Flying and fluttering roaches

[Keith]

I've always been interested in seeing how well winged roaches in the hobby fly.

I have owned dubia, giganteus, and fusca.

Dubia supposedly can't fly, but from what I heard wild specimens can. I have witnessed dubia flutter and glide shortly at best, not able to gain altitude or stay at one point while fluttering. One day I took a male dubia outside on a warm summer day, I let him fly, and he travelled about 30 feet and didnt drop like inside but maintained position for a few seconds longer. I'm guessing air current had a lot to do with why he travelled farther outside than inside. So with wild ones flying, mabye they don't really fly but flutter and air drifts help them travel further, with tall trees around a flutter of the wings will allow you get from tree to tree easily no need to fly like birds do. Katydids and praying mantids fly in a similar way, more of a glide and fast wing flutter.

B giganteus now are a different story. I have witnessed males and new females flying indoors going up and down in circles for more than a minute, actual flying. I made the mistake of bringing a male outside. He flew off my hand across a field and actually ascended higher into the sky flying for over a minute and landed High up in an oak tree, I never saw him again. Before this he vibrated his abdomen. When his abdomen never vibrated before, he flew no better than a dubia roach,

Fusca fluttered like dubia, once in a while a male did manage to fly for a few seconds before descending and falling, but they generally are reluctant to even attempt fluttering, they are crazy fast runners though!

[pierre72]

I've always been interested in seeing how well winged roaches in the hobby fly.

I have owned dubia, giganteus, and fusca.

Dubia supposedly can't fly, but from what I heard wild specimens can. I have witnessed dubia flutter and glide shortly at best, not able to gain altitude or stay at one point while fluttering. One day I took a male dubia outside on a warm summer day, I let him fly, and he travelled about 30 feet and didnt drop like inside but maintained position for a few seconds longer. I'm guessing air current had a lot to do with why he travelled farther outside than inside. So with wild ones flying, mabye they don't really fly but flutter and air drifts help them travel further, with tall trees around a flutter of the wings will allow you get from tree to tree easily no need to fly like birds do. Katydids and praying mantids fly in a similar way, more of a glide and fast wing flutter.

B giganteus now are a different story. I have witnessed males and new females flying indoors going up and down in circles for more than a minute, actual flying. I made the mistake of bringing a male outside. He flew off my hand across a field and actually ascended higher into the sky flying for over a minute and landed High up in an oak tree, I never saw him again. Before this he vibrated his abdomen. When his abdomen never vibrated before, he flew no better than a dubia roach,

Fusca fluttered like dubia, once in a while a male did manage to fly for a few seconds before descending and falling, but they generally are reluctant to even attempt fluttering, they are crazy fast runners though!

How did you recapture your Dubia that you let fly outside?

[Keith]

They flew in the grass so I just picked them up and put them back in the critter keeper