Pacmaster

K, Thanks! I did take 3 of the oothecas out of the "pile" and open them up. There was only liqiud-ish substance inside . . . Didnt really even see anything that would show evidence of there being SEPERATE nymphs in there. Was kinda 1 big sac of puss. Ill just have to keep my eye on things better I guess. With the amount of adults I have(prolly 2-3K), there is no way possible that I have depleted the colony of nymphs just by feeding them off. All my roaches are fed a high-quality diet and get fruits and veggies every coupla days.

I have had my lats for months and months now, and everything has been fine. Lately I started noticing less and less nymphs. Now I see piles of oothecas on the substrate. Granted, Ive never really paid attention or tried to see whats going on in there, as everything was good. But since Ive noticed how hard it is to find smaller fresh nymphs, and seeing all the oothecas just laying around, I guess something is off. I havent changed any aspect of the way I keep or have kept them. This has been noticed more and more over the last 1 month. I took a few females that had oothecas sticking out and put them in a separate container so I can more closely monitor whats happening. Since I never bothered to notice before, is it normal for the oothecas to be placed on the substrate like that, and how long does it take for it to actually hatch? I always thought the nymphs hatched out while it was still attached to the female???

For the big batch I made up a few weeks ago, I used: ~30% cat/dog food 50/50 mix ~30% lab rodent pellets ~20% leftover commercial hedgehog food ~20% dried mixed vegetables and fruits(late-nite tv gadget, remember?) Grind it all up in a blender to a fine powder.(the rodent pellets are hard and tuff) Store in air-tight containers(I made alot when all was said and done). My roaches love it, and always look fat to the point of bursting. I use a shallow dish in the colony tub, but also sprinkle a line of food directly across the floor of the tub for the babies. I feed every other day, and the food is always gone, I also always provide watercrystals and rotate apples and oranges maybe 2x a week or so. The rodent chow is fairly high in protein, and is very cheap in bulk at feed stores. I get it for $0.25 per lb at the feed store, and have a big feeder-mouse colony going so its convenient. Some say not or dont have to grind up the food, I do it just to insure that all the ingredients are mixed well and eaten, I dont want a buncha picky roaches that only want certain foods. I also dont worry about no red catfood(used a kind that had 4 colors including red), I feed these roaches to my prized frog collection and have had no issues with health or digestion with my frogs and they absolutely love these roaches.

Thats exactly what I am wondering. I think it was answered as " as soon as they darken", but that is really vague. Its not that Im in a terrible hurry to get the colony going, its just that I was wondering what the timespan is till a mature female produces her 1st litter. Since I posted the original thread, I have gotten 2 litters in the new colony. This leads me to believe that the above statement is plausible if not factual. Today is 5 weeks exactly that I started that colony with freshly matured adults, and I found the 1st babies on the 15th. So give or take a day or 2, they can breed right away and produce offspring in roughly 1- 1.5 months. In the last week, Ive had a bunch of females mature, and the starter colony now has about 75 females and 20 males. I wont touch the tub except to feed/water them, and see how it looks in a few months. They say once your 1st generation of babies is breeding that the colony is matured enough to feed from . . . hope so. The original colony can keep the rest of the adults it produces, and Ill still look for males to feed off. I would estimate that colony is around 5-6 hundred strong, as it came with a bunch of gravid and producing females and I replenished it with 200 large nymphs recently.

So what Im asking is how long after the last molt are they ready to breed. Is it 5 minutes, 3 days, 2.5 weeks, or what?

So in my main colony, I look about 1x a week for new adults, and always find a few- mostly males. So given that I find them within a few days after the final molt, how long after this are females able to breed and produce? I have a second colony started with around 35 females and I keep only 5 males in it. The 2nd colony has been setup for about 1month, and only has ever contained adults. Still no babies yet . . . The first colony always has tiny fresh babies, Im sure theres a couple wily old females in there still . . .

Thanks for the advice, and I tong feed each of my many pacman frogs so not moving wouldnt be too much of a problem. I dont plan on using them as a staple, just something for variety . . . My roaches are going strong, I just like to feed a variety of feeders. Currently I produce mice, silkworms, roaches, and hopefully walking sticks. Peter, I have been to your website a few times, I think its great. I am also looking for some hickory horned devils, what do you know about those(feeder-wise/toxicity) and can you get some? Thanks.

Im new member here, but have a nice colony of dubias, and have been very succesful with them by learning alot of info on this website. Im thinking of getting a colony of hissers going as well, cause a local sorce has them for $.25 each. I am for sure getting a bunch of indian walking sticks from a friend on trade for some dubias. I am planning on raising/breeding the walking sticks to be used as a food source for my many pacman frogs. My question is, would there be any danger from toxicity by feeding blackberry bush and/or rose bush to the walking sticks, then feeding those to my frogs? I cant find alot of info about the subject, and most of the info about walking sticks has to do with pest infestation, not making more and keeping them healthy. I know I have fed rose PETALS to various herps, but nver the leaves and never blackberry. Can anyone shed some light please?