lateralis and dubia can bread at lower temps and humidity

[skips]

I wanted to put this on record, though i really doubt that I'm the first person to "discover" this. I had a booming dubia and a lateralis colony before winter started and decided to get rid of half of each and keep the remaining with no heat and low humidity. We keep our apartment at 57 degrees (around 60 upstairs) during the winter and the substrate in the enclosures were always dry.

Point being, I was told by several people that these were warm weather species which couldn't bread at lower temps. They do breed with less frequency, but darn it they're still going strong after several moths of this treatment. 60 degrees or less and still breeding!

Anyway, I'm not saying that they're not great feeders. But they most certainly do breed under harsher conditions.

 

[matthias]

I've actually notice my dubia colony does better at a little lower temp, Say 68 to 72.

 

[Moose9]

Good point to make. I keep my room at 70 at night to keep adequate breeding, cause I breed and sell. But I have seen both the B. lateralis and B. dubia survive temps in the mid 30's. I actually witnessed B. dubia survive at between 36F - 42F for over a week.

What some people may or may not know is that these roaches will go into a hibernative state before the cold actually kills them. Mine too breed pretty good at 70F. Most of the time death occurs due to low humidity, causing bad molts. I never use substrate and that may be a factor in survival at low temps as the substrate may provide some insulation.

From my experience, roaches in large numbers will generate some heat of there own. I have seen a 5F+ in temperature difference between in there bins and outside in the room. Again this has been my personal experience and observation with these roaches.

 

[Stopdroproll]

I don't use heatpad anymore. They appear to be breeding. House is around 74*F.

 

[TalonAWD]

I have learned this also. My colonies (both dubia and laterallis) breed like crazy and temps have fallen down to 60F. I actually had to get rid of Males to slow the breeding down. For the Laterallis i had to exterminate all the males!. I had 1000's of egg cases.
I spent all that money on heat pads and its not necessary!

 

[ZephAmp]

Depending on the size of the colony and the amount of frass on the bottom of the cage, the actual "room temperature" may not be the enclosure temperature. I've stuck a thermometer in between the egg crates in my E. posticus enclosure ("room temp" is 72) and it registered 83! That friction and the decomposing frass can generated quite a bit of heat.

However, I have found that lower temps, while they slow down production, don't necessarily stop it; In fact, lower temperatures might allow for longer incubation and larger, healthier young.

 

[skips]

Depending on the size of the colony and the amount of frass on the bottom of the cage, the actual "room temperature" may not be the enclosure temperature. I've stuck a thermometer in between the egg crates in my E. posticus enclosure ("room temp" is 72) and it registered 83! That friction and the decomposing frass can generated quite a bit of heat.

However, I have found that lower temps, while they slow down production, don't necessarily stop it; In fact, lower temperatures might allow for longer incubation and larger, healthier young.

Definitely a good point.

 

[elportoed]

I know they breed and drop egg cases, but do B lateralis hatch at temp below 70s?

 

[wraith]

I know they breed and drop egg cases, but do B lateralis hatch at temp below 70s?

That's a really good question. I, for some reason, always have trouble getting my ootheca to hatch. Only, on average, 1 in 6 or 7 ever actually hatch. The rest desiccate. That's with adequate humidity, and keeping the tank at a constant 80 degrees. Does anyone think elevation might play a part in this? I live in the Appalachian Mountains which has considerably higher elevation than most arid or tropical regions. I know air pressure is different and it affects animals (and electronics at certain elevations).

 

[ZephAmp]

That's a really good question. I, for some reason, always have trouble getting my ootheca to hatch. Only, on average, 1 in 6 or 7 ever actually hatch. The rest desiccate. That's with adequate humidity, and keeping the tank at a constant 80 degrees. Does anyone think elevation might play a part in this? I live in the Appalachian Mountains which has considerably higher elevation than most arid or tropical regions. I know air pressure is different and it affects animals (and electronics at certain elevations).

I've always had trouble getting them to hatch too, and I'm nowhere near mountainous elevations.

 

[Moose9]

That's a really good question. I, for some reason, always have trouble getting my ootheca to hatch. Only, on average, 1 in 6 or 7 ever actually hatch. The rest desiccate. That's with adequate humidity, and keeping the tank at a constant 80 degrees. Does anyone think elevation might play a part in this? I live in the Appalachian Mountains which has considerably higher elevation than most arid or tropical regions. I know air pressure is different and it affects animals (and electronics at certain elevations).

I too have had allot of people tell me they have trouble with the ootheca's. hatching. I live at around 3200 ft elevation in the dry deserts of S. Calif. and haven't had any problems hatching the eggs at 70F - 90F. The lower temps take a little longer. If the ootheca does't dry up, it can take upwards of 5 months to hatch depending on temps. In my experience the B. lateralis do require a little more humidity to hatch the eggs. I keep my room humidity at between 40%-60%. My temps are between 70F at night up to 90F+ during the day year round. I collect the eggs, put them in a shoebox size container with a piece of egg flat and just check them each week for new nymphs. I no longer use heat pads or mats cause I just heat the whole room in the winter when necessary.

 

[TalonAWD]

I know they breed and drop egg cases, but do B lateralis hatch at temp below 70s?

I guess so because I have alot of babies and I use no heat pad. Its usually always under 70 according to the thermometer in the container.

 

[Fingolfin]

I actually witnessed B. dubia survive at between 36F - 42F for over a week.

True! I have witnessed them survive those same temperatures for a longer period of time than a week. They are much hardier than I thought.

 

[evicton]

My lats were breeding at 60 this winter, though it is much slower, while I didn't have a huge colony I was able to work there numbers down low enough I picked some more up recently.

 

[skips]

I've been getting mine to breed for about 4 months now on completely dry substrate, albeit slower. I have only even been giving them a water source about every 3 weeks. They're indestructible. Don't take that to mean that yours will be. People say that they can't get them to breed even under good conditions. I just wanted to register that that isnt always the case.

Again, for the past 4 months-ish mine have been dry and anywhere from 57-63 degrees. I you cant get your eggs to hatch, try taking some newly laid ones and putting them in a container with moist substrate that is under heat. Works for a lot of people.

 

[BrynWilliams]

i keep a small heatpad in my colony, mainly because my house temps here in the UK are really quite cold. They all congregate around the heatmat so they appear to want to be near it