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I am considering starting a roach colony. I don't know anything about it though. Any and all advice will be appreciated.
Thinking of starting a colony
- Thread starter hardlucktattoo
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You can start in the insect forum 
.
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The two species that seem to be most popular are B dubia and B lateralis. They each have pros and cons.
B dubia are extremely easy to keep, have virtually no smell at all, get large enough for even a huge T to be satisfied with maybe two roaches, can't climb smooth surfaces and can't really fly although the males do put forth an effort. They're also slow and clumsy and thus easy to catch and handle. The downside is they grow somewhat slowly and they have certain passive defensive behaviors that makes it sometimes difficult for a t to find and eat them.
B lateralis are smaller, about cricket size. They breed and grow verrry fast, run around even faster, t's absolutely love them and have no trouble finding them. They also cannot climb smooth surfaces although sometimes the babies seem to be able to get e little bit of a grip, i've never seen one make it to the top though. The downside is that they're a little dirtier and smellier. They move so fast it can be hard to catch them and if you drop one on the floor he's probably going to get away. they lay oothecae instead of live birth (dubias give live birth) so they need a little humidity to keep the eggs alive. I've heard conflicing opinions but I believe lateralis are capable of infesting your home.
Other popular species are discoids and lobsters. I know the lobsters can climb just about anything, that makes them a no-no for me. Not sure about the discoids' climbing ability.
There's plenty more out there available from a search but there's your basics.
B dubia are extremely easy to keep, have virtually no smell at all, get large enough for even a huge T to be satisfied with maybe two roaches, can't climb smooth surfaces and can't really fly although the males do put forth an effort. They're also slow and clumsy and thus easy to catch and handle. The downside is they grow somewhat slowly and they have certain passive defensive behaviors that makes it sometimes difficult for a t to find and eat them.
B lateralis are smaller, about cricket size. They breed and grow verrry fast, run around even faster, t's absolutely love them and have no trouble finding them. They also cannot climb smooth surfaces although sometimes the babies seem to be able to get e little bit of a grip, i've never seen one make it to the top though. The downside is that they're a little dirtier and smellier. They move so fast it can be hard to catch them and if you drop one on the floor he's probably going to get away. they lay oothecae instead of live birth (dubias give live birth) so they need a little humidity to keep the eggs alive. I've heard conflicing opinions but I believe lateralis are capable of infesting your home.
Other popular species are discoids and lobsters. I know the lobsters can climb just about anything, that makes them a no-no for me. Not sure about the discoids' climbing ability.
There's plenty more out there available from a search but there's your basics.
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Good decision, HLT..!
Ethan's info is spot on.
If you have questions about any other roaches, pm me.
Ethan's info is spot on.
If you have questions about any other roaches, pm me.
Villosa
Arachnopeon
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Great info Ethan. My colony of discoids aren't able to climb up smooth sides of a rubbermaid.
I decided to go with B. Dubia..
In all honestly, if you go with dubia, they take a while to get going. I've had mine for about 3 months and I haven't seen a huge growth spurt. Granted there are nymphs but they take a while to mature.
I dont think they have a good chance of infesting which is a plus.
I've also fed out of them, but only 10ish roachies.
In all honestly, if you go with dubia, they take a while to get going. I've had mine for about 3 months and I haven't seen a huge growth spurt. Granted there are nymphs but they take a while to mature.
I dont think they have a good chance of infesting which is a plus.
I've also fed out of them, but only 10ish roachies.
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Dubia are the way to go. I started 7 months ago with about 50 and now I've probably got 400-500, and I feed off at least a dozen a week. They are very easy to work with. The only problem is they tend to play dead or burrow when they sense danger. I get around this by crushing their heads before throwing them in, causes them to run around in circles which easily gets the T/scorp/pede's attention. They have a bit of an odor, but its definitely not very strong. There's pretty much zero chance of them infesting, especially if you keep them in a tall container with a locking lid.
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I agree with every word of that. As a counterpoint however I shall point out that I started with about 30 B lateralis/turkistans (mostly large nymphs) 3-4 months ago and now I have around 1000 easy. Kinda scary when you think about it but if you want a feeding colony quickly you'll get it with lateralis.
I keep both dubias and lateralis. IME neither species is quite adequate for everything in the collection. My avics won't touch the dubs, the A genic need like, 10 turkistans to make a meal...
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I got a free starter colony of Dubias and am waiting for them to start churning out some babies. Sick of paying $9 a week for crickets! I looked at the different sp. and decided on dubia which i'd guess is the most popular.
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I started with a 100 dubias and though it took a bit I have a good colony going. I keep them in lidless blanket boxes (maybe 8 in deep), the passive defense is they will freeze still but I noticed that once the T's were used to the new feeders that stopped working. There were some glitches to begin with getting some T's to eat them but I found that feeding off adult males (males have wings) got a better response I think because there was more motion. I've been real happy with them ever since.
Rev
Rev