dcheath Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 My name is David Heath. I am married with 4 kids. I've been a herp keeper for 20+ years. I have too many interests to list, but obviously you should know two of them by now. I also enjoy litening to music, and I have a small R/C car/truck collection. I raised Lobster roaches for feeders 5 or 6 years ago. This past weekend I was talking with a fellow herper who wanted to get some roaches from me. We decided to order some dubia, and after talking I started doing some researching, and became fascinated with them. Now I think I may be hooked! I have been raising B. discoidalis for about a year now, and my wife decided she would rather I raise roaches than crickets. You can't get better than a wife that prefers roaches over crickets! Trying to decide now on a few species to start with. I like B. craniifer, Gyna sp., Therea sp., and Panchlora sp., and I will gladly accept any input and/or pictures to help in my decision. Thanks, David 1. Do you currently raise any roaches? Yes 2. If so, how many? about 200 (guessing) 3. Do you culture roaches as pets or feeders? Feeders at the moment 4. If feeders, what kinds? B. discoidalis 5. Are there any specific roach questions that you would like to ask the community? What is your favorite roach? 6. How did you find our community? Google Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanchantress Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Welcome to the forum, David! Now that you found this place I predict you will have many more species by the end of the year As far as my favorite roach, I would say Gromphadorhina portentosa (Madagascar Hisser) is my favorite for ease of care and ease of handling. I have about 9 Therea petiveriana (Domino) and they are a close second. Then again I love the expressions of my Archimandrita tesselata (Peppered) when they groom... Hard to choose Out of the 9 species I have those would probably be my top 3. If you have school-aged kids then you just HAVE to get some Madagascars so your kids can take them to school for show-n-tell. I have loaned out small colonies of them to various elementary school classrooms for a few weeks at a time and they are always a hit. This is a great community to learn from. Peter from bugsincyberspace.com and Kyle from roachcrossing.com are members and I have found them to be very helpful and knowledgeable. When I first got into roaches I spent HOURS on this site! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wodesorel Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Hi David! I have both Dominos and Question Marks and I can't decide between the two which are my favorites. The adults don't live long, but they are active throughout the day and they are so incredibly beautiful. They also don't look like cockroaches so if anyone in your family is nervous around classic looking roaches they are a perfect gateway roach to lure them in. The coloration on the Question Marks is so neat and they're easier to handle, but the Dominos are slightly larger and are more active, so it's really a toss up which is better. http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/wodesorel/Cockroaches%20-%20Exotics/Enclosures%20and%20Adults/questionmarkroach2.jpg http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/wodesorel/Cockroaches%20-%20Exotics/Enclosures%20and%20Adults/Dominoadult.jpg Wish I had gotten one of the gyna sp., and those will be next on my list when there's room for more. They are quite stunning and I think they would be very interesting to own! I agree with Nan that kids LOVE hissing roaches and they really are a must. Wide Horns (G. oblogonota) get huge and are really shockingly sized for someone unfamiliar with hissers, but I think my favorites are actually the mini Halloween Hissers (E. javanica). The colors on these guys are great and they are so incredibly loud for their size! http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/wodesorel/Cockroaches%20-%20Exotics/More%20new%20arrivals/halloweenhisser2.jpg http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/wodesorel/Cockroaches%20-%20Exotics/More%20new%20arrivals/halloweenhisser4.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcheath Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 Thanks for the welcome. I am getting some Question marks along with some other species on a trade w/ Zephyr. I am looking forward to them. My son is really excited abouth them. He thinks the are cool! I am sure I will be posting w/ lots of questions on my new species. Thanks again, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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