Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last night while making a new bin and transferring some lobster roaches a disaster happened by a stupid mistake of mine and it is possible that some have escaped into the house! I did catch one immediately after and looked in the surrounding areas but did not see anymore. What do I do???

Is there anything I can do? I live in upstate NY and it gets pretty cold here but inside the lizard room is NEVER cold. I have a space heater running all winter long in their. Maybe I could put some roach traps down in the room?

I worry that they will find the house comfy and multiply! UGHHHHHH!!! It wouldnt be hard for them to find water or food in the house with all the animals we have, plus the lizard room always has little scraps of something on the floor, even though its cleaned every other day.

I am soooooooooooooo worried and I dont even know if I have a reason to be worried. For those of you that keep roaches please help! Any advice, experience, comments, help anything would be greatly appreciated. Anyone who breeds and keeps lobster roaches please help!

Thank you, Lindsay
*I feel so dumb, I made the dumbest mistake and now I might have a huge issue on my hands* -sighs-

You were always so helpful, I am hoping you and others will see this post. I am so mad at myself and worried!

Having never bred roaches myself, I can't say for certain but most people would say it shouldn't be a problem due to roaches liking heat...The reptile room may be warm but it may not be warm enough...depending on what you keep the temp at in there.. Not for them to breed very well anyway... If you really have a problem with it... if you have a cat, put it in the room.. They'll hunt down the little buggers *L* My cats hunt down escaped crickets and mealworm beetles.
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Lucien

1.0 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)
2.1 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzard and 1 het Blizzard)
0.1 Savannah Monitor
13 rats
12 Gerbils
2 Dogs
3 cats
1 Albino Corey (fish)

Hi,

I have had lobsters for quite some time and have had escapes too. Never really got an infestation where they multiplied though. I don't think you should worry too much.

They like to hide under things. If you have mats or carpet on the floor, you should check under those. I've thought of using roach traps when I've had escapes too, but I've never needed to, I just ended up finding them and that was it.

Keep us updated as I always wonder whether or not lobsters can become a problem if they escape. And don't let it bother you too much cuz it is a solvable problem.

hth,
Joel Fish

I don't think you have much to worry about. I did use some glue traps with a carrot or dog food to catch some loose lobsters I had, but I was never concerned they would cause me problems. Actually for the one or two lobster I caught there was tons of crickets stuck on them. Of the hundreds of roach species these are not listed as PESTS for a reason. A few escapees are not going to infest your home. With that being said lets do a little review for anybody wanting to read my opinions. I have had reptiles for over half of my life. I have owned over 100 species of snakes, lizards, turtles, and spiders. In this time I have also bred crickets, mealworms, roaches, mice, rats, rabbits, and hamsters as feeders. I still feel that the roaches have been and will continue to be the best food source for my bug eating reptiles. No they are not the perfect feeder, but they are close. There are some things you should know before purchasing them. I will give my personal OPINION and rate the species I have.
Lobsters (Nauphoeta cinerea)
This is a small roach that grow to about the same size as an adult cricket. They can climb glass and just about anything else. There are a few products like bug stop or the traditional vaseline that they cannot climb passed. They are a very fast roach and unless handled very well will escape. They are probably one of the fastest breeding feeder roaches. A colony a few hundred with the proper conditions will explode into the thousands which makes them an attractive feeder bug for people who buy lots of crickets. I would recommend feeding these using snips so they are not running around in your reptiles cage. Personally this roach helped me greatly. Last year when I was hatching out all my baby frilled dragons instead of dealing with pinhead crickets they where eating baby roaches.
Breeding: A
Maintainable(Cage set-up and escaping): D
Cleaning: D
Overall: C

Orange heads (Eublaberus prosticus), Orange spots (Blaptica dubia), Discoids (Blaberus discoidales)
These are medium sized roaches that grow to around two inches. For non-climbers they are good breeders and very easy to keep. Personally I think the orange spots are the best roach. Males have wings and females do not so they are the easiest roach to sex. The orange heads have been known to sometimes be cannibals so the need lots of protein to keep them happy. The males of these species are lighter in weight than the females and have been known to jump or fly 10-20". This is very rare but possible, so as with all roaches I use vented lids on my breeding containers. A high protein dog or cat food along with fruits and veggies makes these all good choices.
Orange heads Orange spots Discoids
Breeding: B B B Maintainable: B B B
Cleaning: A A A
Overall: A- A A-

Death heads (Blaberus craniifer)
These are a larger roaches growing to 3 inches. The are also a non-climbers and I have never seen them fly. They are slower growing and don't breed quite as fast as the other, but make good feeders for larger reptiles.
Breeding: C
Maintainable: A
Cleaning: B
Overall: B

6-spots (Eublaberus distanti)
These are a fun roach. As adult they look very similar to orange heads, but as nymphs they are quite different. As nymphs these look like fat little tanks. They are very heavy bodied will a very shiny exoskeleton. Most lizards are drawn straight to them. I have found them to grow much slower and take almost twice as long to turn into adults as some of my other non-climbers.
Breeding: B
Maintainable: A
Cleaning: B
Overall: B

Some final comments. Most roaches live 1-3 years. They usually take between 3-6 months to go from 1/8" babies to adults. You can easily pick through them and feed them off at whatever sizes you need. I see people on this forum saying the only use mealworms or crickets. I think of all the feeders roaches are something that can solely be feed to your reptiles, but I still recommend variety. They are easy to care for and easy to breed with some heat and food.
James

James, Thank you for again going through this for the roach fans here on the forum. I have just purchases a starter colony of orange spots after having kept my orange heads alive for almost a year. I have read all of your past posts and used them to guide me in selecting my roach species.

I am working with Mountain Horned Dragons, another agamid, who are totally insectivore. The main diet for my adults has been nightcrawlers just because that seems to be what they take the best. They have only taken the common alternatives on occasion, not enough to warrant breeding crickets or superworms. Mealworms have been the easiest feeder to breed for my hatchlings. I have offered a couple of feedings of tiny orange heads and they disappeared in no time so I am anxious to reach a point where I have enough to be able to feed some of the larger roaches to my adults. I am sure they will like them, as they prefer very active prey.

I do have a few simple questions for you. How do you offer the roaches? I have found that a ceramic food bowl works well for supers and crix with back leg removed. Is this a good way to present the roaches too? I am concerned about them climbing out on one of my dragons and taking up residence in the viv. It that very likely?

Also, how do you provide heat? Do you prefer a heat mat or heat lamp? I have just read the Allpet Roaches book and it recommends using a heat light and states that many roaches will bask and thermoregulate like reptiles.

Again, thank you for all of the great roach information that you have shared on the forum. I know that sometimes these replies represent a great deal of though and time. It is appreciated.
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

You guys and gals can email me anytime. james.tuttle@afc.com I think bottom heat is much much better. Here is a little story. I keep all my roaches in bins with heat tape or flex-watt under them. I also had a few containers on-top of old reptile cages placed above the lights in the cage. All of the heat tapes and cages except one where on a timer system with 16 hours on and 8 hours off. My orange head colony was the only one that sat over this lighted cage that was never off. My colony almost double in growth compared to the others with the same amount of roaches. Heat and food are so important if you want to grow these colonies. I put together a quick caresheet for some people who bought roaches from me. I will be glad to email it to anybody.
James

I still cant even believe this happened! You would not believe how it happened either! For 5 months I have been feeding them off by hand and not lost one. Well the other night it was time to move about 2000 or so into a larger bin. I spent a hour making egg flat "condos" for them and cutting and screening the top etc. Anyways after all that my spouse and I went in the room and grabbed the smaller bin and picked up the egg flat shook it off in the new cage and all of a sudden they were swarming up the sides. We were like what the heck! Then I screamed OH [bleep] I forgot the vaseline..........LOL I was freaking out trying to get the top and my spouse was trying to keep them in, all this took place in 10 seconds or less. But a couple had to have managed to escape as I found one a little later under another bin on the floor. I could not believe how STUPID I was. I still cant believe it. I guess I wont make that mistake again!

Anyways, I was thinking of putting a couple traps just to be sure.

Other then that I want to thank you for your reply post. I value your information and experience very much and it makes me feel alot better now after your post.

I am very interested in the non climbing species as well. They just are not as easy to find.

I was wondering if you would mind if I e-mailed you? Its ok if you would rather I not. It is roach related though

I thank everyone for your help and hopefully this doesnt turn into a disaster! LindsayMarie