.

The other downside is that they will burrow away, especially if you feel immature ones, which you likely will since adults are quite large and unsuitable for smaller T's.

I used to keep dubia but I got sick of them and gave them away. I could have persisted and tried to make my T's eat them, but it's easier to just use a feeder that T's like in the first place.

 

[gvfarns]

Im liking the B. boliviensis, they are nice roaches. Very clean, fast breeders, very meaty, overall just really nice to keep.

Can you elaborate on this a little? Can they climb smooth surfaces? Do they burrow? Defensive odor? Size relative to common feeders like dubia and lateralis? Live bearer or egg layer?

I'm totally down with trying a new species since lobsters, dubia, and lateralis all have significant downsides in my experience.

If they are the best roach, why is it that no one uses them?

 

[gvfarns]

Actually I just ordered a new T and the seller had some B. boliviensis so I ordered them on a whim. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Thompson08]

I need some of these roaches. My darn lobsters aren't breeding, maybe I'm just being impatient.

 

[Matt K]

B. boliviensis are almost the same size, colors, and rearing habits as B. discoidalis (discoids), B. fusca, B.parabolicus, B. atropos, and the jet black but otherwise similar B. craniifer. All are easy to keep and slightly bigger than B.dubia for all practical purposes.

I have all of the above.

 

[Richard McJimsey]

C'mon Thompson.
Just get some dubia.
They're all the rage.
I got 450 adult/subadults for $85 shipped, they aren't that expensive.

 

[Thompson08]

well I noticed some little babies runnin around and now all of a sudden some adults can climb the vaseline! What's going on?

 

[gvfarns]

well I noticed some little babies runnin around and now all of a sudden some adults can climb the vaseline! What's going on?

Not sure there is a relationship between those two things.

 

[Thompson08]

so do you think that the vaseline is applied wrong?

 

[Matt K]

so do you think that the vaseline is applied wrong?

If it is on like a thin greasy film, then yes. If it is on as thick as a few pieces of paper, then it should be o.k. If you put in on super-thick (like much thicker than a CD is) then it wont work because it will just goosh up under thier feet and they can make it over. The thickness of a couple pieces of paper to as thick as a CD is good.

I just glop a big wad of Vaseline on my finger and wipe it back across the side of the enclosure back and forth a couple times and there it is....

 

[Thompson08]

thanks! I just put new vaseline on, and so far so good.

 

[gvfarns]

If it is on like a thin greasy film, then yes. If it is on as thick as a few pieces of paper, then it should be o.k. If you put in on super-thick (like much thicker than a CD is) then it wont work because it will just goosh up under thier feet and they can make it over. The thickness of a couple pieces of paper to as thick as a CD is good.

I just glop a big wad of Vaseline on my finger and wipe it back across the side of the enclosure back and forth a couple times and there it is....

Man, I asked this question when I first got lobsters and this is a way better answer than I got. Good work.

 

[Thompson08]

I agree, great info.