What Would Happen - Roach Escape?

[BugToxin]

Ok, I had my first roach escape. I tried to toss a dubia in with one of my T's, and somehow she slipped from my fingers. I tried to nab her, but she crawled behind the bookshelf. I took out the bookshelf but she was nowhere to be found.

Anyway, this got me to thinking. What if a single gravid female dubia (or some Blaberus sp.) got loose in a room that was kept warm (like many of our T rooms). What could happen? I'm not overly worried, but I just wanted to know of any first hand experiences like this one. I know that lobsters can be a problem, but I think it takes more than a single escape. Let me know what you think.

BugToxin

 

[Aquanut]

From what Ive seen and heard - at room temp they are not very active. Unless its over 80 degrees with a good supply of water and food they will just hang out and die. I had several escape in the garage when it was very warm. A few found the dogs water and food dish, but most found a dark place to hold up and die. I wouldn't worry at all.

 

[dtknow]

I'd guess she'd live for a few months before dying of dehydration(based on experiences with some hissers). One camped out under the dryer and ran under there whenever I tried to catch her...LOL. Great spot, it was warm and she probably got some water to drink from dribbles from the sink. Any nymphs she produces will keel over pretty quickly.

 

[siliconthoughts]

Our environment is fairly dry, so what happens in my house is about two weeks later I pick up a dried up dead roach. (Or a day later I find a roach running across the room and quickly pop it back in the cage before the wife sees it)

My daughter had a mantis cage that the roaches managed to get out of on a couple occasions until I put a feeder cup in. That was the only escape event I've had, and it was just a few small nymphs.

 

[BugToxin]

It is major dry here as well, especially during the winter. I do keep the room about 80 all year long to promote growth in my bugs, but I suspect that the water issue will be the death of my escape. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled though. If the wife catches rochie before I do, I'll have some splanin' to do!!!

 

[padkison]

Another solution to escaped roaches can be found by reading an old poem that begins

"There was an old lady who swallowed a fly....."

 

[cliff]

It is major dry here as well, especially during the winter. I do keep the room about 80 all year long to promote growth in my bugs, but I suspect that the water issue will be the death of my escape. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled though. If the wife catches rochie before I do, I'll have some splanin' to do!!!

Boy do I understand about the wife!

But as far as infestation, the only feeder roach that I am aware of that poses an infestation potential is B.lateralis. This opinion is based quite a bit on your location also.

Cliff

 

[roach dude]

Well what i told my mum was that if they escape they will die...withing a couple of days...hahaha shes pretty gullible so its ok

 

[arachnocat]

I'm not allowed to have roaches anymore because my only escaped dubia ended up in my husbands shoe. Doh!
Then in my haste to get rid of them (packing them up for someone) a couple lobster roaches escaped. I found a few in the kitchen a couple days later (rather my kitties did). Then I thought they were gone.
About 5 months later I found a lobster roach in my bug room! He was a scruffy (looks like something gnawed on his wings) but he was still alive. Freaked me out a bit but I haven't found any more since. :}

 

[recluse]

I am not too quick to believe that once they escape they will eventually die. Yes, it all depends on the conditions of the escape area, but we are talking about an insect that has been around for millions of years and adapted very well. I have had a N. cinerea colony for over four years now. Due to infestations with mights I keep all of my roaches completley dry with no substarte except for H. subcincta. My lobsters do not even get water gel. They produce much faster than I can feed them off. I have even put some in the freezer for fifteen minutes or so until they were frozen solid and rattled around in the deli cup like a rattle only to have them start moving around once they warmed up again. Like the book says the meek will inherit the earth. Peace.

 

[james]

escapes

At one point my roach room has over a hundred bins and I would loose roaches all the time(mostly during cleanings, but those climbers are good). Never any issues at all. Hissers and lobsters survive longer than most species, but eventually with lack of food, water, heat they die. Newborn nymphs are even weaker so if a gravid female escaped they wouldn't surivive long. Of course I have many friendly spiders that love my roach room and they only bother me when they try to move into a bin!!!!
James

 

[arachnocat]

I too learned that freezing doesn't work with roaches. After I got rid of mine I saw that I had dubia nymphs is some dirt I had put in my terrarium. The dirt was still good but I couldn't pick out all the nymphs so I put the dirt in a few ziplock bags and left it in the freezer overnight. Many of the bags were frozen solid when I took them out as there was some moisture left in them.
I put the dirt back in the tank and a few days later there were little nymphs everywhere again!