MY Experimentation Thread

[Stylopidae]

In this thread, I will discuss the trials and tribulations of keeping B. Dubia, Platymeris and G. Portentia in a heated container over winter.

My landlords won't let me have feeders in the house, so I'm using this method for the time being.

I have a 28 qt. container with 7 or 8 roaches (hissers for now) in my garage with a 50 gallon heat pad inside.

Outside conditions

<Pics Coming soon.>

 

[Stylopidae]

So far, they seem to be doing fine. I saw one near the top of the container and one near the middle, away from the heat pad, which tells me that the temperature is acceptable inside the container.

I will be picking up the additional species of roaches throughout the winter months...if you want to know how it's working out, shoot me a PM.

 

[cacoseraph]

hey, where's the heat pad at?

i'm thinking the whole "heat pad on bottom = bad" arguments probably apply here

...hmm, unless it gets *so* cold a roach resting on the heatpad won't cook


what *are* the outside/garage conditions, out of curiosity?

 

[Stylopidae]

outside temps are in the low 20s and it will probably get colder. The roaches are in my garage, so they aren't exposed to wind.

Edit: added weather report

the heat pad is slanted inside the cooler,near the bottom on one side, and the other side is near the middle.

Since this particular species is a climbing species, I'm not too worried about them frying on the heat pad. When I start experimenting with B. Dubia, I will certianly take that into consideration.

Any suggestions?

 

[jbrd]

Could you describe your set-up in more detail?
The hissers are a climbing species right?
The reasons why i ask is because i am getting a bunch of nymphs soon and i am doin the research now, lol

 

[Stylopidae]

The experiment failed.

After I came home from my night out, the carrots I had put in there for the roaches were bone dry and I'm sure the roaches were severely dehydrated.

So I took the roaches out and put them in a seperate container with fresh food, where they are residing now.

After next payday, I am going to pick up a 10 gallon tank with a correct sized heater and try again with that.

I will also use a bark type substrate, as this holds heat pretty well.

This is where I failed:

I underestimated the heat pad's effectiveness
I underestimated the effectiveness of the insulation in the cooler

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Could you describe your set-up in more detail?
The hissers are a climbing species right?
The reasons why i ask is because i am getting a bunch of nymphs soon and i am doin the research now, lol

Hissers are climbing species. To keep them contained, all you need to do is smear petrolium jelly (vasiline) around the top three inches of the cage and this will prevent any escapes.

Use a roach apartment as outlined in Code Monkey's Blaptica Dubia colony setup thread that is stickyed at the top of this sub-forum(?).

You can use the same setup as outlined in that thread for hissers, but be sure to use the vasiline at the top of the cage, because THEY WILL CLIMB OUT.

I hope this helps you.

 

[jojobear]

Though I am in nowhere nearly as cool a climate as you are, I have been using regular rubbermaid containers (no holes in lid) with the lids on and a heating pad (human kind) under 1/2 of the container. This set-up is working great for me I have eggcrates stacked on both sidesfor roaches to determine their preference of temps and I put the food and water crystal just beyond the heated half so it doesnt dehydrate. I have 9 species (including hissers)of roaches set-up this way and my production is still going strong.

 

[Stylopidae]

The human kind, eh?

Have you had any problems with that? I've heard some really bad things about that.

I'm thinking about getting a 20 gallon container and putting a block of wood inside it with a heat pad on top, then doing something similar to how CM keeps his dubias.

I'll post more after payday.

 

[cacoseraph]

Hissers are climbing species. To keep them contained, all you need to do is smear petrolium jelly (vasiline) around the top three inches of the cage and this will prevent any escapes.

one thing to note about vaseline barriers... you HAVE to renew them from time to time, as they lose effectiveness

i think the petroleum jelly like, dries out and the dang things can walk over it

another thing to note: p-barriers don't work on all climbing roaches

i er, had some P. nivea (green banana roaches) that didn't even stop to laugh when they ran over a fresh barrier

i think temp and humidity affect the effectiveness of the p-barriers

also, if you leave a vaselined cage over the right kind of heat source, and have too much vaseline on the sise of the cage, it can get heated up and run

*sigh*

trust me =P

 

[Dom]

My temps aren't as cool as yours but this is what I'm doing.
My roaches are in a rubbermaid with egg crates. They are heated by a human type heating pad underneath them. The rubbermaids are in a cardboard box that has styrofoam around the interior perimeter. They can't climb glass but they can climb the egg crates so if the temp on the floor is too warm they can get away. I use fruit an veg for water and keep it on the part of the rubbermaid that isn't heated so it doesn't dry out as fast. I find carrots dry out faster than apples. I just quarter or halve the apples and leave carrots whole so that there is less surface area for the moisture to escape.
If I was keeping them in a cooler location I would check out the R value of various home insulation products. There is a good one that is foil on the outside and bubble-wrap on the inside. It's thin and easy to work with @$20 a roll.

 

[jbrd]

Now if i put Gromphadorhina portentosa in an aquarium with a fine mesh lid that is tightly sealed would they still be able to get out? Lookin for an alternate fix to the vaseline solution.

 

[Stylopidae]

Jbrd: do a search for Teflon and see what comes up. I think I remember reading something about it in the forum awhile back.

 

[Aquanut]

I have to keep my roaches in the garage and it gets cold (Idaho). Since i have multiple colonies i didn't want to have to heat each separately. I made a Styrofoam "cooler" out of 1" Styrofoam sheets from Home depot. Comes in handy 2' by 4' sheets that fit in my car. I use light bulbs of different watts for heat depending on how cold its outside. I have my rubber maid tubs inside. I should have used 2" foam, the temp swings a lot depending on outside temp. I think i may put another layer of 1" foam over the top of the first. (the foam is cheap) I was going to glue the foam but decided to use 1 3/4" deck screws instead.

 

[Dark Raptor]

Jbrd: do a search for Teflon and see what comes up. I think I remember reading something about it in the forum awhile back.

I think you should try to find fluon. It is generally used by ant keepers. If something can stop the ants, it can stop almost anything.

 

[jbrd]

I think you should try to find fluon. It is generally used by ant keepers. If something can stop the ants, it can stop almost anything.

Would this in any way harm the roaches? i should be getting them shipped to me net week sometime so i need a soilution quick

 

[Aquanut]

Many people have used sewing machine oil with good results. I use Vaseline but don't have climbers, just insurance since an occasional one will find a foot hold on the plastic (old rubber maid that has lost its smooth surface) I discovered this when a female discoid jumped ship and had babies in the laundry hamper.

 

[roach dude]

..........................

 

[Stylopidae]

Payday has come and gone and I picked up a 35 gallon rubbermaid container today. I'm going to try that and keep everyone posted.

<As soon as I get the internet on my computer dealt with, I promise there will be pics.>

 

[Stylopidae]

Success! The roaches lived through the night and they are coming up on their second night. I have some carrots and potatoes in there with them.

I'm probably going to give them a mixture of blended of bananas, orange peels, apples, carrots and potatoes for food.

Anyone have diet suggestions?

I am going to set up a colony of dubias and lobsters using a similar set up before attempting the Platymeris colonies.

I am going to try to set the platymeris colonies up in a clear glass container, but that will most likely be updated next year as I would like to set up the bugs in the most adverse conditions possible so it's easier as time goes on.

The exact set up I have:

35 gallon rubbermaid container
50 gallon heat pad
cardboard endcaps from the DVD player I got for christmas
cardboard rolls from photopaper from my work
toilet paper roll

I hope to be selling the hissers in 2007, so stay tuned

 

[jojobear]

Now if i put Gromphadorhina portentosa in an aquarium with a fine mesh lid that is tightly sealed would they still be able to get out? Lookin for an alternate fix to the vaseline solution.

Try bug stop. It works great and not nearly as messy as vaseline. James at http://www.blaberus.com sells it as well as most people who sell roaches.