roaches..

[Valael]

With that last post on locusts and people saying how much easier roaches are to breed, I have a question.


Is G. Portentosa (hissers) a decent food source for T's? Or are those outer shells too hard for the T to puncture?

 

[Mister Internet]

Generally they're tohught to be more trouble than they're worth for feeders... they grow relatively slow, and their exo is very hard. Better to go with Lobster, Orange-Head, or on of the other faster-growing feeders roaches...

 

[Wade]

Some T's do seem to be put off by the texture of them, but most will feed on them quite willingly.

The problem with hissers is containment. They climb up most smooth surfaces, and keeping them from escaping when opening the culture container is difficult without a band of messy, disgusting petrolium jelly around the top. They will also climb in the T cage as well, perhaps a good thing for aboreals, but they may climb out of reach for terrestrials.

Roaches of the genus Blaberus (among others) do not climb smooth surfaces and so are easier to contain. They are also somewhat softer bodied than hissers. They do, however, tend to burrow into the substrate.

Wade

 

[Code Monkey]

I'm raising Blaptica dubia - close relatives to the Blaberus genera and can't climb glass. They're a good sized roach and attractive as far as such beasties go. In addition to the exoskeleton issue, hissers can be problematic to get to breed from what I gather.

 

[Wade]

It just takes a bit longer to get the colony really kicking with hissers. When I started, it probably took about a year and a half before I felt like I had a good enough population going to really start feeding them off. Now I could feed off a couple hundred and not even put a noticeable dent in the population!

Wade