Peppered Roaches (Archimandrita tesselata)

[Dark]

Hello folks,

I picked up six peppered roach nymphs at a local reptile expo and I'm really excited about having them grow up into adults and reproduce. Anyone else keep these? What sort of setup do you have? Pictures are absolutely welcome and encouraged. Right now I'm feeding them "roach chow" that I bought at the show designed for Dubias. Does anyone know if when it starts to get moldy if I need to change it or do these guys eat the mold too? I intend to give them some fruits here and there and I know they like dried leaves, does anyone know if maple leaves are okay?

Here are some fascinating pictures of my setup and one of the nymphs.

http://imgur.com/S7zBREq

http://i.imgur.com/Sco8Otv.jpg


Eric

 

[Hisserdude]

Hi,
You should always remove moldy food, the roaches don't eat it and it can be harmful to them. Also, cat or dog food works just as good and is probably cheaper. Your setup looks nice, your roaches should love it!

 

[Forcep]

Maple or oak leaves are fine. Don't give them too much food at one time; for some of my roach colonies I even just feed them leaves, and use dog food as treats occasionally.

 

[Dark]

Hisserdude: Thank you for the reply and information! I will be sure to keep the food fresh and add some dog food. What worries me though is that I've heard that certain brands of dog food have pesticides in them. Is there any brand I should be worried about?

Forcep: Once spring comes along I'll have to start collecting and drying leaves, since it's winter at the moment all the leaves I'd use are gone. Thanks for the info!

Best,
Eric

 

[Hisserdude]

Weird, I have never heard of them using pesticides in dog food. Just go for the cheapest brand you can find, they probably won't have pesticides in them.

 

[Dark]

I overheard it at the same reptile show that I bought the roaches from. The justification is that pesticides would prevent insects from eating or spoiling the food before it reaches the mouths of the dogs. I'll probably just feed them the dog food first to see how it goes (cause losing 6 roaches would suck less than losing my hisser and dubia mini colonies). Although I really don't want any of them to die hence my cautiousness.

Eric

 

[Hisserdude]

Well I have used many brands of dog and cat food for my bugs and it has never been an issue. You should be just fine using it for your roaches.

 

[TheHonestPirate]

Hi,
You should always remove moldy food, the roaches don't eat it and it can be harmful to them. Also, cat or dog food works just as good and is probably cheaper. Your setup looks nice, your roaches should love it!

I've always heard to use cat or dog food, now is this wet cat/dog food? I tried soeme dry kibble with my hissers when I had them last year and overnight the entire enclosure was filled with that fluffy white mold which I cannot remember the name of.

 

[Hisserdude]

The dry stuff. Any excess food must be removed after two days to avoid mold/mites, so don't feed them more than they can eat in that time.

 

[TheHonestPirate]

The dry stuff. Any excess food must be removed after two days to avoid mold/mites, so don't feed them more than they can eat in that time.

Perhaps it's because I misted right after putting the food in there?

 

[Hisserdude]

I mist after I feed mine too, never really had a problem. The only time I get mold in my cages is if my roaches did not eat all the food in two days, as this is how long mold takes to grow in my containers. The only thing I can think of that would cause so much mold in your cage is if they carried the food all over the cage and left bits of it everywhere, then when the mold set in it set in all over the enclosure.