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newbie but nerding out


hissterical

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Hey all,

I was looking for a small pet that didn't require other pets to eat, with no smell (small space), that could be handled. A couple webpages pointed me to roaches, and I'm obsessed with my guys already.

I've read a pile of posts here already, and have tons of questions!

Can I house an oblongonota male with my three portentosas? I want another big dude or two. 

I think my first roach, Rex, is pretty old. Are there signs of aging? He feels rougher, and is much slower than the others.

Can roaches carry food? I always feed them in a dish on one side of the tank, but dropped in some cilantro leaves on the other side when I didn't want to pull the whole lid off. In the morning, one of the leaves was in the food dish. I also find their food cubes under the cork sometimes.

Glad to be here!

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Hi hissterical (I see what you did there) and welcome to the forum! :) 

You can house them together, but that would run a high risk in terms of creating hybrids in an already tainted genus. I would not really recommend it unless they are all the same sex.

There are signs of aging. In hissers you can ususally tell when in individual is getting up there in age if it begins to act lethargic, parts of it's antennae and/or tibia fall off, and acts more thirsty than it used to. 

Yep, many species carry their food away as a way to sort of "eat in peace" without having to compete with the others. lol

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Oh, there will be no babies running around here. Boys only (since I read females can have kids even after months of being separated). I'm treating them more like dogs than bugs, so no real interest in having more than I can differentiate. It is very weird that all three of mine came from the same colony, spread out over half a year, but have different preferences and personalities.

Rex's antennae are pretty ragged, and he has a hard time hanging onto my hand, way more than the others--I'd wondered if his little hook-paws were worn down. I also noticed when I introduced my most recent roach a few days ago, Rex didn't do the whole dominance/display parade of flexing his abs on top of the cork for days like he did before. Geriatric bug.

 

 

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