Roachsmith

Should be ok. I knew someone who kept his dubias in shredded newspaper for years. They'll probably munch on the paper a bit. I heard that colored paper is bad for reptiles not sure about roaches though.

I wish I could afford to buy that many at once. Some species I only have 2 or 3 of. Mostly because of cost though, or I would have more of them. I agree with you that it's very satisfying when you are able to start a whole colony from just a few roaches.

Mine don't seem to smell but they do have the sticky stuff. Maybe I don't have enough of them to be smelly. The only smelly roaches I have are the madeirans. They only smell when I'm disturbing them though, usually during feeding time. They smell kind of like cigarrettes. They squeak too

Wow. Those are neat! I've never seen them before but I just looked up some pics. The variety of different roaches still amazes me. I had no idea there were "rolly polly" roaches. Maybe we will have them in the US one day.

I like them because the nymphs don't burrow. It makes it easier to feed to slings. The nymphs are really tiny too so they're great for small slings and mantids.

Cool. Free range roaches!! I think you'll be ok. I had a few lats escape and they died very quickly. Sticky traps should help though.

That's a good idea! About half my nymphs have died despite all my efforts. I have a new batch of them coming next week with a heat pack so hopefully they will be ok when they arrive this time.

I don't know, but mine release sticky goo from their behinds. You can see it pretty clearly in the cockroach calendar pic.

These are some of my favorite roaches. They make a great display species as they are often sitting out in the open during the day. Mine have yet to breed but I'm going to move them into another tank with lots of hides to make them feel more comfortable and raise the temp a bit and see what happens.

Check out this beauty!

Saw some mating action last night. I didn't realize I had two adults even. This was the only good pic I could get, it happened so fast. I very nearly caught it on video but as soon as I got the lighting right the male decided he would rather have dinner than mate. Doh! These guys do the wing display too. It was fun to watch the male dance around. I'm used to seeing roaches just back into eachother to mate but looks like the male raises his wings and the female climbs on his back, hooks up, then turns around. Kind of like my b. fumigata. Interesting.

Thanks for the info. I'm keeping mine on about a 5" layer of peat moss and leaf mulch/hardwood mix. I haven't been disturbing them at all and I can see them through the glass in their little burrows sometimes. I'm going to bump up the moisture a little bit though. Thanks for the tip.

Aww. She was dead this morning. None of the babies hatched. Bummer

I caught one of my madierans laying an ooth today. You can see the eyes of the nymphs. It's been several hours and no babies have emerged yet. Is that normal?

Hmm. No I don't have a sponge in there. Maybe a dish of water crystals would be good for them.

How many posts do we need to become an "adult"?

Those are so cute! The only oragami I can do is make cootie catchers. If that even counts as oragami. lol.

Welcome to the forum! My husband doesn't like roaches but he doesn't mind them anymore. I filled up our entire computer room with cages. He only gets one corner. lol. I try to show him ones that are cool but he just says "yuk!". So luckily there's this forum where other people think roaches are interesting and don't think I'm a wierdo for saying a roach is cute or pretty. Hehe.

Welcome! Glad you joined the forum! If you ever want to do some roach swapping LMK

I like the roaches in the bathtub. One of these days I might just set up a tank like that. I think that would be fun.

Awww! That's adorable!!

I suppose you could amputate it. I've had to do that with a roach that had a bad moult and had a wing dragging on the ground so it couldn't walk. I just carfully cut it off with scissors and the roach was ok. I hated to do it but that saved it's life I think. I wonder if roaches will cut their own parts off that aren't functioning. T's do that sometimes.

They seemed to die after I sprayed the tank so I thought they didn't like the humidity but it's probably the temperature. I'll pick up a heat mat for them today and see if that works. Thanks for your help! p.s. I don't really want to stick the heat mat to my tank. Would it be possible to maybe cover it with tinfoil and tape it on? Has anyone ever done that?

My ornate velvets keep dying. About one every few weeks. I'm keeping them on about 3" of peat moss substrate at room temp (60-75 degrees). Give them a light spray of water every few weeks and am feeding them a mixture of dry food and veggies/fruits. If someone could post care info for these guys I would appreciate it, I seem to have trouble keeping them alive for long. Might be the temp or humidity. I don't know

Those are the ones. I think another species got mixed in. Maybe I should separate them. The females look identical though so if some of the other species are females, I can't tell the difference.