- Joined
- Sep 12, 2008
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- 282
Ill be going on vacation for 3 weeks in Aug., how do you guys take care of feeder roaches colony while being gone?
Any tip is much appreciated.
Any tip is much appreciated.
Vacation and feeder roaches?
- Thread starter tarantulaholic
- Start date
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- Oct 20, 2003
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- 474
roaches
What recluse said will work fine. Really you have very little to worry about as they can go quite a long time without food. The water crystals are simply and clean as well as any kind of dry food.
James
What recluse said will work fine. Really you have very little to worry about as they can go quite a long time without food. The water crystals are simply and clean as well as any kind of dry food.
James
Just leave a load of dog food and some water crystals and you'll be good to go. I've left mine like that for extended periods of time and they were fine. They are roaches after all. A couple days before you go load em up on veggies and such and remove it before you go.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2008
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Thanks for replys guys, Now I'm not worried.
I have left my colonies for around a week...and when I get back, they are begging for water. That said, my colonies are rather large!
#1. Reduce the temps to slow their metabolism
#2. Add as large a quantity of water crystals as you can
#3. Depending on their feed interval, you may want to triple their normal ration before going. If they can eat a cup of food in a day, give them at least a weeks worth...so they don't go too long without food.
#4. Remove all fresh food before leaving (fruit, vegg, etc).
Like others have said, water is key. They can go a month without food...but only a week without water. Around a week, they really start turning on each other (depending on species).
#1. Reduce the temps to slow their metabolism
#2. Add as large a quantity of water crystals as you can
#3. Depending on their feed interval, you may want to triple their normal ration before going. If they can eat a cup of food in a day, give them at least a weeks worth...so they don't go too long without food.
#4. Remove all fresh food before leaving (fruit, vegg, etc).
Like others have said, water is key. They can go a month without food...but only a week without water. Around a week, they really start turning on each other (depending on species).
I'm with BR on this one.
There is no way in hell I would leave a large colony without care for three weeks. No way. Joe Zay!
Here's why: Our temps are at around 25 centigrade at the moment, which means that even with large water gel bowls they are dry in 5 days absolute max.
Secondly, my colonies are large, and even if I filled every available inch with water bowls, that would not be enough to hydrate them all.
Check your ambient temps - chances are yours are way lower.
Decide whether or not you can get enough water in there to keep from evaporating or being consumed before your return.
I would take the colony or colonies to a pal or a pet store, and if necessary, pay for their care. But that's in MY situation...
There is no way in hell I would leave a large colony without care for three weeks. No way. Joe Zay!
Here's why: Our temps are at around 25 centigrade at the moment, which means that even with large water gel bowls they are dry in 5 days absolute max.
Secondly, my colonies are large, and even if I filled every available inch with water bowls, that would not be enough to hydrate them all.
Check your ambient temps - chances are yours are way lower.
Decide whether or not you can get enough water in there to keep from evaporating or being consumed before your return.
I would take the colony or colonies to a pal or a pet store, and if necessary, pay for their care. But that's in MY situation...
Pink brings up a good point....space may limit how much water and food you can add. Perhaps seperating the colony into multiple bins would allow you to add enough water per bin to keep them hydrated. Remember, if your gone for three weeks....you need a least 2 weeks worth of water. While that doesn't sound like much, it wouldn't be hard for a good sized colony to go through a gallon a week...if not more.
How big is your colony? If its 1-2 thousand, splitting it up into 3 20-30 gallon bins should allow you to add enough water per bin to make the time required. At really wouldn't worry about food...just dump as much as you can in there...water is much more important.
Since I depend on my colonies to supply a retail operation, I have limited travel directly because of my roaches. That said, I also have three bearded dragons...and I wouldn't even consider leaving them for a week....even if they would be sitting in the same spot the entire time I was gone (I have some lazy beardies).
I wish you luck!
How big is your colony? If its 1-2 thousand, splitting it up into 3 20-30 gallon bins should allow you to add enough water per bin to make the time required. At really wouldn't worry about food...just dump as much as you can in there...water is much more important.
Since I depend on my colonies to supply a retail operation, I have limited travel directly because of my roaches. That said, I also have three bearded dragons...and I wouldn't even consider leaving them for a week....even if they would be sitting in the same spot the entire time I was gone (I have some lazy beardies).
I wish you luck!
water gel
Thanks for asking the question, I have always wonder about how to take care of them in during a long absence.
Cheap water gel source
http://watergelcrystals.com/order.htm
Thanks for asking the question, I have always wonder about how to take care of them in during a long absence.
Cheap water gel source
http://watergelcrystals.com/order.htm
I get a small bowl of water crystals to last about 10 days with a 1000 count lateralis colony by putting a 12 oz plastic bottle full of water in the crystals with a 1/2" diameter hole at the bottom. Make sure the cap is on tight. It slowly seeps out as the crystals are depleted and it makes it last a lot longer. It's essentially a cheap homemade water dispenser. Eventually the roaches stop eating the crystals and drink the water between them, so the risk of drowning is still minimal. In your case you could use a bigger bowl/bottle and if your colony isn't too huge it should last for enough time.
Here are some pics of the setup. It's really simple and makes your life a whole lot easier. You need to put the cap on or else all the water will flow out of the bottle and overflow your bowl. With the cap on, water will only seep out when the level gets below that of the 1/2" hole at the bottom.
The one in the picture is actually for my lobsters. I have the same kind for the lateralis, but I rough up the sides with sandpaper so they can climb in or out.
good idea. I was actually thinking about using styrofoam in my next water/food dish situation for lateralis because I haven't had good luck roughing stuff up with sandpaper. Any opinion/experience with this?
(OP: hope this is not too far off topic...it could be relevant if you are going on vacation I guess)
(OP: hope this is not too far off topic...it could be relevant if you are going on vacation I guess)
I find sanding the plastic only works well if the bowl doesn't have a completely vertical side. When I used to use deli cups as water and food dishes I would just put a piece of egg carton next to it that the roaches could climb onto and get in. I like the Styrofoam idea as it seems a little more fail safe and elegant. How were you planning on implementing it?
Nothing fancy. When I had lateralis before I tried several sanding things and sticking sand on there with glue and finally sticking some shelf liner on with epoxy. Varrrying results. The problem with the later was that it got nasty. I think I'll just use a styrofoam cup, cut in half so it's not so tall, to hold food and maybe water.
I got real annoyed with those water crystals since they were always drying out and getting rubbery and yellow. They suck. For my lobster enclosure I used a tupperware with a lid and cut a slit in it. Then I poked a rope down in the slit to act as a wick. It worked really nicely. No significant evaporation, no crystals, and plenty of water. The problem is that lateralis can't climb up on a tupperware.
I think I mentioned before that I'm planning on using substrate this time to help control the smell. I'll put the water and food dishes down in the substrate so they protrude a half inch or so, let them be styrofoam and let the roaches have at it. I'm going to go back to open water. That is how my B bolivensis enclosure is right now.
My concern was that roaches might try to eat the styrofoam or perhaps I would overestimate their ability to crawl up it. The B bolivensis don't need it much since they are so big.
Oh here's a picture
The bottle head down in the water crystals sounds pretty good. Though don't the roaches poo all over it and stuff and it get nasty?
For your implementation, which is larger and looks to accommodate more roaches I think, perhaps using a styrofoam bowl would be better. I've even been thinking about doggie bags and stuff from restaurants and fast food places.
I really like the bottle idea. I have on tarantula enclosure that i built an automatic waterer into that operates on the same principle. It's so cool. It would be great if I had a T that was scary or something so that I didn't want to open the lid. As it is, I have a G aureostriata in it. Kind of wasted ingenuity, really. Though it is a zero effort situation.
I really like the bottle idea. I have on tarantula enclosure that i built an automatic waterer into that operates on the same principle. It's so cool. It would be great if I had a T that was scary or something so that I didn't want to open the lid. As it is, I have a G aureostriata in it. Kind of wasted ingenuity, really. Though it is a zero effort situation.
I think the Styrofoam should work great. I know for a fact that the lateralis will have no problem climbing it. I've had to go through 3 different types of bins just to get one that was hard for them to climb up the sides. I used a large amount of Styrofoam in a Dubia colony a few months ago when I attempted to make a super breeding colony with insulation and heat tape, but it became too complicated. However, I never saw any ill effects from the foam.
I probably replace the crystals every month, for exactly the reason you mentioned. The bottle never lets the crystals dry out, which is a real time saver because I used to have to add water every couple days. At one point some time ago I tried to go crystal free and just use fruits/veggies, but that became way too much of a hassle.
I probably replace the crystals every month, for exactly the reason you mentioned. The bottle never lets the crystals dry out, which is a real time saver because I used to have to add water every couple days. At one point some time ago I tried to go crystal free and just use fruits/veggies, but that became way too much of a hassle.
You might try some variation on the tupperware/rope combo. It was a neat thing.