Salmonsaladsandwich

This should be under "arthropods"

Giant vinegaroons are desert dwellers.

Hmm, I think I've seen those but dismissed them as nonnative Trichoniscus.

Insects see black lights much better than humans, which is why they are so effective at attracting insects. So it would bother them even more than a regular light. You could use a red light instead, which cockroaches can't see.

Didn't realize their were any american pill millipedes... They're not an introduced old world species, are they?

Bugs get grossed out just as easily as humans. Ever seen the way a roach cleans itself after being touched by a human?

They'd just get drunk and start walking in circles, falling asleep, yelling at each other and maybe start ranting and cursing. One of them would probably go on a 30 minute tirade about isopods and how they're "filthy shrimps" who should "crawl back into the ocean and eat rotten kelp"

Also that's a cool assassin bug

Definitely a parcoblatta nymph, hisserdude's probably right about it being virginica but something doesn't quite seem "right" about it, probably just the picture though.

They don't harm the beetle. In carrion beetles they're symbiotic, I don't know about this guy though. I don't know my scarabs, he's most likely a dung feeder but some dung beetles eat carrion.

Those are mites hitching a ride to whatever pile of dung or carrion that beetle was headed to.

Even if it is the breeding adults, if the nymphs grow faster you'll have more food for whatever you're feeding them to in less time even if they are breeding slow. And I see no reason why females that eat plenty of protein wouldn't produce more babies more often.

Yeah, I mist heavily every single night. There's about 2 inches of frass but it's all bone dry. Even if they did get soggy, take the lid off for 2 days and they'll be dry again.

Give 'em a little more water. Mist them with a spray bottle every night, stop if the frass gets damp. (Which it shouldn't.) They can survive dryer conditions than most roaches, but prefer moister conditions. Do you remove all the frass when you clean? If you do, leave some. Nymphs love burrowing into frass. How much protein is in the dog biscuit? Consider upping the amount of protein you feed them- I'm talking cat food. I did an experiment where I fed nymphs different diets, the cat food ones not only grew at least 3 times faster than the oatmeal ones, they also grew faster than the control nymphs that had access to cat food, oatmeal, frass, and sugary cereal at all times. I don't know for sure that more protein would increase reproduction, but it would definitely increase nymph growth. It seems that the more protein you put in, the more protein you get out.

Set up a light sheet. Big white sheet spread between poles or draped over a car, another sheet on the ground, blacklight or mercury vapor bulb aimed at it. All kinds of flying insects will be attracted, including flying roaches. March may not be the best time for some insects, but I believe that in Arizona it's a good time for moths if you like moths. You might encounter Antheraea oculea. (Desert dwelling cousin of my profile pic.)

The maggots were more likely phorid flies

They don't live very long once they reach adulthood, but the nymphs grow very slowly. Good species selection btw

Perhaps because most roaches are perfect beginner roaches? Keeping roaches isn't that hard lol

A hisser would be fine. There's a bunch of snazzy new hisser species to choose from these days, so you can show him pictures of them so he can decide which species he likes the best. Archimandritia tesselata, blaberus craniifer, blaberus fusca, and eublaberus sp. are also good species which have wings and can't climb smooth surfaces like hissers.

Surinams are good at escaping and invading other roach containers.

Deropeltis?

Nah, It's pretty inert. Probably no different from if the mealworms had tough plant matter in their guts.

But seriously, just think about it... If this potentially world- changing discovery about one of the first and most commonly studied feeder insects went unnoticed for this long, just think about what some of the millions of undiscovered and unstudied insects could be capable of. Maybe somewhere there's an insect that can eat plastic water bottles?

Link doesn't work btw

Does this mean plastic can be converted into food for humans?!?