Hello. I'm a student at kent state. We have a small animal collection which is maintained entirely by students like myself. I am unofficially in charge of writing care sheets for these animals for people who have no experience with them. I try to make them as complete as possible, so please read the document and let me know if anything is wrong or if I left something out. Please be brutal, but constructive. Thanks in advance.
please give constructive criticism-care sheet for Blatta lateralis
- Thread starter skips
- Start date
Skips,
Your care sheet looks good.
I would suggest two changes. First you do not need substrate for turks. They do fine without it. The second is that you do not need to ever mist the bin. The humidity in Ohio is sufficient. Misting will increase the smell of the bin, possibility of mold and mites dramatically. You will loose a number of egg cases due to drying out but the create enough of them to not really matter.
This is just my opinion base on my experience with this species.
Your care sheet looks good.
I would suggest two changes. First you do not need substrate for turks. They do fine without it. The second is that you do not need to ever mist the bin. The humidity in Ohio is sufficient. Misting will increase the smell of the bin, possibility of mold and mites dramatically. You will loose a number of egg cases due to drying out but the create enough of them to not really matter.
This is just my opinion base on my experience with this species.
My turks never reproduced until I put moist substrate in there. I'm pretty sure the egg cases were drying up before I did that. In my opinion the caresheet is pretty good as it is.
I live in chicago. Same kind of humidity as Ohio. However, when you add heat to the enclosure you will dry the heck out of them unless you moisten them either by misting or keeping them on moist substrate.
I live in chicago. Same kind of humidity as Ohio. However, when you add heat to the enclosure you will dry the heck out of them unless you moisten them either by misting or keeping them on moist substrate.
I kind of agree with both of you. If you use heat rope, then no misting would probably be fine. We use heat lamps which will make the enclosure bone dry very fast if we dont mist. I think these guys have the most variable care information ive seen available. substrate vs. no-substrate, dry vs. wet, heat is necessary vs. heat isnt necessary...confusing...
Skips,
After re-reading my response above I would like to clarify. They will live in certain setups with out substrate and without misting. I am sure that in real dry climates you would need both to keep the humidity up.
I believe this is the biggest complaint of generic care sheets. There are so many different variables to each situation. I think in your case since you need a care sheet for your school is to just experiment with the different variables until you get the results you want then create the care sheet for your colony for the students to follow. This care sheet would be specific to your colony and your setup.
I use under tank heat on mine and also have several large water crystal containers along with small ventilation in the top. The heat helps evaporate the water out of the crystals increasing humidity and that is why I do not have to mist. If you have heat lamps inside the container or on top with no lid then that would create as you mentioned a very dry climate inside and you would need to add additional humidity to the bin.
Just experiment with the setup you have then create the sheet to match they best results you can attain with what you have.
Good Luck with your colony.
I was thinking about the water crystals mentioned in the caresheet. Those work, but they do dry up and get gummy. Also the roaches poop on them and they get nasty. In general, I think it's not the best way to do a large roach colony. I give mine open water. As long as the container is made of something they can climb, like styrofoam or a rough plastic, they can get up into it. Then you can float a bunch of styrofoam pieces maybe 3/4 inch square. They can climb all over these and don't drown. Then you can just refil the water when you want to. Those water crystals are kind of a pain in the backside after a while. Just a suggestion.
Skips,
After re-reading my response above I would like to clarify. They will live in certain setups with out substrate and without misting. I am sure that in real dry climates you would need both to keep the humidity up.
I believe this is the biggest complaint of generic care sheets. There are so many different variables to each situation. I think in your case since you need a care sheet for your school is to just experiment with the different variables until you get the results you want then create the care sheet for your colony for the students to follow. This care sheet would be specific to your colony and your setup.
I use under tank heat on mine and also have several large water crystal containers along with small ventilation in the top. The heat helps evaporate the water out of the crystals increasing humidity and that is why I do not have to mist. If you have heat lamps inside the container or on top with no lid then that would create as you mentioned a very dry climate inside and you would need to add additional humidity to the bin.
Just experiment with the setup you have then create the sheet to match they best results you can attain with what you have.
Good Luck with your colony.
good suggestions. thanks.