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Roach Rookie

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  1. good info. thanks. I personally like the sales products from superior enterprise. a little pricey but well worth it specially with little (and big) roaches. I don't get paid for that free advertisement either. ha!
  2. I highly recommend baby food for nutrition and variety. I have been using it for the longest. I use a dry staple diet and baby food instead of fresh fruit, fresh fruit I use sparingly for diversity. Baby food is very good. There is just enough nutrition (no matter what brand you buy) for roaches - water, preservatives, real fruit, sugar - all is beneficial. The only cons are that is it messy if uneaten or spilled and must be eaten quickly 1-2 days max. roaches can drowned if too deep. Fruit flies and pest beetles are not a problem as with fresh fruit. I recommend getting a few fast food drink lids and filling the middle up with baby food (also can put oats in baby food to 'thicken' to not drown). The wide rim provides a confortable dock that they can sip from. You will have a few daredevils that will still fall in but for the most part they are willing to just eat like it is a trough.
  3. Yea that is something to see especially when you have a 'big bin' or a bin with thousands of roaches - when you put fresh food or a different sweet food in the bin. You see ALL OF THEM come out at once. You see nothing but roaches, you wonder how all of them are even in there. Good and fun sight. My daughter like watching all of them come out 'to eat'. Thousands! The other fun thing to watch is putting somekind of liquid or soft food in a saucer, or what I use, flat lids filled with baby food. The saucer is surrounded by the roach like a cattle fench and they sip the food. they all circle around the lid and fight for possition looks crazy how many can fit around that saucer to eat. Then of course they start getting greedy and climbing over each other and fall in. The saucer is not deep so they do not drown. but they will be covered in baby food and will be 'cleaned' by the other roaches. Fun sight. The saucer = fast food drink lid - large.
  4. I try to change the fruit/veggy every 3 or 4 days. I leave a staple helping of dry dog-fish flake-wheat-oat-cherios-cricket meal blend food every week or when the can is low. I also leave a sperate helping of water (crystals - which are the best and easiest for any feeding of insects) in another bowl. So I have 1 can/bowl of water crystals and 1 can/bowl of staple diet that I change whenever low which is generally 5-7 days and a so called fresh fruit/veggies/table scraps that are renewed every 3-4 days.
  5. I have the best success at about 88 degrees constantly and different type of base foods (cat food, dog food, ground oat, ground wheat) and oranges/apple chunks, and wet baby food. I start a new bin with about 20 adults and give it about 6 weeks before I have to start giving them away. So I would say it depends on your feed, temperature, overall colony stress (more room the more roaches), and ventilation.
  6. Thanks for your input. By the way, what roaches do you rear?
  7. That just scares me, "they wind up in other colonies". I haven't had any yet, but will freak when/if I do find them in another colony.
  8. I have used all three, vasoline, oil and bug barrier. Have not had problems with any of them. It seems (when I cam cleaning bins out) is the only time they try and exscape and to my witnessing they either don't try to cross the barriers or they fall back down trying. I would say that the bug barrier is the least messy, but a mix of vasoline and olive oil would be more trusting I think. Lobsters seem to be the only roach I keep that could get to the d top of the bin so I put about a 4 inch barrier. Plus I have a tight lid with screened top.
  9. I will look into Pallid roaches. You have any tips? Those hissers are all big, I just haven't seen any little ones I know they have got to be getting it on, plenty of room, food and heat. I know they are slowing reproduction but I didn't think this much slower. I usually feed watermelon, apples, carrots, leafy greens and kale amung most. Any suggestions?
  10. I grind mine in the ever-so-trustee "magic bullet". It does take a lot more time but I feel that I am doing my roaches a favor. Since I have mealworms and earthworms too it is easier to do it all at once. I generally have a nice hearty combination of: cheap dog food rabbit or ferrit food fish flakes and pellets (that I would normally feed my fish) turlte/iguana mix (I use to have an iguana and there food works great - dried fuits/veggies/plant material) cherrios or some type of oat or wheat bran cereal, wheaties etc... oatmeal some type of bread, tortilla, crutons, stale wheat. Twice a week I place fresh fruits and veggies on top of the powder and mix it in so that the fruit/veggie pieces are covered in the powder (helps with rotting out becuase of the heat) I have never had to throw pieces out exept for the watermelon. Fruits and veggies I use: watermelon, apple, grapes, leafy greens and kale, banana, and shredded carrot. I use water crystals mixed with calcium/protien powder for my water source. Keep the bins at 95 to 85 degrees night to day, respectivley.
  11. I have three species; orange head, lobsters, and hissers. My Lobster are crazy producing, the orange heads have been taking a while to take off but I am seeing the culture grow. My hissers are way behind. I know they will take a while to get going but they haven't produced in 4-5 months. They are giants though. All the males are somewhere around 2.8-3 inches. What should I be looking for? Also, I have a few questions about maximizing these cultures reproduction: -I supply fresh water and food every three-days. Is this to much messing with the culture so they become comfortable? -What is the best food to stimulate reproduction? -How should an ideal bin work? I have set ups 18-20 gallon buckets, egg crates vertical with cardboard between them then 2 egg crates on top to close the open space (and add darkness), big water crystal bowls and plenty of pulverized dog food, oats, wheat, calcium powder, bread crumbs, then freshly added fruits and veggies eery three days (not allowing any molding). Temp is kept at 85-95 degree night-day. Any input. Lastly, I feed the lobsters and small orange head to my fish (i mainly feed them mealworms and such). But I want to sell the orange and hissers as a hobby. For these two (feeding and selling) what other high demand roaches would be good to go with? I was thinking of Discoids but are they soft enough for big fish? Any imput please would be helpful.
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