Reptile & Amphibian Forums

While cleaning Lester's cage yesterday, I inadvertantly discovered that a colony of very small, baby cockroaches are living within the aluminum frames of his cage. It was like a horror movie when I saw them teeming out of a small hole next to his door. From what I can tell, they have no way out of the frames unless the door is open (I hope...).

My question to you is: WHAT DO I DO??? Do I empty out his cage for a few days, take it outside fill the frames with bug killer? Do I try to flush them out with water? Do I do both? Do you have any other idea I'm not considering?

I'm at a complete loss and pretty freaked out that my home will be overrun with roaches. Please save me...
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1.0 Ambanja 8 mos. - LESTER
0.1 Nosy Be 5 mos. - KUBO

I do not suggest bug killer. the residue has a tendency to not wash away.

Perhaps bleach would work? Perhaps filling it with a 50/50 bleach solution and letting it sit?

In the mean time - you could get yourself another cage. I know it is expensive, but that would be the quickest solution. I say this becasue you dont know how long it will take to rid yourself of the roaches. And then once you do rid yourself of them you will have an "extra" cage for a new cham.

I would get it out of your house asap though. It only takes one to get out and spread.
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Adam
Portland, OR

1.1 Jacksons Chameleons (Female is red phase)
0.0.4 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1 Uroplatus Phantasticus

Maybe after flushing you could put the cage in a freezer, submerge the cage in water (i.e. a pool, pond or at the beach), put into a large oven (okay, that was a bad idea! ). Try something that will kill the roaches, but not leave chemicals behind...
Just grasping at straws here, as I've never had this problem (knock on wood). Heck, I might even consider introducing a small gecko or anole, but that would create more problems than it would solve.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Ha ha ha ha! I know how you feel! I haven't had it happen with roaches (I never let them out of my sight until they're in someone's stomach) but I had the same problem with crickets. In those screen cages, down in the corners of the frames, there's holes that need to be sealed up. I wish whoever is making them would realize this problem and fix it so we don't have to. I got some clear calking at a hardware store and just put the tip of the gun in there and shot out as much as I could to make sure the holes were sealed. I did this before I even used the cage (after learning from my first cage). It's not a big deal if you're using large crickets, but small ones dissapear and I was thinking my chameleon was eating like crazy until I put in 20 crickets and watched and they all were gone but he didn't eat any. So what I would do to get rid of the roaches is take the cage apart, take it outside and flush out the hollow frame with water using the same holes the roaches are using. Maybe even over a bucket so they don't escape. The cold temperature outside will also make the roaches want to leave, so leave it out overnight and they'll probably take off. What species roach are they? They'd have to be pretty small. Let it dry good and seal up those corners. I wouldn't use any chemicals on it. Not worth the risk. If the water doesn't get them out, cold air will.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV

that's good to know. I am getting Luna a new cage soon and i will be sure to plug up any frame holes. I think I'll use aquarium sealant b/c it is non-toxix once dry. Other caulking may continue to give off fumes (that we cannot smell). I wouldn't normally have anything that small to feed her and, like you, I don't let a roach out of my sight until eaten! But it is still good to know. maybe we should email the main cage producers and point this out! If they fix it it will be one more selling point for them! LOL!
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles (Jaida, no name)
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - (still no names)

So, the best solution I came up with was as follows:

I went ahead and completely dismantled the cage. I filled a bathtub with hot water and then submerged the flattened cage in a stack. Yep---they came out of the framing! I would guess that I had about 10 small roaches that came out as well as a silverfish (aka "pincher bug". Who knows how many went to their watery grave inside the frame!

Then, I flipped all of the pieces over and re-submerged them. A bunch of bubbles came up meaning that even more water filled the frame. The "flip-over" netted one more live roach that came out.

I left the pieces totally submerged for about 30 minutes while occasionally shaking them to make sure that any air pockets would move around in hopes that any savvy roaches were also killed.

This was brutal. But, I guess for those of us that have aluminum cages it serves as a warning. Make sure that you do everything possible to NOT serve insects small enough to fit in these tiny holes.

I guess I highly recommend this submersion process to anyone who thinks they have a similar problem.

~MP
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1.0 Ambanja 8 mos. - LESTER
0.1 Nosy Be 5 mos. - KUBO

What kind of roaches were these? I always thought that one of the selling points of tropical roaches is that they won't reproduce if they escape.

I have lobster, orange headed and discoid roaches and have had escapes. But because they don't have heat, water and food, they don't reproduce.

just curious, thanks,
Joel Fish

These were the black ones...

I bought the same line about reproducing but after careful consideration, I came to the realization that roaches are the most prolific breeders in the world. I have sworn off them for good...

the way I figure it, if I could keep tropical ones alve in a plastic box with no climactic control, they could surely survive and multiply if they were to escape...likw aht happened with me.
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1.0 Ambanja 8 mos. - LESTER
0.1 Nosy Be 5 mos. - KUBO

Oh man don't say that. I had a female Green Banana roach get out today. When I put down the egg crate after shaking them off, one flew off. It landed, took off & again. Havn't seen it since.

That was in the garage though. So I'm not too worried. I'll get some roach traps just in case.

Ww