lordalgol

I just started a bin of the orange colorform of Porcellio scaber which are sowbugs, these just freeze in place or play "dead" if disturbed, even allowing themselves to be poked and prodded. Then after I've decided "yup it's dead" it jumps up and takes off like a shot under some leaf litter or egg carton: They're neat little crustaceans, fun to watch. Very active and inquisitive. I will be using the main colony to seed my new vivariums then I will try to offer some starter groups up for trade later in the year. I wish I could have some of the giant deep sea Isopods like these : Bathynomus giganteus they go from 7" to 30" in size and eat dead whales on the sea floor! So should be easy to keep... LOL

Thanks for the reply. Well if 80*F is Ok then I'll just keep them where they are on the bottom shelf. I've seen all the online roach breeders &you tubers using heat mats and saying basically "warmer the better" when discussing breeding roaches. But then all the hype says to use heat mats for Tarantulas too and I don't bother, my second floor apartment stays warm pretty much year round. I suppose this means they will also breed outside my tubs too if they should escape since they are breeding at room temp now... another myth BUSTED!

Hello folks, I'm new here since I've just recently started my first roach colonies, a group of hissers (all black so far, the seller didn't seem to know what sort of hisser they were) and a large group of dubias. They both eat Friskies Naturals catfood (unground) and my leftover fresh fruits and veggies. The dubias are voracious eaters and active and already having babies-saw them yesterday when I was giving the various bugs some salads. The hissers on the other hand don't hardly eat anything even fresh foods and are very lethargic. Both colonies are currently at 80*F (room temp) but will be moved to the top of my new vivarium shelf above the lamps where they will be 90*F. I keep watersorb crystals for the roaches drinking and humidity. Is this normal level of non-activity for Hissers?