Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

Asking again...

I have several large cave roach nymphs from the mass of roaches I sorted out...and wanted to know if anyone else has had experience with them...your opinions, etc.

Any info appreciated!

Hello!

Yes, I breed giant South American cockroaches (Blaberus giganteus). There are currently hundreds of nymphs and adults in my colony. This is not bad at all considering I only started out with a few dozen. The nymphs take 6 months to mature and the adults can live around 2 years. I feed my colony high-protein dry kitten food (Purina Kitten Chow... which has 40% protein in it), apples and greens. I also make sure that my colony always has a constant source of fresh water (I use one of those small plastic chick-waterers with paper towels in the dish to prevent the small nymphs from drowning). The enclosure which houses my colony is very naturalistic. The roach enclosure is a tall screen-mesh cage with fake Wandering Jew covering one wall (for hiding places). There is also a huge piece of driftwood in the center of the cage for the roaches to climb on. The only substrate which I use is sheets of newspaper covering the floor of the cage. I find this to be the best substrate to use in my opinion because I don't have to worry about sifting through it looking for nymphs when it comes time to clean out the enclosure. Newspaper makes cleaning a heck of a lot easier! Here are 3 links on Blaberus giganteus if you want more information on this particular species:

http://www.key-net.net/users/swb/pet_arthropod/RCH.htm

and

http://www.petbugs.com/caresheets/B-giganteus.html

and

http://centralpets.com/pages/critterpages/insects/roaches/RCH4321.shtml

I hope this helps.

Take care,
Terry

how to sex Death heads? do you know the life span of death heads?

thanks in advance
-----
Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com
Home of the Florida Orange

Hello, Bennett!

Unfortunately, I am not sure what the lifespan of Death Heads is nor am I familiar with sexing them. However, it MIGHT be possible to sex this particular species in the exact same way as you would sex Giant Cave Roaches (since both species ARE in the same genus). Here is a quote which I got from one of the links which I have enclosed in my previous post:

"The only visible difference between the sexes is on the last abdominal segment, which is the one that bears the "cerci." These cerci are present in both males and females, and look like a pair of short, rear-end antennae. Just between the cerci of the males is a pair of hair-like appendages called "styli." Styli are absent in the female.

These tiny styli can be hard to see. Fortunately, the sexes can also be distinguished by their behavior--males frequently engage in a courtship ritual, females do not.. Several times during this ritual the male raises his folded wings so that they are almost at right angles to his abdomen. He also makes trembling movements with his abdomen. The remainder of the ritual has never been described in the scientific literature, although in any large colony the entire sequence can be observed almost continually. During mating the pair assumes an end-to-end position, with their abdomens joined at the tip. They will stay in this position for many hours, sometimes even overnight."

Perhaps you can apply this to Death Heads as well. I don't know. At the very least, Death Heads have the same behavior as Giant Cave Roaches. So... even if you can't tell the sexes apart physically, you SHOULD be able to tell them apart behaviorally (since it is only the males which do the courtship ritual... NOT the females). I am sorry that I couldn't be more help to you. Good luck!

Take care,
Terry

that is a help however I dont think it will solve my problem. I need to sex a couple thousand. I was told to sex death heads look at the last segnment on the females it looks like this ( ) ON MALES ITS THIS (), I looked at a bunch but dont see any difference. I guess I will try looking under magnification.

thanks for your help. you sure are knoledgeable on the subject. are you an entimologist?
-----
Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com
Home of the Florida Orange

Gosh... it sounds like you have your work cut out for you! Hehehe!!!

Anyway, another thing you could do is to closely observe your colony until you catch a male and a female in the act of mating. Then, you can transfer the mating pair into a holding container and take a very close look at them individually. This way you can compare the sexes (under magnification if necessary). This should help. By the way, the females tend to have larger abdomems than the males (since the females are the ones carrying eggs).

To answer your question... no, I am not an entomologist. I am just a hobbyist.

Take care,
Terry

in two years of raising them, I have never seen them mate nor have I ever seen an egg sack as I do with my other roaches. I feel like a peeping Tom.

here's one of my tubs

-----
Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com
Home of the Florida Orange

You have to remain vigilant if you want to catch your Death Heads in the act of mating. This is where persistence and patience comes into play.

A peeping tom? LOL!!!

By the way, thanks for the pic of one of your tanks. WOW!!! It looks like your colony is DEFINITELY thriving!

Take care,
Terry

Wonderful info...I've checked it all out, and learned a lot!

Yes I have them. I've seen other post here where others raise them as well.
They are pretty easy. A little daily protein, carrots or apple slices, heat & moisture sources.

I started with 50-60 2 years ago. I think I have well over 500. It was probably closer to 1000 before I started selling some of them off. I suppose if the conditions are right you shouldn't have much of a problem.
Sometimes I'll hear commotion in the GC tank & if I pop the lid. Several males will flutter out. The can fly upward at a 45 degree angle or more. I think that newly molted females create a since of urgency & competitiveness amongst the males to reproduce. Hence the excitement in the colony. Orange Heads react the same but they don't flutter around like the GC's.

If you flip a GC over they use their wings to flip back upright. Neat to watch them. This is one species that actually uses it's wings.

For vertical space I use a taller tank & put Mulberry branches that are dried, bleached & then drilled with as many large holes as I can get in them. It doubles the surface & gives the nymphs a place to hide. Plus I've never heard anything negative concerning Mulberry trees other than spring time & birds crapping purple everywhere.
Mulberry trees are highly beneficial for many uses. The leaves are great food items for almost anything that eats greens. Fresh bright green leaves are always a fav for roaches, silkworms, crickets & veiled chameleons. With Mulberry leaves you have to watch out for bird droppings. It's safer to keep a bleach water solution available to dip the leaves in. Rinse well & they are ready to feed.

Substraight. I've been using Hog chow, unmedicated chicken mash & pine bedding. For water, chick waterer work great. You can use cotton, paper towels or synthetic sponges to keep the little ones from drowning. Synthetic sponges come 10-12 per package at the Dollar Store, in red, yellow, orange, & blue. I cut them in half then round the bottom edges so they fit the waterer better.
Change these out every time you re-fill the waterer & you won't have a bacteria issue. Don't forget to put some bleach water on the waterer & let it soak for 3 minutes. This kills any harmful residue that remains.
The watersorb crystals will work for water but don't know if they will help with humidity levels like the chic waterer's & synthetic sponges have worked in my tanks.

Sexing? All roaches that are difficult to sex while looking at them from the top. Flip them over. On males the last gap tends to be smaller. A full grown male GC it will be an 1/8 inch or less. The males abdomen will also be flat as viewed from the side. The female as a gap in the last plate about a 1/4 inch & she has thickness. If you look at one from the side, shouldn't have any problem telling it's sex. Younger adult females will be thin from the side so sexing them that way is not always the best way. If they are thin, I turn them over to check the last gap. Pretty much failsafe.

In my Orange Head tank, they tend to congregate on 2 of the egg flats. Now the flats are being squashed by the weight of all the OH's congregating in the one spot. I'll have to double up on the egg flats on that side from now on.

I know this post is late but it should help some of you.

wALDO sLACK