Jump to content

Twilightroach

Members
  • Posts

    45
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Everything posted by Twilightroach

  1. Ok, I will see if I can put the egg crates vertical once I clean out the enclosure. I was wondering though, is it necessary to have a substrate for Turks? I know some people like to have substrates and some don't. And also it depends on the species. But I am wondering which is better, to stay with the substrate, or go without any and maybe use paper towels. Has anyone tried Turks without a substrate and been successful? Of course I know that a substrate does have several benefits like holding moisture and keeping humidity up, which is one of the primary reasons I put it in, as well as a place for ootheca to be laid. But if the enclosure would be cleaner, and easier to clean, without it and if removing the substrate didn't cause any problems then that might be better? Any opinions or thoughts?
  2. Ok, thank you. What types of fruits and vegetables do you feed them? I feed mine apples and oranges. And potatoes sometimes too.
  3. The egg crates are horizontal. Freeze the substrate? Is that to kill off any bacteria? and make sure no roaches/ ootheca get out? I could try adding springtails. I try to keep it moist in the enclosure, it is usually between 50-70% humidity. So Springtails might work.
  4. My Turkistan roach colony is expanding nicely, but now I am wondering, how exactly do you clean an enclosure with little nymphs and ootheca everywhere? The enclosure has coconut fiber as a substrate and egg crates for hiding. I haven't done any major cleaning yet, which I am wondering how you do? but I have changed out the egg crates before but now am not sure I can with all the nymphs on them. But the egg crates are getting rather dirty, with frass building up in the little nooks. And I don't want the enclosure to get too dirty. What is the best way to clean substrate? Would taking out the top layer work? And then adding some new substrate? What about egg crates with nymphs on them? I do make sure there are no dead roaches on a regular basis, and as soon as I spot one, which have luckily been very few, I take it out right away. So my colony is clean in that respect its just the excess frass I am worried about. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
  5. @NeverLift I think it took about 4-5 weeks for the ootheca to hatch. Mine have also been dropping ootheca like crazy, there are tons all over. So I am sure more babies will come.
  6. I spotted my first baby turkistan roaches this morning! There are probably around 10 or so. But I am excited that they are hatching now! Lots of ootheca's all around though. Do the babies need any different care then the adults? they eat the same food right?
  7. You could name the lively female tiger hisser 'Tigress' from Kong Fu Panda.
  8. Ok, thanks. Sorry should have realized you said that in the other post. Is that type of tape made of foil? Because I am not sure if I have some or not but I have this shiny silver tape that I think is foil, it was used for the dryer.
  9. Hello, so I have my heat cable wound around my roach bin, (refer to my other post about heating a roach colony for specifics), and right now I am using black electrical tape to hold it up. But the tape keeps slipping off and the cable slowly starts to pull away from the container so I have to keep putting on new tape or readjusting it. Does anyone have a better way to hold up the heat cable along the outside sides of a container? The tape keeps losing its sticky is what I think it is, and then the cable pulls away from the container.
  10. Ok, thank you so much @Hisserdude I will leave the ootheca's with the adults. The reason I was concerned about the adults eating them was because there was an ootheca on the floor one night and then the next morning it was gone. So I don't know if they hid the ootheca or it got buried in the substrate or something. Do roaches hide their ootheca? I didn't realize different roaches have different hatch times. Thanks.
  11. Hello, I didn't realize there was introductions topic so I probably should have done this a little while ago when I joined. But anyway... I am pretty new to keeping roaches but I love insects of all kinds. And endeavoring to keep different kinds I have ventured into keeping roaches. I have a few Madagascar Hissing cockroaches and love them. I also have a colony of Turkistan roaches that will eventually be used as feeders once the colony starts expanding. I am sure I will have questions as they come up. Eventually I would like to get some additional species of roaches but for now I have my Madagascar Hissers and really enjoy them.
  12. What is the general time for a roach ootheca to hatch? just an estimate here I am new to roaches and would like to know how long in general roaches take to hatch.
  13. Hello, my Turkistan roaches have finally produced egg cases! I am so excited! But I was wondering, how long does it take the egg cases to hatch? The egg cases are in the container with the adult roaches which has a temperature of about 78-82 degrees. It is best to leave the egg cases in the container with the adults correct? And the adults won't eat the egg cases ever will they?
  14. Hello and welcome to the forum. I think that hissers start to hiss in their 4th or 5th instar, I read it somewhere but can't find it at the moment but will keep looking to confirm the exact time when they start hissing. But Hissers have 6 instars so it is somewhere in the later instars that they start hissing.
  15. I have a glass terrarium with some Hissers and now that it is winter they need some heat. I have a large heat mat but am not sure of the best place to put it. Would the side of the glass terrarium work fine? Would it heat the terrarium enough if it is on the side? Since heat rises, and if its not on the bottom I am concerned it won't heat it enough. I don't really want to put it on the bottom unless that would work much better.
  16. That is good. It's never fun to have escapes.
  17. That is pretty cool. Sure sounds like your little hissing cockroach is smart. I have some hissers but they haven't tried to escape their enclosure yet, well at least that I know of, maybe they make great adventures of it in the late hours of the night. But mine have a screen top which latches in so I don't think they could open it.
  18. Hello everyone, I am new to this forum, and also new to roach keeping. So any help would greatly be appreciated! Now down to the matter at hand. I have a bunch of Turkistan roaches that I would like to breed. My current setup is this. I have the roaches in a large critter keeper plastic container, substrate is coconut fiber, they have egg crates and paper tube for hiding. I need to add a heating source to make them breed, as currently it is not warm enough. I recently got a heat cable that I plan on placing on the container. My biggest question is what is the best way to put it on the container, and what is the best place? I plan on wrapping the heat cable around the outside of the container on the lower portion, and will use tape to hold it up. Although I am having trouble with tape on a different setup with a heat cable. The tape just falls off. What is the best way to put the heat cable on the container? and place, like outside, inside or underneath? what are some setups that other people have used? Also I am concerned about the proper placement of the roach container. I want to make sure it is not a fire hazard. If I put it on a floor with rug should it be elevated on a wooden board or something? of course if I put the cable on the bottom it would be elevated, but I probably will put it on the sides. And what about if I placed it inside a small bookshelf? would that be a fire hazard, I am concerned the cable might overheat if I put it on the second shelf which is small. What are some roach colony setups with heating devices? Thanks
×
×
  • Create New...