TheSwarmThing

Thanks a lot for the tips @Matttoadman! I will see what I can get for the budget I have. I would love to have a nice set-up I could show people instead of plastic bins.

Thanks for the tips @Matttoadman and @Hisserdude! I could imagine a beautiful enclosure with a waterfall or some other source of running water for these roaches, but this would be out of my budget right now.   But I keep your suggestions in mind, and perhaps in the future I can make a semi-aquatic display.

@Hisserdude is the problem with the standing water was your own experience or did you read it somewhere? I'm only asking because if it's in a book or paper I would love to read it, I'm always trying to learn new things about insects. And if it is your own experience, then thanks a lot for sharing this valuable information!  

11 hours ago, Hisserdude said:

Nah, semiaquatic setups are too complicated, and no one keeps this species that way. Just keep them very humid and they'll do fine!

Yes, it is complicated to even imagine how could I design such an enclosure, so thanks for the tip, I will stick to a normal set-up then.  

Hi Everyone, I'm considering keeping Opisthoplatia orientalis. I've read that they are semiaquatic. What kind of set-up would you suggest for this species? Should I put some water to their enclosure?

Thanks a lot!

Hi Everyone, recently I put some big (dead) maple leaves to some of my cockroach enclosures just as decoration and climbing surface, but some species seem to be eating them (e.g: Hemiblabera brunneri, Elliptorhina javanica). 

Do you give dead leaves as food for your roaches? If yes, which tree species would you recommend? 

Thanks a lot and happy new year!

Thanks a lot! I have to be more careful in the future then.

Is there any sort of barrier hissers can't cross? I've tried a couple of things but they seem to walk through everything and escape under the lid of the container.

Hi, I don't think anything would be wrong with your set-up. I keep my hissers under very similar conditions and they breed pretty well eventhough I have only 6 adults.

It is possible they just simply grow & reproduce slowly. Inbreeding could cause problems like slower development, shorter lifespan and decreased fertility as well. If your animals are indeed hybrids, that could also cause delayed or even no breeding. In my opinion it is quite hard to tell G. portentosa or G. oblongonota from their hybrids, but if you would post some photos, we might be able to tell. 

So I think you can just wait a little longer, see if they are just "taking their time" or maybe introduce a new male (or more males/females) to your colony to see if that solves the problem.

I understand it's a difficult situation, but I hope I could help a bit.

Hi All,

I keep Gromphadorhina oblongonota, G. portentosa, Elliptorhina chopardi and E. javanica. They all seem to be reproducing nicely. My only problem is, that some of the nymphs have escaped in the past and now it seems like I've put some of them back to the worong containers, as I can see different looking nymphs together in a few of my terrariums.

Do you have any idea how could I tell the nymphs of different species apart? Some of them are pretty small (3-4 mm). I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thank you!

I bought a few Hemiblabera tenebricosa individuals recently, and I'm already in love with them. They do burrow in the soil all the time, and they look super cool. I'd also highly recommend this species.  

Wow, looks awesome! Can't wait to see more pictures.

Thanks for the help @dcfarms and @lovebugfarm! I managed to relocate my female, she doesn't seem stressed at all. Now hopefully I only have to wait a few weeks for the babies.

Hi everyone,

I just bought a new enclosure for my hissers when I saw my female with an ootheca. In your opinion would it stress the female, If I'd relocate her to the new enclosure? I don't want to her to abort the babies or anything. 

Could the time until "giving birth" be estimated somehow?

Thanks for the help!

Thank you @pannaking22 for the suggestions. I was really worried because of the mites. I have some isopods in other enclosures, I'll add some more to the mite-infected ones.

Thanks a lot!

Thank you @pannaking22 for your help! I'll rise the temperature for E. opaca and E. javanica.

@Manuel_P I haven't seen any mites on the roaches, only the symbiotic ones running around on them. So I think they appared after death.

@Hisserdude Thanks for the suggestion, I will try to do that. The ventillation wasn't so good in their enclosure. I bought a new one, and relocated all my roaches to the new, clean box. 

Do you have any idea, how these mites could get to my enclosures? Now I've checked all of them and I could find them elsewhere, mainly on the food of the roaches. I try to keep everything clean, I even wash the tweezers between enclosures...

Thanks for the help!

5 hours ago, pannaking22 said:

What species do you have?

The species I keep:

Blaberus discoidalis, Blaptica dubia, Eurycotis opaca, Gromphadorhina portentosa, Gyna caffrorum, Gyna lurida, Phoetalia pallida, Princisia vanwaerebecki, Shelfordella lateralis, Therea olegrandjeani and Therea regularis.

Hi everyone, I would like to ask for some help with my Princisia vanwaerebeki.

I found one of the males dead just a few miuntes ago. There are plenty of mites on him. Do you have any idea what kind of mites these would be? They seem to be different from the symbiotic ones. Could this be the cause of death? I have no idea how to get rid of the mites.

I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thank you @pannaking22 and @Manuel_P for the suggestions. Plastic boxes would work for me as well.

Do you provide any additional heating for your animals? My home is pretty cold (around 72 F), and I guess I would need to place a lamp above the plastic boxes. Do you think the heat would go through properly?

Hi everyone,

As I've started buying more and more roaches I was wondering what would be the optimal set-up for my insects. I keep 12 species now, so our home is full of plastic containers. They are pretty ugly, not so easy to clean and their walls are opaque. I really would like to see what's going on with the roaches. Glass terrariums would be nice, but might be expensive as well.

Do you have any suggestions for optimal enclosures? How do you keep your roaches?

Thanks in advance!

Nice picture! Congratulations for the little roaches.

Do you keep the nymphs with adults, or remove the egg-cases before hatching?

Thanks @pannaking22 and @Hisserdude!

Do you know by any chance what "short lifespan" means in their case? Weeks, months? I'm just curious because I don't have many adults now... I'm wondering how long it is gonna take for my nymphs to reach adulthood.

Hi Manuel,

I also keep Gyna caffrorum and Therea olegrandjeani, so I can perfectly understand why you started to like roaches.

Have you ever seen your caffrorums fly? I was told they are capable of flying, but I've never actually seen them doing so.

Hi histrio,

The links you've posted don't seem to work anymore.

Could you post your results again? It would be very useful information.

Thanks!

Thanks so much for the suggestions!

Hi everyone,

I got small Gyna caffrorum and Gyna lurida colonies just a few days ago. Yesterday I found some dead adults in both enclosures, and the live ones are pretty inactive. Nymphs seem to be doing fine, but they aren't very active either.

I keep them in large plastic containers with 4 inches deep soil layer (mixture of peat, soil, pieces of bark and leaves). I gave them dry cat-food, orange and apple pieces for food. The temperature is about 25 degrees Celsius. I spray the wall of the container - on one end - with tapid water in every 2 days, so they could drink. 

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Could you give me any suggestion? Thanks so much for the help!