Roach experts, I need a little help.

[Tleilaxu]

A little background, after recently moving to Florida, and wanting to see if my scorpion was hungry, she's lost quite a bit of weight, I decided to be clever and look around, I found several various sizes roaches and hearing how wonderful feeders they made decided to offer them to the scorpion....

(For habitat information they were found under rocks and large coconuts, surrounded by dry rotted leaves and sandy soil.)

Not a few seconds later all six easily burrowed under the substrate and are no not catchable, and complicating matters is a possible molt by the scorpion.

So despite claims from reputable sources I'm still nervous they will turn the tables on my baby.

Ignore the epic crab, it was caught for photographic purposes and released. Along with the roach.

I currently have two pieces of dog food and a tiny piece of orange and orange peel to hopefully occupy the roaches until I can order in proper substrate.

Here is a pic of the scorpion, she is not much larger than the biggest roach I caught.

 

[Hisserdude]

Yeah, those look like Pycnoscelus surinamensis nymphs, not the best live feeder for invertebrates in a cage with substrate since as soon as they hit the ground the first thing they do is burrow... They can also be rather, voracious, without enough food, and could potentially attack a molting scorpion.

With only a few nymphs, you probably won't run into many problems, but they are parthenogenic, so if even one nymph matures in that enclosure, you'll end up with a lot more soon, and the more you have, the faster they'll eat any supplemental food, and the higher than chances of them nibbling on your scorpion...

Honestly I'd dump the entire substrate and either extract the nymphs or microwave the substrate to kill them, and in the future if you plan on using these as a feeder, crush the heads first.

 

[Tleilaxu]

Aw balls, well providing enough food to keep them hopefully occupied till June won't be a problem, then I can order fresh substrate for the scorpion.

I should also mention I have rotting dry leaves and wood as well, In case they don't like the dog food and orange.

Thanks for the I'd one of the adults I saw looked similar to the species you listed.

 

[SolFeliz]

They are not in with the scorpion, are they?

 

[SolFeliz]

Yeah, those look like Pycnoscelus surinamensis nymphs, not the best live feeder for invertebrates in a cage with substrate since as soon as they hit the ground the first thing they do is burrow... They can also be rather, voracious, without enough food, and could potentially attack a molting scorpion.

With only a few nymphs, you probably won't run into many problems, but they are parthenogenic, so if even one nymph matures in that enclosure, you'll end up with a lot more soon, and the more you have, the faster they'll eat any supplemental food, and the higher than chances of them nibbling on your scorpion...

Honestly I'd dump the entire substrate and either extract the nymphs or microwave the substrate to kill them, and in the future if you plan on using these as a feeder, crush the heads first.

Actually, you shouldn't crush the heads, that's not very humane, is it? Its a lot better to put them all in a small plastic container and put them in the freezer. That will put them to sleep/kill them, and then you can crush their heads or whatever.

 

[Hisserdude]

Actually, you shouldn't crush the heads, that's not very humane, is it? Its a lot better to put them all in a small plastic container and put them in the freezer. That will put them to sleep/kill them, and then you can crush their heads or whatever.

Well most predators won't go after dead prey that doesn't move, if you crush the heads then they still move around a lot and thus attract the predators. Not the most humane thing ever, but it works to illicit a feeding response for many predatory invertebrates.

 

[ErinM31]

Actually, you shouldn't crush the heads, that's not very humane, is it? Its a lot better to put them all in a small plastic container and put them in the freezer. That will put them to sleep/kill them, and then you can crush their heads or whatever.

Decapitation or completely crushing the head should kill them and do so much more quickly than a scorpion or spider would do. And as @Hisserdude said, the insect will still move around and thus elicit predation and feeding. This is a autonomic response and does not mean that the roach or other insect is alive and suffering. (Some argue that insects are not capable of suffering but I always do my best to give them a quick death when the killing falls to me rather than one of my roads or spiders.)