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Another favorite critter: ROCKBRATS !!


Matt K

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Super easy. They feed on wheat germ and flake fishfood. They eat very little. You never water them EVER and they like to be kept around 100'F. (I use a reptile cage heater). Nymphs hatch out aboutthe size of the period at the end of this sentence. They grow to around 3/4 of an inch long (pictured). Great food for small creatures incl. dart frog, slings, etc.

**Caution. They need to be kept in a sealed container with a paper filter for a screen/air. If you have a hot place in the house (ie. over a water heater, radiator, stove, oven, refridgerator compressor, etc.) they can live there. Though they seem not inclined to escape.

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Hey Matt, people, clue me in what kind of insect are they?

I've heard of them, but know nothing about them.

Ken

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Ooops. :blink: That is a photo of a Fire Brat.... Rockbrats are more angular and alpine ..the culture I have is not tolerating Texas so well....

FIREBRATS, one of the most primitive of all insects living today. Neat-o to culture, good food for anything that eats small bugs. They reproduce pretty quickly in extreme heat. Water them and they die off pretty fast too. I like the novelty of something that requires no water to live... small, only up to 3/4 inch, but kinda colorful and active off and on. Super easy to rear.

I just like keeping all sorts of bugs. Its the best fun I have had for the most part.

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Ooops. :blink: That is a photo of a Fire Brat.... Rockbrats are more angular and alpine ..the culture I have is not tolerating Texas so well....

FIREBRATS, one of the most primitive of all insects living today. Neat-o to culture, good food for anything that eats small bugs. They reproduce pretty quickly in extreme heat. Water them and they die off pretty fast too. I like the novelty of something that requires no water to live... small, only up to 3/4 inch, but kinda colorful and active off and on. Super easy to rear.

I just like keeping all sorts of bugs. Its the best fun I have had for the most part.

Where can I get a culture of these critters? I think DoubleD's was selling cultures at one time, do you know of anyone else selling them?

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Where can I get a culture of these critters? I think DoubleD's was selling cultures at one time, do you know of anyone else selling them?

Double D's may or may not have them, but they keep anything they have had in the past few years on thier site anyway.

I think Blaberus.com may be having them in the near future. When I emailed James a while back he told me he was trying to establish reliable lines of various "feeder" bugs including firebrats. If he started some at or after I started mine, I would guess he should be due in two or three months for them... maybe a little less.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I guess Rockbrats are Thysanura, Family Machilidae (Jumping Bristletails?)... I often meet them during the night in my bug-huntings...

I'm happily breeding silverfishes... I built my starting colony catching them one by one, on the wall in front of my home, at night, walking my dog.... :rolleyes:

Here are some pictures...

Lepisma%20teca.jpg

Lepisma%20all01.jpg

Lepisma%20all02.jpg

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  • 1 year later...

Actually they are not uncommon in bakeries. They love heat and flour dust in dry tight spaces.

Mine interest me because I rarely feed them (wheat germ is the food item) and they have had no water in almost 2 years. Amazing.

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  • 7 months later...

...Ooops. I made a small goof and lost my entire colony of Thermobia domestica. If any one has some let me know and maybe we can trade roaches for Firebrats....

:angry::(

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  • 4 months later...
Question! Can these at any point be considered replacements for pinheads as feeders for other young arachnids?

Yes. Thety can replace pinhead crickets as they can be caught / fed at half that size on up to the size of a one week old cricket or so.

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