>>Yes, Rhyparobia are bigger than Nauphoeta, but an adult Acanthosaura can manage at least the male imagines. A big capra or a G. chamaeleontinus has no problems with winged females either. Also I do use preferably nymphs as feeders, because these are more voluminous in relation to their size and more elongated and easy to swallow. These of course come in any size you want.
>>The stench in Rhyparobia is emitted only in defense and under severe stress. Also a colony starts to stink if kept too moist. A normal colony is absolutely odorless (otherwise, my family would not allow me to produce them). Also the herps do not care about the intense hissing -better: fiddleing- of the imagines and the stench. Wether you think, the defense odor is stronger than those of the orange heads or not depends on your personal impression.
>>I do normally collect them by shaking an card board egg box taken from the colony within a larger container to collect the roaches from the box. So I do not touch them and normally they do not emit stench during this procedure. Also least Rhyparobia are much less allergenic than Blaptica (I do have problems with feeder insect allergies).
>>To my expereince the pest potential (thinking of german households, may be different in warmer climates)of R. maderae is in almost the same range as for N. cinerea but much lower than for Blatta lateralis (aka Shelfordella tartara). Nevertheless, they are quick and hence, from time to time I do find some running free in my house. Normally they do not multiply there (otherwise, my family would....). But I have a suspicion that they do multiplicate is my herp room. Anyhow, its tropical climate there and the free roaming geckos keep the crickets and roaches short.
>>
>>Princisia vanwaerebecki is one of the largest wingless hissing roaches and comes in at least three variants: A blackish one, a striped one and an extraordinarly large one. Sexing is easy: Males have small horns as for many hissers.
>>They are about as prolific as Blaptica and at least smaller nymphs are about as soft and agile as Rhyparobia Nymphs.
>>Pest potential is very low (but they are glass climbers and the nymphs are much quicker than the adults) and the big adults are a nice pet for children or fascinatng display animals. Moreover, larger lizards also love full grown imagines.
>>In defense, they do not stink, just hiss. No lizard seems to care about that...they love them.
>>The only drawback I experienced so far was that the strong adults are capable of lifting lightweight lids. I had to learned that the hard way, having a few hundred free running Princisia for a while. But these are relatively easy to catch: using a moist towel and some dandelion for bait collected most escapees in a single night. To catch the last 10% lasted much longer and some died from exsiccation.
>>Now I am using a heavy lid on the colony.....
>>
>>
>>Best regards
>>
>>Ingo
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

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