Recommend a Roach!

pinkfoot

Arachnolord
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Firstly, for feeding arboreal tarantulas, and

Secondly, one that has nymphs of a good size to feed to most slings.

Thanks! b:clap:
 

Herp13

Arachnoknight
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This is not from personal experiance(yet) but Panchlora nivea actually fly's and are under 1" even as adults, they might be an option. I also here that Blaberus dicoidalis never stops running around when dropped in a cage for feeding.
 

pinkfoot

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Yeah, I was wondering about the so-called 'Banana roaches'... might well be an idea.

Thanks guys! :clap:
 

Herp13

Arachnoknight
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I should be getting my colony next week, if this thread is still up, i'll post some pics:)
 

Vys

Arachnoprince
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I don't see how B.dubia would be a good roach for arboreals? :)

Anyway, P. nivea is my staple food roach. Adults work very well for all but the biggest arboreals (you can feed those too, but one roach would merely be a light snack), while nymphs are pretty slow and docile and soft and sometimes a big as the biggest adults.

Boluses of adults are very easy to find on most backgrounds.
 

Digby Rigby

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Arboreal options

Most roaches can be used to feed arboreals if you attach a feeding platform up high. Make sure the sides are sufficiently tall to keep the roaches from climbing out and the spiders can get in. That way you can have the option of using non climbing species. There is also the "giant" form of panchlora a species where the females get 2-3 times the mass of nivea females and just about an inch long males of both species are the same size. People have been very happy with them.

Digby Rigby balboa28279@mypacks.net

Our feeders are cooler than your pets!
 

IguanaMama

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Personally, I've never met an arboreal tarantula that didn't climb down for its repast. I think any roach that doesn't burrow is fine whether it be for an arboreal or terrestrial T. That being said, P. nivea is a nice choice, if you don't mind chasing the occasional escapee with a broom. Also, I don't see how B. dubia would not be a good choice. I've used them to feed arboreals, and they've thrived with them. I also like giant lobsters as feeders. I think Rhyparobia maderae would probably make an excellent feeder, they've been breeding very well for me, are active and hardy, however I personally like them too much to use as feeders, so I haven't.
 

Herp13

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Yeah, how are those giant lobsters?(how big are they too?)

-Eric
 

Vys

Arachnoprince
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Also, I don't see how B. dubia would not be a good choice. I've used them to feed arboreals, and they've thrived with them. .
A 'feeding platform' as mentioned above sure seems to enable it, at any rate. Bar that, I guess it would depend on other things, like if substrate was used for the arboreal and how keen the arboreal in question was to come down onto the ground to hunt. I'm not a big believer in the 'better make the enclosure small enough so that the tarantula can find its food' saying, and consequentally I do suspect most arboreals would eventually find a B.dubia shuffling around in the top layers of the substrate; but I never did any wide spread testing when I still kept B.dubia. I'm inclined to believe you though.

Still, I'd probably require visual evidence before I could accept that most Avics like to eat B.dubia.

P.nivea won't turn arboreals very un-aerodynamic quickly either, but I haven't had any experience with the 'giant' sort. That's something I want to change though.
 

jmhendric

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I like Discoides better than dubia I have both and the discoid are a meatier roach than the dubia. Lobsters work well with my avic because they can climb glass and get all over the enclosure. When I want to feed a discoid I just drop one into the tube web gets em every time.:D
 

xelda

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I'm only just now beginning to keep bigger numbers of slings, but I find that P. pallida works really well. They're very prolific breeders, like lobsters except they're a much smaller species so it's easy to pull out the right size nymphs for slings without having to dig through the colony. They don't burrow or fly, but they actually climb around a lot when you introduce them to a new cage which is why they work well for arboreals. All of my 50+ versicolor slings ate the roaches overnight even though I'm keeping them in somewhat largeish containers. The adults only get to be about 3/4" though, so they'd probably be sorta small for adult arboreal Ts.

They're a pretty cockroach species though. Everyone who's seen or bought them likes them a lot.

Nymph


Adult
 

pinkfoot

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There's some really cool advice in there, folks, and I must admit I am totally committed to experimenting with roaches as feeders.

Thanks for all the points of view! :D

Those P. pallida are really neat Xelda, as are the R. maderae that Jodi mentioned. P. vanwaerbeki were also recommended but I cannot find a supplier...

The platform's a really nice idea, though I have too many containers now, but nice one, DR!
 
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IguanaMama

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I'm a fan of the palllids, but I think they're small for adult arboreals. Mine have been breeding really well and are very hardy. I really like them alot. Soooo pretty toooooo.
 

pinkfoot

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Got lucky!...

and stumbled on a colony of P. pallida! Yeehaw!

The feeder base grows... {D
 

pinkfoot

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Too soon to say, but I've got them on heating pads so hold thumbs for breeding! {D
 

atlfrog

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Feb 20, 2007
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Roach

Dubien Roaches are great! They breed fast and grow to be about 2-3 inches big.{D
 

Herp13

Arachnoknight
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Here's one of my E. posticus(very cool:)


Definetly try them:)

-Eric
 
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pinkfoot

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.

Yep, that's a beauty, and you'll be glad to learn that I just ordered some...

I'll name the first one.....

HERP13!! {D
 
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