Petastic

They sure are. 50% herbivore, 50% carnivore. They actively hunt their prey during the night, using their pincers to subdue and hold prey while their mouthparts do the work. I have a couple dozen in a large container, and although highly cannibilistic, they're interesting pets and have learned to come when they smell fresh food. The females care for the eggs and day old babies, cleaning them and sometimes bringing food back for them.

I can tell you one thing. If I wasn't in Florida, I would probably have another 10 species to go with my dubia. Roach keeping here SUCKS.

So I've had my roaches for a few days now and I want to do a touch-up and see if you guys think I'm doing everything right. 500+ dubia 20 gallon rubbermaid bin Bark and paper towel rolls plate of water crystals which I keep full 24/7 Fish food/chicken layer/dogfood mix as a staple. 40/10/50 Heat pad below with a 50 watt heat lamp to the side Temperature stays 79F-90F degrees 45-60% humidity, too low or ok? Right now I'm giving them daily fruits/scraps. Oranges and bananas are relished. Another thing, I've heard several people here feed their roaches oak leaves. Does this apply to all species of oak? Do people feed the brown, decomposing, dead leaves? Or the green ones still on the tree?

I would have got it...but like I said, horrible begginner species. Wrong humidity and the fungus will start to die. A colony that size would require several pounds of certain vegetation every day. Not to mention cleaning time.

Bought them? Unless your getting them from someone in your own state (Which is still IMO, not a good idea) it's illegal. But I get mine all from small colonies or newly mated queens. Usually from the end of March to to the beggining, nuptial flights are still occuring. The key is to know yours days, keep your eyes on the ground, and just be plain lucky. The season would be shorter farther north, I'm in Central FL. Besides, leafcutters (Atta, Acromyrmex, etc.) are no begginer ants. They require a specialized (And huge! Egg to ant with sufficient food is just as fast as red imported fire ants, 30 days) enclosure with exact temperature and humidity. Not to mention quite a bit of vegetation - I have enough trouble supporting my fungus growing Trachymyrmex and Cyphomyrmex colonies. And those are only 6mms at the most.

They're pretty easy once you have the right setup. Like others, a test-tube setup for a fresh queen works ok, just add very little water in the resever. Keep them around 80 degrees. Depending on your species of pogo, they will most likely be semi-calustrel. A mix of finch seed and smalls insects like termites and fruit flies is what I use to raise the queens. They're MUCH easier to raise in a mix of sand. The danger to this is a tunnel colapse. Because of this, you have to find the exact point of of moisture that keeps the sand from colapsing, but also at a dry humidity, since pogos do best with an access to water but a dry nest. They are a hit or miss species, you either get 1,000 in a year or a curled up queen and 3 dead workers in the same time frame. Camponotus pennslvanicus is uncommon around Florida, but from the 2 colonies I've had I do know they take almost twice as longer than other species of Campos to establish; I only had 20 workers in a year. My C. floridanus had 50 in a year at the same temp and feeding rate. Not to mention they seem to crash and burn for no reason.

Atta - awesome! I have over 20 species. To name just a few of the generas, I have Camponotus, Solenopsis, Pogonomyrmex, Cyphomyrmex, Trachymyrmex, Crematogaster, Psuedomyrmex, Pheidole, Monomorium, Technomyrmex, Odontomachus, and Dorymyrex.

So the roaches will know when to eat the fish 'mash', right? They sure do love fruits, just like my old colony. Bread was also a big hit with the old one - I'll have to try it with these ones.

Oooh, what kind of ants have you raised/had? I have many species. Welcome to the forum though!

They sure are! My two females never get boring, there's always something new they're doing. Welcome to the forum!

I made sure to ground it to the consistency of commercial roach chow. They seem to like it and it barely smells. Gave them an orange and a piece of banana. Even witnessed a male courting and mating with a female! Remember the fish food is pellets which are the size of dog kibble.

Seems like the roaches enjoy the bark so far. The order came with some egg crates so I think I'm good for hiding places!

Sure thing. A little calcium isn't bad, right? The food is 8 parts fish food and 2 parts chicken layer. The chicken layer is a little high in calcium - 4.1. I've heard too much calcium can complicate molts and kill roaches/crickets.

With my past colony I just used the roach chow that came with the kit, but since I'm just getting roaches today, I was wondering if these fish pellets are a suitable staple. I made sure to crush the green cichlid pellets to some degree, and added a little chicken layer. It's around 36% protein, and other than the chicken layer the label doesn't state anything about calcium. Is that too much protein?