Colony Starter Sizes

[Gsc]

Just a question I have been wondering.... How many roaches do y'all normally strat your colonies with. I know "the more the better"...but sometimes these rare roaches are too expensive/ to hard to get to start out with 50 or so.

Every species I keep are "pets".... I usually begin these "collector colonies" with a minimum of 12.... I perfer 18-24 if possible.....

I really neeed to make up a half dozen bucket cages so I can get some new species.....

Do y'all agree that roaches tend to do better starting out if there are more in the colony...or is it just that the more you have the more females are in the colony so they grow quicker...it seems that species like hissers like it alittle overcrowded...

Thanks,

Graham

[Matt K]

I will relay what Orin once told me: "At least 10".

While I have started colonies with less, this is a good rule. And you could start with dozens, of course, but starting with 10 is like planting a seed and seeing if you are able to grow the tree. My opinion is that it is more fun to look at a colony grow from so little and know you succeeded than to buy an "instant colony" and just maintain it...

2 cents worth and then some.

Matt

[Gsc]

Agreed Matt- 10 sounds like a fair number... enough to get things going once they mature and you get a brood or two....

[Allpet Roaches]

A lot has to do with what the colony will be used for. If you need to generate a lot of feeders you'd want to start with hundreds or thousands and a big setup. If you're setting up a sustaining pet colony more than twenty or thirty may be overkill.

Of course with Pynoscelus surinamensis you only need to start with one though I'd recommend against keeping that species since it invades other cultures terribly.

[Matt K]

For me "invades other colonies" = Blatta lateralis.

[Chris Driggers]

Since I feed off any extras that I have no matter the species, I like to start with at least 100 no matter the species. Of course like Graham said, with some of the rarer species prices/availability just don't allow that to happen everytime. But whenever possible, I like to start with at least 100, preferably more.

Chris

[Daniel]

Hi,

I think one more thing to think about is how fast the species grows and how they develop. If you buy 10 nymphs of the same size of some roach species the males will mature much faster and even die before the females matures. One other thing is that if all roaches are of the same size it can take many years before you have both nymphs and adults at all times.

Regards

Daniel

[Lucihormetica]

Hello,

sometimes I cought only one or two females from rare species. And from these we grow up our culture stocks, like different Eurycotis spp. ore Byrsotria rothii. It is quite difficult, but you will give more indention to the rarly stuffs and will keeping and care them better as a culture stock with more than 20 specimens.

Ingo F.

[aquanut]

Just a question I have been wondering.... How many roaches do y'all normally strat your colonies with. I know "the more the better"...but sometimes these rare roaches are too expensive/ to hard to get to start out with 50 or so.

Every species I keep are "pets".... I usually begin these "collector colonies" with a minimum of 12.... I perfer 18-24 if possible.....

I really neeed to make up a half dozen bucket cages so I can get some new species.....

Do y'all agree that roaches tend to do better starting out if there are more in the colony...or is it just that the more you have the more females are in the colony so they grow quicker...it seems that species like hissers like it alittle overcrowded...

Thanks,

Graham

i allways thought to start with about a dozen and once the colony gets going to add a few from a different line for some different genetic material.

although-

1- i've heard that most roaches really dont inbreed

2- seems like most of the rare species come from one culture that some one was able to bring in.

[Matt K]

i allways thought to start with about a dozen and once the colony gets going to add a few from a different line for some different genetic material.

although-

1- i've heard that most roaches really dont inbreed

2- seems like most of the rare species come from one culture that some one was able to bring in.

Well, yes and no. Disclaimer: I am an idiot offering loose and unfounded thoughts (can't remember where I got this info):

Depending on the species you may need to start with 3 or 20, I think. In something like a reptile, you can inbreed theoretically 70 or so generations before you see an issue. Same theory applied to invertebrates (a simpler animal) you should be able to go an infinite number of generations. That being said, I have to wonder. I had a colony of E.prosticus that had been going for several years and I thought they were a little....bland looking? But in good health. A friend of mine had a couple dozen he did not want anymore so I put them in my colony almost two years ago or so. Since then they have become a little larger and that crease along thier wing has become very pronounced, and thier pronotum is much more orange. However, I can't tell if this was due to the introduction (which I suspect) or if I started feeding them something different or what. I have not kept any notes on them like I do on everything these days.

I think some of the rare species may have come from one import, but there have been cases of people illegally importing more of the same over time, and even colleges that have brought in some that another did from the same/silimar resource. So I am not concerned about the gene pool, really.

Domestically available animals should be in good propogating condition I suppose.

[Slizarus]

I just got some purestrain Craniifer from James Tuttle and started with 4 as pets (1 Adult Male and 3 Huge Nymphs)

It's really small to be honest, but I love the looks of Craniifer, I've wanted them for years and I could only now get what little I could afford...

For a Pet colony though under best conditions I'd go for no less than 10.. I had 10 Black Hissers, 7 Tiger Hissers, and 3 V Horn Hissers before my house burned down and they bred at a fairly steady pace though the V Horn all turned out to be males and I really couldn't do anything with them.. The blacks and the tigers did well though and were quite pretty bugs

For a Feeder... I'd say no less than 50 and shoot for 100 large nymphs preferably.\

Of course, that depends on your needs.. and if you have a lot of small lizards/Arachnids/bugs to feed.. then get a delicup of 200 lobster roaches for $20 and just add food.

Your pets will never go hungry again.. I eventually had to kill off all my lobsters. I had far too many of them and they infested my tanks.. and I just decided I hate setting up Petroleum boundries..

[vixvy]

Base from my experience: I started with 10pcs with my dubia, 20eggs with lateralis, with my lobster I started 5pcs only now they are uncountable they keep on reproducing.

[Zephyr]

I'd say at least 20 of most species for a feeder colony, anywhere from 5-10 for an ornamental one.

[vfox]

Depending on how much time you have on your hands, it's better to start small for money sake, but I got some great deals on a large number of roaches in the last few months, so I went for the "more is better" realm.

I keep around 200 or so B.dubia, and around 500 B.fusca hybrids, but they breed very slow at 78-80ºF. I see many more dubia nymphs compared to fusca nymphs however. I started with 100 dubia around two or so months ago, and 400 fusca not quite a month ago. But, once more adults mature I'm sure I'll have a heap of roaches on my hands. Then again, I don't mind the slow reproduction, I only have 8 scorpions currently and I like having the colony as "pet-like" until they go wild breeding. Last week I got 3 subadult giganteus and several nymphs, so I will let you know how they go in a few months.