How to start a Roach colony

[crypticdragons]

Louder than you thought they would be? I know they were louder than I had expected. Damn near louder than my wifes cats.

Definitely. LOL!

Luckily they only do it when they are aggrevated. Mine stopped hissing for the most part after like day 3. I have dessimated my nymphs feeding my babies though so I am having to let them catch back up. And unfortunately all my dubia nymphs are still too small to be useful (though I have a ton and a half of em lol.)

 

[Craiger]

Louder than you thought they would be? I know they were louder than I had expected. Damn near louder than my wifes cats.

Definitely. LOL!

Luckily they only do it when they are aggrevated. Mine stopped hissing for the most part after like day 3. I have dessimated my nymphs feeding my babies though so I am having to let them catch back up. And unfortunately all my dubia nymphs are still too small to be useful (though I have a ton and a half of em lol.)

My dubia colony has been up and running for about 2 years. I have lots of them at all stages. I generally feed the juvies to Sam and sub-adult/adults to Frodo. Keeps the nymph/baby numbers way up.

 

[northface75]

My dubia colony has been running for about 8 months or so, theres many nymphs running around now but its still nowhere near self sustaining unfortunately lol. I would suggest just saving time and energy, and buying a huge amount from the start, its gonna cost some money but it will be worth it. my girls love the dubias so much more than crickets I cant help but give them some once in awhile

 

[Craiger]

Somebody has a colony of 30 to 40 hissers available for $30. Good deal or not?

if its adults/sub adults its a good deal. Adults can go for as much as 3 dollars a pop though typically they are $1 to 1.50

Thanks Brian. I have no idea of their stages....but will ask if they're something I decide to get. Was just curious if it could be a good deal or not.

make sure you ask him about the m-f ratio as well. Too many males = unhealthy colony as male hissers are territorial and literally fight to the death.

I have my colony setup in a 40 gallon tub with lots and lots of egg crates so that the males can etch out their own territories within them. and those 40 adults will have you with tons of babies in about 3 months. The females produce nymphs every 2 months and the clutch is anywere from 40-80 babies per clutch. They give birth in the same way that dubia do (by holding the egg sac in a special "compartment" for gestation). The egg sacs are very long by the way. And they are easy to sex as the males and females are sexually dimorphic. Males have well pronounced "horns" on their crown and females are very smooth/blunt by comparrison.

He said they're all adults, but doesn't know the male-to-female ratio. My guess is that he hasn't read up enough to know there's a distinct difference. As they're all adults, I'm going to take the risk of jumping on the colony....and separate them, if necessary. I have a large bin that will be the perfect home for them.

 

[crypticdragons]

Good to go man. If you have any questions ask.

Just as a tip for the highest output from your breeders they like a hotspot of around 95

 

[Craiger]

Thanks dude.

Haven't heard back from him, yet, though.

 

[crypticdragons]

Thanks dude.

Haven't heard back from him, yet, though.

did the guy ever get back with you?

 

[Craiger]

Yeah....I got them. Found out the guy was a girl. Hope I didn't call her "dude" at any time in our conversation. LOL!

There are a good number of adults and even some babies in the tank....which, by the way, is a 20g long reptile tank with the sliding screen lid. Score!

 

[zebraflavencs]

Big score, Craig.. those hissers tend to multiply a lot faster than the dubias.
Same ratio as the dubias male to female..

 

[Craiger]

Cool...thanks for the info.

 

[crypticdragons]

Yeah....I got them. Found out the guy was a girl. Hope I didn't call her "dude" at any time in our conversation. LOL!

There are a good number of adults and even some babies in the tank....which, by the way, is a 20g long reptile tank with the sliding screen lid. Score!

have you looked through them to see what your ratio is like? expect a few die offs as well as they have to acclimate to their new surroundings.

 

[Justus85]

So what is the difference/advantage of hissers over dubia to make them more expensive? Just the overall size of adults?

 

[crypticdragons]

Size, length of life, and reproduction rate. They reproduce much faster than dubia (in my experience).

 

[Craiger]

Yeah....I got them. Found out the guy was a girl. Hope I didn't call her "dude" at any time in our conversation. LOL!

There are a good number of adults and even some babies in the tank....which, by the way, is a 20g long reptile tank with the sliding screen lid. Score!

have you looked through them to see what your ratio is like? expect a few die offs as well as they have to acclimate to their new surroundings.

Not that closely, yet. Guess I need to do that. I did glance through them to make sure there weren't too many adult males to cause dominance issues. There were some younger males, but they didn't look like they'd pose much of a threat. Could be wrong. I wanted to give them a little time to settle in before I messed around with them too much.

They seemed to have a decent amount of egg crate to give them all their own territory. Speaking of egg crate, where do you purchase yours, Brian?

 

[Justus85]

Dangit Brian. I told myself I was gonna stop spending money on feeders! Hehe. I can promise you this; after I get a big colony establish my butt is most definitely gonna sell some surplus to try and recoup a little of the crap ton of money I've invested into these bins with heating mats and exact temp control etc etc. However I have started to see it pay off as my dubia are reproducing quite well. 4 mixed cups of dubia coming in Thursday so Rex's picky butt will have a feast. That reminds me I did an experiment today. I put crix in first for Rex to eat. He ignored them and sauntered up to the salad bowl and ate some greens like "really? is that the best you can do?". So I got a medium roach out of the nymph bin, put it in there about a foot away. He practically sprinted to it, ate it, and continued to ignore the crix. Doesn't get more clear cut than that.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Craig.. stop by the local breakfast restaurant.. most likely they will GIVE them away.. I have just such a place I get mine from every couple of months..

Justus.. You have this thread detailing how to go about it.. start out with as many as you can afford, then add to it as you can..

5 bins of roaches with all my insect eaters around says something after two years of roach husbandry !

Oh yes.. I agree.. Hissers do reproduce at a faster rate then the dubias...

 

[Craiger]

I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to even be able to keep roaches...at all. I've been having problems with some major allergy attacks. I went through the hissers last night, checking on the male-to-female ratio and went into another attack.

I really need to clean out the dubia tub, but I've been afraid to. Guess I'm going to have to try one of those masks to help keep me from breathing anything in.

Do any of you have tips on how to clean up frass without vacuuming up the babies? I used to have mesh attached to the bottom of my roach tub to catch the frass...and it worked really well until the glue bond came loose.

Oh...and my rough count last night resulted in about 10 males out of about 30 total. There may have been more, but I was starting to have breathing issues so I stopped.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Oh jeese.. Yes, Hissers are related, if I remember, distantly to german roaches. My son John is allergic to the frass and all from those too.. Thus I only have the handful as pets.. and they live in my room.

Might want to rethink those.. Dubias might be the only species you personally can keep, Craig.

 

[Craiger]

Oh jeese.. Yes, Hissers are related, if I remember, distantly to german roaches. My son John is allergic to the frass and all from those too.. Thus I only have the handful as pets.. and they live in my room.

Might want to rethink those.. Dubias might be the only species you personally can keep, Craig.

Actually, I had a major attack after the last time I cleaned the dubias, too. I didn't realize it was probably them that caused it. Just the other day I was handling some when I fed Sam. Touched my right eye before I got a chance to wash my hands and my eye turned blood red. I start sneezing any time I'm hovering over their bin for an extended period. Just kind of hoped it wouldn't be the deal with the hissers. Guess I know my answer, now.

Dang....if I had to get rid of them, I'd like to recoop my costs and keep the 20g reptile tank.

*sigh*

 

[zebraflavencs]

I'm so sorry to hear that.. But, you gotta do what is best for your health.