Laura519

I would also like to note, though I am nowhere near as professional a caretaker as the others on here, that I have found random miscreant B. lateralis in my laundry bin (only 2 mind you). I think my biggest suggestion would be to have an airtight seal on the box with some sort of secured mesh on the top (for air)because mine wasn't airtight, but I wasn't concerned about it since the B. lateralis don't climb glass or plastic. Or do they? I have a feeling that if they really put their mind to it (and if, possibly, there is even the slightest footing from substrate held on to the plastic sides by static electricity, etc.) they can escape on rare occasion. That is just my suggestion. Do not fear lats! They are great, and I really love them.

Zephyr will have to verify, since I am sending them to him, but I am pretty sure there is a very strong colony of them on campus at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. They especially like sitting on top of all the english ivy leaves here, under the street lamps. I was catching a few from 8-8:45 but really noticed lots at 9:00PM onward.

For the record, my (ok, rather picky) Blatta lateralis didn't even touch the 85% Godiva Dark Chocolate I gave them. Now, I'd like to note that not even I could eat that crap. Stick to Ghiradelli.

Wait--what was the answer? I am curious.

I have some Blatta lateralis cockroaches that were 100% reproduced asexually, probably through parthenogenesis (long story, and it's in another post). Anyhow, there are only seven of them, and they are the only ones in their container, and they were born November 21, 2011 and are all alive and well and in different molts at the moment (one is still a tween-molt in a tannish color, not quite maroon, and the others are not quite subadult but close, though all varying in molt), but none are adults yet. Just so we are clear, they are all 30-weeks old. They seem to be molting, but to my eye, it appears to be excessively slowly, especially the little one (aka Little Bo Peep). Do you know if that's normal? Is this a normal cycle for them? Slightly delayed? Very delayed? We are living in Never Never land? I appreciate any and all feedback on this since I am a very new breeder and still have lots of hope, but it is dwindling by the day.

Oooh! My two cents! I believe you can buy organic bat guano at a store called Pike Family Nursery. (I used to work there.) Unfortunately... this store is only in Georgia. Anyhow, you may be able to find it online if the manufacturer sells it or if you want to contact me privately and have me buy you some and send it over (if you compensate), I'd be happy to do so! Actually, I would be happy to trade shipping for some Blatta lateralis to start a small colony at the University of Georgia. How much fun does that sound! We need a better roach-racing species than Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. I wish I were joking. They actually tried to race madagascar... anyhow.

I am continuing to study my lovely parthenogeneically-produced Blatta lateralis to see if they, too, become adults and reproduce (ok fine--they are all being awfully, scary slow at molting). My mother came in today with a cockroach in a glass (it is a testament to the love she has for me that it was still living AND that she froze it for me instead of smushing it). Now, it looked rather like one of mine but was light-enough that I kind of wondered if it might have been an American nymph, except the bug guy who comes once a year came two weeks ago said there were no traces of cockroaches. Long story short, there is a possibility that the roaches could escape through a small gap in the top of the bin IF they can climb vertical plastic. I have never had a problem with this before when running the experiment proper, but I was missing a roach from one of the bins (and thought it dead and eaten by peers before Mom found the one). Does anyone have cases of this happening? If anyone has cases of this happening, is there an airtight plastic bin out there I can purchase before college? And if not, would a seal of vasaline around the edge work? Do you ever have to refresh the vasaline? Thanks.

Just a repost--sorry.

Vfox, I appreciate your sincerity, but it is very depressing. These chickens are doing SO WELL right now, even the silly one who doesn't want to molt. The ones who are large enough are all females, but there is the one who is still off-white and teeny (obviously, too young) and also one who might be one molt behind being properly sex-able, if you know what I mean. I have hope for them. How long does it take the lovalies to become adults usually? I have already secured a spot at the rearing section of the college that I'm going to, so they will be moving with me there and hopefully I can stabilize their colony and create more feminist babies.

I had Blatta lateralis do that once when I introduced them to a different mini-colony as way of... spreading hormones? Very strange. They seemed to fill themselves up with air (as much as possible) so that the whiteish structure along their sides was very visible and then they would seem to waft something out of their bottoms by compressing them, and the back (gonopore?) was open and white just like that. They were all females. I have also seen some that seem more open then others, and I just suspected they had either just dropped an ootheca or were about to develop one, though that is up for contention.

I have two sets of Blatta lateralis nymphs that reproduced through parthenogenesis. One is now down to three individuals, though they all seem healthy and are on their second (I think) instar. The other set (set meaning all from the same ootheca) has six medium-size nymphs and one... that is still tiny and yellow-white, like a second-molt offspring. When this latter set was first molting, I noticed that they were all kind of off balance with each other but now they seem to have settled out and are all around the same molt with the exception of this one. I know parthenogenesis offspring can be very weak at first, but do you think this offspring will hold out? She was born on November 3rd and is still going strong. Is there anything I can do that may help these to molt? Can I feed them white button mushrooms, for example? (Their cell walls have chitin which is also in the exoskeleton of roaches, right?) More water? I have tried to increase their humidity with few results, but I may just need more patience. Thanks!

No idea if it'd be any cheaper, but I used heating pads with my roaches. You must be excessively careful with this, though, and use an old heating pad (ask your wife) because in looking up new heating pads to buy, I found that most of them have a 2 hour automatic shut-off and wiring problems that cause them to spontaneously combust. That being said, my heating pads were on 24/7 in my room with me all winter (and now) and are fine. Only problem I had was that I pulled out one of the heating pads that I bought from a thrift store, and part of it had melted very very slightly and took on a pinkish, purple tint--same color as the towel it was under. I can't remember if it was there before the experiment, though, and judging by the low severity of it, I'd say it's a possibility that it was a pre-existing issue.

Unrelated, but what kind of camera/lens do you use? I am so glad your cockroach got better. That sounds like an awful ordeal for Mommy.

My B. lateralis would do the same. I also noticed that they had a kind of seam down their back that would make them wider when they hardened than their previous form. Intriguing, no?

Well, I wanted to hear your side of it, too, Marlene. I am certain mine were virgins as I sexed them all as large nymphs and checked on them nightly as part of the experiment and so can verify that they were all females even up to the end. I am now raising the offspring to see if they become viable adults, though they seem to be doing well. Some don't molt as fast, though, and it concerns me a lot. Anyhow, I'm too invested in these sweet things to give up even after they are adults as I'd like to see if they are more likely to reproduce again. So I'll be taking them to college with me.