Roachman26 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 I've seen many references to "overcrowding" on our forum. I'm just not clear on what is overcrowded. There is nothing I like better than lifting up an egg flat and feeling the weight and movement of a bunch of roaches. I love to see dozens of all ages scrambling around. It has been said that overcrowding is a possible cause of many problems. Some of my bins only have a few roaches while others have thousands. Can we put some numbers to it? I realize this is not a black and white issue. For example, 999 is perfectly fine, but 1000 is overcrowded. I'm not asking for exact numbers, however, I think some general guidelines for some of the common species would be helpful. How many G. portentosa can be kept in a 5 gallon bucket cage, 10 gallon tank or 18 gallon bin with 6 egg flats, before it would be considered "overcrowded? How many of the more common Blaberus? Blaptica Dubia? Blatta lateralis? I think we (by we, I mean us newbies) can make reasonable guesses based on the size and habits of the above four species. As always, Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharma Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Hi Roachman In my case it's as follows: - Archimandrita marmorata: around 50% nymphs and 50% soil, the ratio can be shifted towards roaches by moist soil but brings in more problems like phorid flies, mold and mites - Phoetalia pallida: No free place to hide, overpopulation leads to stagnation in reproduction - Nauphoeta cinerea: No free place at all (I mean not the smallest squaremillimeter without a roach). I suppose that then they start to eat freshly molted ones... - Blaberus and Eublaberus: No free place for molting to adulthood and around 50% nymphs and 50% soil - Oxyhaloa deusta: No free place at all With other species I don't know because increasing population density means decreasing reproduction which can be caused by other circumstances as well and therefore I don't exactely know the critical point of overcrouding for them. As general guideline I think that it's often the lack of free place to hide which can be solved by adding another egg crate or similar. This makes it very difficult to give a concrete number. Grüessli Andreas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 You can crowd hissers extensively without negative effects (they seem to like it even.) Blaberus species need quite a bit of space comparatively. B. dubia are like hissers but a little less so. B. lateralis; it all depends on whether or not you have substrate for your setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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