Photos of my Blatta lateralis enclosure

[Hurley]

I'm interested in hearing how others care for their roaches.

Here's my setup and I've got the little buggers coming out of my ears, it seems. I originally started the colony for my crested geckos, but I can't get rid of them fast enough and have to ween the colony down every few months.

They're in a 10 gallon aquarium with an inch or so of sand (this happens to be blue and white mixed decorative sand and it was what I found at the time) with layers of egg crates on end for surface area over the UTH (at the sand surface it is around 90 degrees. They can find their best thermogradient by moving away/towards the heat source, but I typically find them all over the egg crates. I mist the sand below the egg crates rarely to ensure some humidity since it's so dry here.

On the other end, I place a paper towel (so I can change it out) down and place a shallow lid with their water source (apples, pears, or liquid crestie diet as the mood strikes me) along with a couple lid fulls of roach chow (from the Carnivorous Orchid). They also get and completely clean up any leftover crestie diet when I change it out every other day. I keep them in a dark area of the house as they seem to much prefer just being left be.

I periodically scrape up egg casings and droppings from the sand and add more sand. I freeze the debris to eliminate escapees from the garbage and discard.

Here are some photos of my setup (I just added food and apple, so most are hiding in their egg crates):

Tank view showing the furniture from above:

Here's a shot with the lid, just in case someone gets good enough to scale the silicone. The lid has a few holes and isn't air tight, but I'm in there every other day to add apple or crestie diet, so ventilation isn't a problem anyway.

Caught this one right after a molt. They're so pretty when they're white.

The hoard:

A shot showing some of the little'ens...

How's everyone else keeping their roaches?

 

[Rizzolo]

what do you do with the egg cases?

you mentioned that you scrape out the egg cases periodically. what do you do with them? do you incubate them separately? there is another thread on the board that deals with that issue. i suggest you search for several other threads that deal with roach enclosures and all the associated gizmos, ideas, theories (substrate vs no substrate), etc.

looks good. i will try to get around to taking some pictures of mine. i decided to insulate the containers to keep it more constant, eliminate the cold spots and condensation, and to use less heat input. i use both under tank flexwatt tape and a low wattage ceramic heat lamp in the top. it is all hooked up to a RANCO thermostat setup. works pretty well.

always interested to hear the great ideas from others, and to find what has worked and what doesn't.

i will try to find the links to the other threads for you later, if you are interested.

 

[Hurley]

Thanks. Yeah, I just use an UTH for heat. I keep them pretty dry, with most humidity coming from the fruit.

When I remove the egg casings, I freeze them and discard them because I already have too many roaches. I've thought about setting up a second juvie tank, but didn't see the point. I couldn't use enough from the first tank, let alone the second.

Thanks, I'll seek out the other threads.

 

[the_frog_kid]

well that is a good setup
the best i have used is the one im using now
very soft soil about 2 inches thick
55 gallon rubber maid
80 f
medium low humidity
i use my high protein roach and cricket diet
and special watering crystals




thanx froggy

 

[arachnid dude]

I really like your set-up. So how many do have in this colony? I think I might try and change mine to a 10gallon tank rather than the rubber maid tub I am using now. My colony is still small 50 of them...just started it.

 

[Hurley]

Shoot, I haven't counted, but hundreds. I pruned the colony when I moved a month ago, so they're just up to producing more "roachlings". I have to seriously cut the colony every 3 months or so to keep them in check. There are enough roaches that the pile of 1 cut apple and 2 caps of roach chow will be gone by tomorrow. I feed/water them every other day to every 3rd day.

Impossible for me to feed enough off and they grow like mad.

I had a rubbermaid before that worked great except for the escapees. BugStop kept them in line for almost a year, but by the time I moved, the little ones were starting to be able to climb the walls. I decided to switch to glass, easier for me to keep the walls slicked down. They don't seem to mind being in transparent housing, they just hide in their egg crates if disturbed. It's funny, though, how often they are out during the day. I've got them near my desk and can watch them eat and "drink" and explore. Nifty little critters.

I keep my tank quite dry. Their moisture comes from their food and I limit airflow to a few airholes and me opening the closure every other day. The tank doesn't smell (except like apples, which I let them entirely clean up before providing more) and they're healthy-looking, fat, and baby-factories, so I'm satisfied with their condition.

 

[the_frog_kid]

wow if thats a ten then ur lateralis are TINY
mine are over a inch and a half long and they are the females lol




thanx froggy

 

[Hurley]

The males are 1 1/2 to 2 inches, the females are 1 1/2 inches long on average in my group. Most of what I have currently are nymphs or young adults as I weaned down to mostly nymphs when I moved. I also have them eating every other to every third day as it seems so darn wasteful to make a ton of them, only to freeze them off, so I grow them a bit slower.

 

[Dom]

Yeah these things breed like crazy! One of the reasons I hatched my egg cases separately is so that I could easily keep the number of breeding adults low and not be over-run with nymphs.

 

[the_frog_kid]

wait dom are you the guy in toronto?
they do breed relly fast
i got 389 egg cases in 3 weeks at their prime
very fun
but i can keep my cultures down of anything i want so i dont haft to sell really cheap and crash the market
thats the worst thing you can do because then everyone loses
i dont like roach breeders that sell lateralis really really cheap because then there is no point in selling them




thanx froggy

 

[Rizzolo]

Crash the Roach Market?

That's what they call a cartel! And, in business, it is illegal. for a good reason! i think roaches should sell for what they are worth. i hate it when roach dealers that sell them for artificially inflated prices (50 cents to $1.00 each!). of course B lateralis sell for less, because they are so damn easy. i think 3-5 cents/100 is about what they should sell for. most of that is for the trouble of catching, packaging and shipping them. is this welfare for roach dealers? i'm not a died-in-the-wool free market advocate, but keeping roach prices inflated is ridiculous. :? :?

 

[the_frog_kid]

i sell lateralis for 100 dollers a thousand
very resonible
but i sell giganteus adults for 55 a pair since i dont need them gone and i dont have many
when my colony gets bigger 5 dollers each canadian
i dont "inflate" prices
i make prices on what i think they are worth
not what everyone else thinks is a good price
i sell dubia for 15 each here
no surprize i dont sell any
but if you buy 1000 it'll be 250 canadian
im not in a rush to et rid of them




thanx froggy