Maples

[mikepellerin]

We lost a lot of Maples (Norwegian, Sugar), due to the Asian Long Horned Beetle. I used to have a covered yard, but after the Beetle, I lost 15-25 trees.

My Red Japanese Maples did ok. Are these good for feeding Hissers? How about Shagbark Hickory? How about Sumac?

--Mike

Oh. BTW This is an awesome Madagasgar page: http://scalestails.tumblr.com/post/42527513804/name-madagascar-hissing-cockroaches

[Allpet Roaches]

They'd have to be pretty hungry. I suggest sticking with fruit slices and dog food.

[happy1892]

They'd have to be pretty hungry. I suggest sticking with fruit slices and dog food.

Or banana and bread. Most of my roaches loved that. They did not like dog food that much and banana was one of their favorite types of fruit.

[wcbpolish]

I've fed red maples. They weren't TOO excited, but ate them over time. They seemed to like box-elder better and oak (white over red)

If nothing else, it's natural substrate.

[Zephyr]

Once any hard wood leaves turn brown and have begun to decay, roaches will usually ingest them. They're probably after the microbial/fungal communities that have colonized the leaf more than the leaves themselves.

Oak (red, bur, pin, black, white/swamp white) are my go-to for roaches. Maple (silver, sugar, black, red), beech (American, musclewood), and basswood (American) are great too but are quickly consumed and don't seem to provide the "slow release" nutrition of the oak leaves as they break down.

In Michigan I find Parcoblatta virginica in leaf litter that has a mix of black maple, black alder, and basswood leaves. P. pennsylvanica tend to be found inside rotting wood or around human structures but I have found them (oddly) in Japanese knotweed and common buckthorn leaf litter (both of which happen to be the most common habitats for Ectobius pallidus too).

In Florida Cariblatta ssp. and Blattella asahinai really love live oak (the species, not living leaves) leaf litter. Eurycotis floridana likes palmetto fronds but I recall finding them inside rotting pine wood in a live oak forest as well.

In the Keys we found swarms of B. discoidalis in palmetto-y litter that seemed to have a lot of royal flame tree leaves as well.

[happy1892]

In Michigan I find Parcoblatta virginica in leaf litter that has a mix of black maple, black alder, and basswood leaves.

It must be different here in North Carolina. I do not find many Parcoblatta virginica in leaf litter, I sometimes find P. pennsylvanica, P. divisa, and P. lata wandering around during the nights near or in leaf litter in hardwood forest, but that is not super common. P. virginica I find in groups or many in soft moist rotting pine logs on the ground when I dig through the pine wood or lift to see underneath the logs.

I avoid using leaves that are not oak leaves since they can grow mold easily sometimes... and white oak is very common here.