New Colonies, Few Questions

[willywonka]

I have recently started two colonies of roaches, one hisser and the other B. dubia. I have a couple of questions:

1. What range of tempertures can they withstand?
2. Besides vaseline, is there anything else I could use to prevent escapes?
3. Is substrate important or can I do without?

 

[Hedorah99]

1. I keep my dubia around 80 degrees. i have heard of them being at 70 and doing just fine. We have a colony of Hissers at work at 703 and still breeding like mad.

2. I believe blaberus.com has a product that can be used instead of vaseline. the name escapes me now.

3. I don't use any substrate. The dubia seem fine. Just give them lots of egg crates or toilet paper tubes.

 

[Dark Raptor]

1. What range of tempertures can they withstand?

Optimal: 25 - 32 degrees C.

2. Besides vaseline, is there anything else I could use to prevent escapes?

Fluon, it stops even ants. But I don't know if it is easy to get in your country.

3. Is substrate important or can I do without?

You can keep both without substrate (tanks are easier to clean, smaller specimens don't hide dig in it, there is no mold and lower numbers of mites ect.), but it is easier to keep correct humidity when you've got something in terrarium.

 

[Nike]

Yes, there`s something named BugStop, that should be easier (less messy) than vaseline. Check Blaberus.com out.

 

[John J Starr Jr]

Roaches

I have recently started two colonies of roaches, one hisser and the other B. dubia. I have a couple of questions:

1. What range of tempertures can they withstand?
2. Besides vaseline, is there anything else I could use to prevent escapes?
3. Is substrate important or can I do without?

I have zero knowledge about the hisser type roach but I do in fact have plenty of experience with the Blaptica_dubia.

1. I see tempuratures posted by individuals that seem to be somewhat simular to each other. Many will post the ideal tempurature of about 75F to 95F as a gradient in your cage where you have a cool side at 75F and a hot spot at 95F. Many others will post 80F to 100F also as a gradient in your cage with a cool side at 80F and a hot spot at about 100F. In both cases you are looking at a 20 degree gradient. That is near impossible with my extremely low humidity, very high elevation, and low profile type cage. I will allways get about a 30 degree gradient. In my new roach hotel design in my setup I will have about 80F on my cool side and about 110F hotspot. I could increase the venting slightly and drop that to about 75F to 105F. My hotspot does drop off very fast down into the upper 90F's with in an inch or so so I am not to overly concerned about the high tempurature on the hotspot. That is with a solid and constant room tempurature outside of the cage of 70F.

They do require a HIGH humidity to aid in the shedding of the old exoskeleton. If your moisture level inside the cage is low they can die or get badly injured while attempting to shed the old exoskeleton.

I will have pictures of this newer and better design at the below link, probably by the end of this coming weekend January_29,_2006.

2. Sorry but I can not help you with the vaseline. I only raise roach species that are non glass climbing, low odor, non sticky, live bearing, and from the Central and Southern America areas. My current species are...

Blaptica dubia
Blaberus discoidalis
Blaberus parabolicus
Blaberus craniifer
Blaberus fusca

3. I use aspen shavings as a substrate for a couple of reasons. All of my species love to burrow especially if they get jolted by something like a sudden light coming on and it also helps them to easily get turned back on their feet if they should happen to get stuck turned upside down.

John J Starr Jr
.

 

[willywonka]

Will packing tape around the top work for climbing roaches the way it works for crickets?

 

[TheDarkFinder]

Will packing tape around the top work for climbing roaches the way it works for crickets?

No, do not ask how I know, but no it will not work. Not even if you use carwax on the tape. I did several test and nothing worked but he stuff from www.blaberus.com works well enough. It also last I've make about 6/ 20 gallon tubs and have not used half the stuff. It also last awhile, about a year, but does need to be patch if you rub it off.

http://www.blaberus.com/FORMgallery5.htm scroll down.

thedarkfinder