Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently changed the oatmeal substrate for my Orange Head roaches and YUCK.

Do i NEED a substrate? I have lots of little nooks and crannies with pieces of corrugated boxes and egg crates.

Is a smooth rubbermaid bin that bad?

I just got 100 Orange heads and 25 Discoids last week. I use aspen bedding and they seem to like it. I do have toilet paper rolls also.
They burrow under and i never see them except when i change food or mist.
The pick is of the Discoids when i first put them in.
As i write this waiting for the heat tape to arrive ( no knock yet lol)..

What kind of food is that there? It looks like brown sugar! lol

Also, are you worried that any babies will have trouble climbing into that dish with the carrots and oranges? I think those little ones are pretty small.

As far as the substrate, i thought i heard James Tu say it was optional

You dont HAVE to use substrate. I personally use pine shavings at this time and have thought about trying no substrate but I am just not sure I would like that either. I only have lobsters and my experience is that the nymphs really LOVE the substrate to burrow in. Seeing as lobsters breed so fast they could quickly outgrow a bin that didnt have burrowing ability.

I would not use oatmeal. In my experience it soils quickly and smells horrible when it does. YUCKY!

Here are a couple pics of my lobsters.

Large bin and LOTS roaches

Medium bin and few roaches

GOODLUCK! Lindsay

James does what works for him and lobsters from what i hear could breed and be happy in acid lol.
Substrate or no substrate is up to the owner. I use it as it has to be more comfortable than none. My aim is for the Discoids to reproduce as i only ordered 25 of them, and in my opinion it should help.
The stuff your probably refering to in the pic is spagnum moss from the shipping container. Easier to dump it in than to sort roaches.
I added cat food which is on the side of the container for young in my orange head container. What you can't see is the aspen comes up to the lip of container so they can get in..

As for the roaches pictured, those discoids are adults.

Hey there,

For all of my roaches, I use aspen bedding, to give the tiny nymphs a place to hide, as they seem to get bullied around for the main hidespots in the egg crates. I think by having bedding down, you won't have to change/clean their container as frequently. Don't get me wrong; I've used substrate and have neglected to incorporate substrate, and I honestly did not see any difference in reproductive rate, mortality rate, etc. As long as you heet them and feed them, they'll multiply at an alarming rate.

A couple months back, I acquired a group of guyanan spotted roaches (Blaptica dubia). I am very impressed with how these guys are doing for me. They are poppin out nymphs every night. But one of the best things about these guys is that only adult males have wings, which makes it easier to sex them, when it comes to feeding out. I am able to feed out all of the excess males, without diminishing my female population. I totally recommend these guys, if you can find some...Take care,

bob

geocities.com/odatriad

>>I recently changed the oatmeal substrate for my Orange Head roaches and YUCK.
>>
>>Do i NEED a substrate? I have lots of little nooks and crannies with pieces of corrugated boxes and egg crates.
>>
>>Is a smooth rubbermaid bin that bad?

I don't recommend any time of food as substrate since this can lead to mold and unpleasant smells when trying to raise humidity. I like using a thin layer of aspen on the bottom for the babies to hide in, but also provide ample hiding in egg crates. You can go the no substrate route, but you will have to clean more often and it is harder to raise humidity without creating water puddles on the bottom of the cage. It all comes down to what works best for you. I keep dubia and discoids and I have yet to clean their cage in months.
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~ Juli ~
www.Polliwog-Design.com