GreenOasis

I think we should "go native" and try just tying live roaches into our hair with fishing line!

I had similar difficulties. My young ones finally became adults around December and have been throwing egg cases left & right, but we couldn't get them to hatch for the life of us! I knew they needed higher humidity and being the dead of winter, our house was pretty dry. We started misting their enclosure every night and within a week, I started to see nymphs! It's definitely a humidity issue. We also added some thin foam to the bottom of the enclosure, to help hold moisture. But, I have since added a small amount of coco chunks and I think I can safely take out the foam. There are easily hundreds of nymphs now...and some are much bigger than the others, which leads me to believe that even the earlier mistings probably caused a few egg cases to hatch. My question is: Can you tell by visual inspection if an egg case is hatched? I suppose I could go and look, but was hoping someone would just know. Do they crack open, or crawl out one at a time?

I've noticed that the Orangeheads have a noticeable "over-due cat litter box" aroma, but the Ivories' is somewhat more subtle...just kind of a "twang" for the nose. I haven't noticed anything out of the lobsters, though, that may be because I just don't have very many of them. I haven't noticed any smell out of the Turkistans either...but I also don't have many of those. I would love to get some porcelains going, just for the smell of them! (Might even put them in the house as a deodorizer for the other smells! Just give the box a shake every so often!) Still not sure I trust Zephyr's sense of smell on those Florida "skunk" roaches! Guess I might have to sniff a few & find out if they REALLY smell like brown sugar & rose petals!

LOL...True Dat! I've been wondering how to go about setting up the roaches closer to the dragon enclosures so they could pick up some of that ambient heat. Shelves would be the way to go! Thanks for the idea!

Okay, so I don't know if it's just that I got a really GOOD start of Ivories or what (thanks, Zephyr!), but these guys are SO cool! It took me a little while to get around to putting their dried leaves in their box, but I did that last night and BOY, did they go CRAZY! The nymphs were ALL OVER the place, checking things out...nibbling on leaves...it was funny! When I was mixing the leaves in, I noticed that there were a LOT of little babies. Now, I'm pretty sure Zephyr didn't send me a bunch of babies, so...I can see why he says that they seem to be a better breeder than some of the species that are considered more of a "feeder" (dubias, etc). Anywho, I just thought I would share that little tidbit of information....just in case anyone out there keeps their Ivories in a bare bin. THEY LOVE LEAVES & SUBSTRATE! -Carey Kurtz-

I don't know if this would help, but for snake mites, we use an extremely diluted solution of Nix (one little 2 oz bottle to a full gallon of water) which kills the eggs, too, not just the mites. Maybe using this solution with a Q-tip on the affected areas? I would, of course, isolate any individuals you test this on from the rest of the group, just in case it has a bad effect on them. Try it out, leave it on for an hour or a day or whatever & then rinse them off (so that hopefully, they won't ingest it from each other.) ONLY use Nix, though, as the other lice shampoos are a lot harsher & have much stronger insecticides in them. (Nix is the only one that is considered "safe" for babies!) -Carey Kurtz-

Nice! Be sure & let me know if you have any problems come breeding time...there are a few tips I could give!

Who'd you end up going with? -Carey Kurtz-

Those are SO cool! Very ornate for a little roach! Are you in the US & will you be offering any for sale any time in the future? -Carey Kurtz-

LOL...sounds like my husband a couple of months ago...and you know how THAT turned out! Okay...we raise reptiles and the "preferred" professional method is a rack system, not unlike how you have your bins set up there. We use "Flexwatt" heat tape to provide a warm area for the snakes to thermoregulate. So...MY idea for these guys (roaches) would be to setup a flexwatt system...which you can either attach to the shelves underneath the bins, or to the wall behind them. You can also have them setup with different rheostats (dimmer switch control) for different species, enabling you to keep several species in the same rack (we use different "zones" in our rack system for the different species of snakes). The only place I know to get Flexwatt is from beanfarm.com and it's not terribly expensive...especially if you use the "dimmer switch" method...but it can get expensive if you choose to get a nice proportional thermostatic control (which, we paid over $300 for ours!) The nice thing is that beanfarm.com also has instructions on how to hook the stuff up yourself with a dimmer switch (flexwatt NEEDS a temperature-control or it will overheat & could cause a fire)...all you need is some basic electrical knowledge and a soldering iron! (They sell "quick connect" clips, but soldering the wires is SO much better!) I hope that helps! -Carey Kurtz- Green Oasis Reptiles

Fascinating! I was just reading on a website the other day that they will dig large burrows to hang out in during the heat of the day and that the burrows tend to have the "right" humidity for them...so, I presume the babies would do that, too! (Or perhaps hang out in the parental burrows more often?) -Carey Kurtz-

Well, they DO like the Knox gelatin! However, it should come as no surprise to anyone that it doesn't last longer than a day...36 hrs max...before molding. (It is, after all, basically the same substance that is used to culture bacteria in labs!) There wasn't MUCH left, but my colonies are small still, so they couldn't eat/drink all that I gave them. So, I will try a few more experiments and keep folks posted. For this batch, I prepared it with the juice squeezed from one orange (the rest of the liquid was water.) I'm also thinking of using: Apple juice, cider vinegar (for mold inhibitor), Methylparaben (mold inhibitor), & colloidal silver (antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal.) I will also probably start a new thread on this...didn't mean to take over this one! Sorry! -Carey Kurtz-

OH! That reminds me! Our local "feed store" often has free dog/cat food sample packets...I should go check for some! Thanks for the reminder! -Carey Kurtz-

I can tell you from my own research & raising rats (and other rodents) as feeders that the reason that MOST dog & cat foods are considered "bad" is because of the added red dye. This is something that builds up in their livers (and the livers of the predator they are fed to) and while it will not harm the feeder animal, it becomes fatal to reptiles when it builds up to a sufficient (toxic) quantity. Another thing to watch out for is copper in the ingredients...this is used in the dog/cat food as a preservative, but copper has been shown to be toxic to rodents (not sure about roaches, though) goats, sheep & chickens (which is why it is fine to feed rats chicken or sheep food, but not pig food.)...also, if you choose dog/cat food, it might be wisest to choose the most "all-natural" stuff you can find, but also look for high-protein, but low-fat food...remember that your predators are going to be consuming the same things vicariously through the feeder animal, so you don't want them to end up fat too! Supposedly, most reptiles also have a hard time digesting corn derivatives (with the exception of Leopard Geckos), so that is another ingredient to watch for. I have been using IAMS for our rodents for sometime, but because of the copper content, I mix it half/half with a regular rodent block diet...I have been pleased with the results so far. For the roaches, I am using a mix of IAMS dog food & cheap cat food (will get better stuff next time, though!)...I've only just started with the roaches, though, so I have nothing to report on whether they are doing well or not. I have already seen new babies in both the Orangeheads & Ivories, though, so I presume all is well! Hope this helps! (I know *I* like to know the "whys" too!) -Carey Kurtz-

I'll be excited to see how things go for you! We are interested in breeding Sulcatas too, in the near future, so I have been doing some research for awhile now. I, too, was duped into believing that it was a dietary issue, so... I'm so glad I found this thread! I thought that these guys were a desert species & needed things hot & dry...so, I'm very happy to find out NOW that I was mistaken, versus finding out after I'd had some for awhile & they were failing. So, I have seen these things that look like a snake, but are actually PVC, bent up & drilled for misting (they are sold retail, but I forget the name of them)...would it be beneficial to have something like that going in an outdoor enclosure for them at all times? (Or on a timer, so that they are only misted part of the day?) Or, perhaps a misting/soaker hose, hung over the enclosure in one area that is turned on & off periodically? I'm just looking for something a bit on the lower-maintenance side, since I have some 200+ animals to take care of every day! (By myself & not including invertebrates!) Thanks! -Carey Kurtz- Green Oasis Reptiles