lovebugfarm

Thanks its nice having roaches again I had my first group of hissers 15 years ago its so wild to think that there are over 200 to choose from now. Im thinking I will prolly end up with 30 to 50 ultimatly. Im super into doing trades thats pretty much how I ended up with all the stuff I have now. I actually have a crazy plan for how to get more but im waiting to free up some cash and sell off some of my over stock. Its a fun adventure.

So I have been posting a little bit but never did an introduction. My names Eli from texas. I love bugs of all flavors. Im mostly into feeders and actually worked on a cricket farm for 6 months. When I say feeders I also mean human food to im facinated by entomophagy and the cricket farm I worked at made cricket flour. I have only 5 species of rosch so far common and wide horn hissers, orange heads, dubia, and peppered. I keep lots of spiders, tarantulas, huntsman, harvestmen, and widows. I raise superworms and dermestids. I have 3 types of scorpions, and centipedes. Then there are the mammels but thats mostly my fiances thing. Oh and theres snakes and endlers live bearer fish. I think thats all...prolly missing some. My apartments kinda a zoo. I work as a vallet waste attendent so almost all of my veggies for my bugs comes from peoples trash so its a pretty sweet deal. My plan is to have my own business selling feeders and bait in a few years. Until then im having fun tradeing and selling bugs to build my collection. Everyones been awesome on this forum you guys rock.

When I had my first hissers 15 years ago there was only one type. Two years ago when I got back into roaches my local pet store gave me the 2 little colonys they had and said one was wide horn. I was like sure guy not realiseing there was actually different speices of hissers. Its a good thing they mature slowly and I was able to seperate them out. I traded off like 500 of them that were possible hybrids to a guy to use for feeders. Its kinda a live and learn thing especially considering there isnt much literature on how to properly identify pure hisser species or many other roaches for that matter.

I know this is an older post but I was wondering why not try to grow your own veggis for this off period they expiernce. A small indoor aquaponics system would produce the most pure produce and you could use a simple fish tank.

Thanks hisserdude the adult could be old age. I did lose one large nymph to. Its so odd they died in such a close time frame. Luckily I have babys from them already but I am a bit nervous I did something. I guess I will know if more pass on.

I lost 2 peppers what seems like over night. One an adult had maggots the other was just limp. Are there parasitic flys I should worry about? The maggots were slightly larger then those of fruit flys. I got them from a guy who admited he wasnt paying much attention to them. They have been in the mid 70s but might have droped to 60s temp wise. I found a little molded food are these guys highly mold sensitive?

As far as pests vinegar and baking soda will prolly be to light. I think 48 hours in the freezer would do the trick. Of course having a deep freeze would help with that.

Thats a great point about the fact spraying doesnt happen in winter. We have had a wet year so im feeling much better about them. Thanks for putting my mind at ease.

Thanks everyone for the help. Im gonna be setting up new bins real soon.

I was thinking of doing a soak with vinegar and or bakeing soda. Those are both safe for roaches right?

I will prolly just go and knock on thier door and ask if the spray.

In america we are ruled by money not logic. So they spray any where. I found these leaves at someones home. They decide if they want to spray it or not. It wasnt a nice looking yard so I dont think they are spending much money but some people fear bugs so much they pay to spray as precaution. Crazy right anyone can get these chemicals. Austin texas is know for its live oaks. My concern isnt with how to id trees. So it is actually illegal to just go to a forest and take leaves. The forests are either privatly owned or state owned. Private forest trespassers get shot at and state ones you get fines. They tell you at the parks if you take a pebble you will be fined. I was able to fill my truck with 9 big bags which is good cause I keep a variety of bugs. Theres no where else to get that much leaves when you live in an apartment in the city legally.

So I was driving down the street and saw huge bags of leaves and brought them home. Now im worried about pestisides. Is there any way to clean them or soak them and change the water a few times to be sure thier pestiside free? I live in austin and its pretty unlikely there is a problem but just wanting to be sure. Maybe put some with a test group of roaches? Any thoughts on random leaves?

I have a plastic deli cup with a hole in the lid and a piece of clothes line rope threw the lid to wick water. Ive only used it for my beetles but I might start doing it for my roaches to. I like all the other ideas to.

Ok I was a bit concerned then i scrolled down and all was right in the world again.

Thanks for the conformation its a sigh of relief knowing they should both be 100% peppered's. I was originally thinking I should mix them to give them better genetic diversity. I might be able to trace the linage of one of the groups but im sure i wont have much luck with the person who thinks they have deathheads. Either way this is all great news im glad to know there is only one species of Archimandrita.

I know what you guys mean about wanting more and more. It seems like every week im buying something new or working on some trade. When im feeling extra broke I go out on hikes and try to collect more insects. Living in texas we have our share of cool stuff to try out. One day I will take a pic of my closet its just full of roaches I actually keep a 55 gallon drum full of orange head in there. Good thing im not a snappy dresser. Roaches and insects are a great hobby.

So I got 7 roaches from a guy locally and they are sold as pepper roaches the pattern on the pronotum looks right and the size is right but they have no pepper pattern really except a little at the base of the wing. So the wings are a near solid brown. I took some pics I hope they attach well and will be taking better ones tomorrow. My 1st group of questions are: Is there another species peppered roaches could hybridize with? Is it possible this is a kind of morph? Could diet pay a role in adult wing pattern? (He said he didn't feed them often) Should I keep these separate from future peppered roaches I add to my collection? Then there's a person locally selling what they are calling death heads that look identical to peppered roaches. Along with the classic peppered wings the gold on the pronotum completely encircles the black pattern. I'm stumped on what to do about it. My 2nd group of questions are: Is there a death head hybrid that could look like a pepper roach? Should I be concerned about adding them to my patternless peppers? I know keeping them as just pets it shouldn't matter but when I get to many of them I want to be able to sell or give them away with 100% the right name so they get the right care. Thanks so much in advance for any help. The helpful nature of this forum is awesome I'm glad to be a part of it.

I used to work there it was a dream job working with insects all day. Sadly I had some lame coworkers and had to leave.

When I got my orange heads I read they like the extra protien. So my first thought was to take some of the cricket flour (ground up baked crickets) from the cricket farm I used to work at and offer it to them. Seems they eat a cup of it a week. Its not the cheapest stuff but since I had it figured I would put it to good use. My dermestids arnt eating it fast enough. Lol