Roach problem

[halfwaynowhere]

So I haven't paid the most attention to my two pet hissers. I've been busy with work, and their tank was in a cabinet. I've been misting occassionally, and tossing them some food, but not looking a whole lot. They are both female, but I knew they were probably gravid when I got them in January. Well, I figured if there were no babies by now, I was safe. So I did some rearranging, and put them out on display instead of hiding them in the cabinet. And then I saw it. A baby. After some searching, I found three total. I fed those off immediately. But I know that they have a lot more than three babies.
The three that I found were about 1/4", which i've read is their size from birth. I am fairly certain that at that size, they would not be able to squeeze through the mesh of their screened lid. Its a finer mesh than the lids you normally buy, its one of those critterzilla tanks with the sliding lid.
Anyways, should I be worried that they could be loose in the house? three babies seems odd, unless they are still giving birth, but I see no signs of that (although I've heard they do it over a 2 day period, and 40 babies in two days seems like they would be fairly spread out).
I did plenty of research back in January when I brought them home, but I seem to have forgotten it all.

 

[Andrew273]

Hissers are not something to worry about infestation. They grow pretty slow and don't reproduce that fast. If they are loose don't worry about it. Check the substrate really good, mine burrowed at first. After that they all climbed to the top of the container.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

they don't have much substrate in there, just a small layer of bark chips, and I went through it a few times, searching through about an inch at a time.
Am I right about the birth size? And how big are they after their first molt? Two were really white, and one was darkening up, but still fairly light.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

okay, now i know I'm in trouble. I found some in there that are just a tiny bit bigger than a flea, which can easily slip through the mesh. I put some cloth between the lid and the tank, so that should keep any more babies in, but I'm worried about all the ones that could have already gotten out. I read that they were 1/4", but these things are tiny! I can't believe it!
I'm still worried about an infestation because my room is pretty messy, and would probably be a happy place for roaches to live in... I'll have to clean it up ASAP!

 

[bluefrogtat2]

lobsters

i keep alot of roaches and got rid of lobsters immediately.the chance for infestation is far too great.wouldn't advise anyone to keep these or the lateralis.even after getting rid of them i found some in my basement for six months.currently haven't seen any in over six months.but definitely don't advise the keeping of these at all.
unless you like roach infestation
andy

 

[Thrasher]

I keep Lobsters as well as the red runners, I have no problem keeping them in the tank. Roach infestion will not likly to happen if you check on your colony everyday and see what they're up to. I keep my room really clean and neat, and I don't leave food out, so if the roaches do get out, they probabbly will move to the house next door =) but I have yet seen my lobsters and runners out. Mini and Tiger hissers are the problem tho, hissers LOVE to climb and they do such a good job at it, mini hisser babies go throught EVERYTHING. WHat I do now, I aplly a layer of hand lotion on the wall of the colony, the lotion area is 6 inches from teh top and down. And I keep house spiders around my room, and I have yet seen them catching any roaches, mostly are crickets, wasps or my got away sling =/ I wouldn't worry about hissers getting out, they grow SOOO slow and they don't just eat ANYTHING like the lobsters do, they will die off. WHat I would do, I will clean out the room and take out the trash and make sure no food or nothing they could eat in teh room, well, if your really concern about it, get one of the roach tape from wallmark and place a little carrots in the middle of the tape, they will fall for that. But I would just clean the room up and not worry about it.

 

[bluefrogtat2]

new roach

i would personally get a better roach.discoids ,dubias,fusca's or anything blaberous.they breed better don't climb or have any deffensive odor.no chance of escape or infestation.why risk it.my basement is my invert room,and is kept spotless.yet i still had a problem with escapees with lateralis and lobsters.would strongly advise against them.and if you read into it(research)you will see that there are many keepers that will advise the same
andy

 

[loxoscelesfear]

i have never worried about exotic roaches infesting. after 1000s of blaberus and numerous hissers i have never seen a single one loose in the house. people i know who have had escapees find them dead because they dehydrate quickly.

 

[bluefrogtat2]

agree

i agree with the hissers and the blaberous.never had a problem with either.but have had a problem with the lateralis and lobsters.and personally know several people who have had as well.currently know someone that is removing their collection from house to have house sprayed for lateralis.(and i know that they are a pest in california and florida,but this is in the midwest)so heed my warning
andy

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

I realize the B.lateralis have a chance of establishing themselves but the lobsters could never continue on their own in a normal house (of course a greenhouse or animal room can keep them going for a very long time).

 

[halfwaynowhere]

I don't have a colony, and am not keeping them as feeders. I have two females that I keep as pets. My mom won't let me keep them as feeders.
These are tiger hissers. Can someone please tell me how big the nymphs are at birth? I saw three that were about 1/4", and later saw two climbing the wall of the tank that were about the size of fleas. I didn't think they were that small, none of the pictures I have seen of nymphs look that small. I didn't look very closely at the tiny ones, I just tossed them in with my chicks.
I think that now I'm set up to prevent escapees, but I'm still concerned about the ones that had to have escaped before I noticed them. I'm going to do some power cleaning next week (and if I can find a safe room for my pet bugs, I may even bug bomb my room). Hopefully that will settle the problem, and my mom doesn't even have to know about it. Any babies that are still in the tank with the moms can be fed to the spiders or the chickens as i find them, although i may decide to keep one or two as pets.

 

[BurrowDweller]

I have had lateralis for 3 years and have had zero infestation problems, even when I knocked a bin over and had a huge escape. They all were dead within a week or two. If your house doesn't have a humidity problem somewhere they will not reproduce. Central heating and cooling tends to take care of that. My bug room has electric heat and it is a battle to keep things humid in there, the roaches I want to breed and do everything I can to get them to breed have a tough enough time.

 

[Andrew273]

She has HISSERS not lobs or lats. They can't infest don't worry. If you are see flea sized bugs they are not hisser nymphs. Let me find my picture of hisser babies.

These are regular hissers, I can't imagine tigers being much smaller though I've never kept them.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

okay, if they are that size, I don't have to worry about them escaping.
Now to figure out what else is living with my roaches. All I could see is that they were small, brown, and when I tried to grab them with my tweezers, they fell down the side of the glass (didn't grip very well). They were about the same length as fleas, but a little wider. They didn't really look like mini-hissers, but my vision isn't great, and they were so small that I didn't get a good look.
Oh, and if the roaches are too big to escape, why did I only see 3 babies? And why did they take so long to be born? I got them at the SCABIES BBQ in January, so at the latest, they should have been born mid-march. And they were pretty chunky when I got them, so I figured it would have been even sooner than that.

 

[Andrew273]

Depending on the temperatures these guys can carry babies for a long time, like months. When mine gave birth I went to bed without babies, woke up with them. I think I had 41 the first birth. The little brown things... maybe springtails? Depends how humid the tank is. Not sure why you only got 3 babies. Does either look pregnant still?

 

[halfwaynowhere]

the tank is fairly dry. I was misting occassionally to keep them alive, but I was trying to not give them ideal conditions, hoping they would abort so I wouldn't have to worry about babies. Maybe I just prolonged the gestation.
I didn't look at them all that closely last night, except for moving them to see if there were babies underneath them, so its possible they are still pregnant. We'll see if I have more babies when I get home from work! At least I won't panic anymore, as I have a few Ts that could use a meal, and my chickies would go nuts for them!

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

I'd guess the little brown things are hisser mites taking a stroll. Free living are rarely as big as you describe.

 

[Matt K]

Beetles. Very small.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

Beetles. Very small.

yup, they are beetles. This morning I managed to catch another one and look at it for a second. Then it flew off, right into my chicks' brooder. Not the smartest little bug. At least I'm not worried anymore, beetles seem fairly harmless.
Now to solve the mystery of the three baby roaches... sounds like a case for
Encyclopedia Brown...