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scaledverts

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Everything posted by scaledverts

  1. Yeah, I know for sure that these are phorid flies in my reptile cages. They jump on any wet organic material pretty quickly. I'm talking mainly snakes, they pretty much stay out of my beardie tanks (they have cage liners sprayed with provent-a-mite). As I said, I did the complete cage cleaning, drying out, and cage maintenance for a few weeks and they came back from the few that found refuge/food in my reptile tanks. It also doesn't help that I have mouse breeding cages too as another food source. They seem to be particularly fond of my hisser tank.
  2. I read it in another forum (Arachnoboards I believe). Hypoaspis spp is apparently very generalist and will consume fly larvae (as they are slow enough for the mites to catch). I can't really verify this as it was a post on another forum but as I said simply cleaning is not working. It normally would suffice but with reptiles, that always have something enticing for the flies to eat in their tank, it is nearly impossible to get rid of them. I have a hard time accepting that if I have roaches I have to accept these annoying pests. I don't want to get rid of my roaches but if I can't get these under enough control that they are not in every single one of my reptile cages I think I may have to =(. Oh also, I don't have any isopods or springtails in my tanks as I don't have substrate in them.
  3. Hello, I have had intermittent problems with phorid flies in my roach colonies (which then spread to my reptile enclosures too!). I have tried the drying and cleaning method but with the reptiles there too it is really hard to completely remove them. Does anyone know where I can get some predatory mites (Hypoaspis miles or Hypoaspis spp), I have read of these being used successfully to clear problem insects from roach and tarantula tanks? Thanks in advance for your help, Kyle
  4. So I did a google search and found the following videos/posts. Has anyone tried these methods with success? http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=62680 http://dubiaroachguide.blogspot.com/2009/10/separating-dubia-roach-sizes.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxK60-4DztY (sound is low in this video) Thanks, Kyle
  5. How does everyone sort their roaches? There has GOT to be an easier way to sort large number of roaches than doing it by hand. Thanks, Kyle
  6. Not in this case, we have about 150 animals in our room right now. It would take me a couple of hours a day to feed and care everything. We have two people that both put in 10 hours per week on animal care. And yes it really is just like having kids! I check on the room daily. It NEVER even crossed my mind that they would mix two separate species together (they knew they were different species).
  7. Thanks Kyle. I didn't think that they would but wanted to double check. I did my best to not loose my temper when I found out they were mixed. I explained the differences and showed the differences again and said every couple of days you need to pull the wrong species out of the bins as whatever nymphs are in there start to reach bigger sizes.
  8. Hello, In our lab we have two separate roach species that we use as feeders. We have both orange heads (Eublaberus prosticus) and dubia (Blaptica dubia). Well our lab assistants did not listen when I gave them detailed instructions regarding feeding time, keeping the colonies clean, etc. They have been mixing the orange heads and dubia into the same bins. To the best of my knowledge these two species cannot hybridize. However, even though they are different genera altogether I wanted to double check with you guys that these two species cannot hybridize in our bins. Now to the laborious task of separating 5 roach bins into their respective species. Unless they can hybridize then it will be pretty much pointless as I don't know how long they have been doing it. Thanks in advance for your help/opinions, Kyle
  9. Nice! You didn't have to inject them with hormones to get the female to ovulate? This is the most common way to do it as they can be tricky! Did you actually see the eggs be released and the male fertilize them? "She's got a big waist"
  10. Yeah, I would be really surprised if B. dubia were not established there too. There are a TON of people in the state that keep the species. I am sure they have gotten out and are there too somewhere along the line!
  11. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-illegal-roaches-purchased-orlando-20110128,0,5408492.story Just goes to show that people actually get caught doing this in FL. Granted it was probably the forgery that really got him in trouble. -Kyle
  12. Pain in vertebrates and invertebrates is a VERY interesting subject. There are many different view points to pain. Some actually argue that most vertebrates can't feel pain (ie fish). Personally I have seen fish react to avoid a noxious stimulus. The whole subject is interesting to me.
  13. Nice, it is always good to see a bunch of baby roaches roaming around the bin!
  14. Hmm I never thought of springtails acting to clean the cage. Do you have them in all of your cages or just the ones with substrate?
  15. Hey vfox - I made it over here from arachnoboards due to greater roach availability. I have not forgotten about you =)...... send me an email with your schedule for Friday. I will be over your way sometime in the afternoon assuming the weather holds out
  16. With the hybrids that people are producing these days and the possibility that very different species can interbreed, is there a good dichotomous key or other ID guide to tell the different species from each other? I am just getting into hobby roach keeping so it has not be an issue until now (with the feeders) but I don't want to start breeding only to find out that my colonies are not pure. As I said, until now it hasn't mattered as all of my species (except B. dubia and B. discoidalis) have come from reputable sources. Thanks in advance
  17. Hello - This is Kyle (scaledverts) from the Philadelphia area. I have been keeping reptiles and spiders for some time and started keeping roaches as a food source. However, recently I have started keeping a number of "pet" species due to the variety of really cool roaches out there. I currently have established colonies of Blaptica dubia, Blaberus discoidalis, Gromphadorhina portentosa, Panchlora nivea and beginning colonies of Gromphadorhina grandidieri "black", Gromphadorhina grandidieri "tiger", Gyna lurida, and Blaberus giganteus. I was looking for places to buy roaches and found this forum. I am currently looking to expand my colonies to include Blaberus craniifer, Eublaberus posticus, Eublaberus distanti, Archimandrita tesselata, Blaberus fusca, and Blaberus colloseus. I am always looking to find people that have similar interests. I am sure I will be learning quite a bit from reading the forums here. Thanks, Kyle
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