Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My friend just ordered hisser roaches from a company that was supposed to be reliable, and what we found was absolutely nasty, and makes me thank God none got fed to my dragons that's for sure!!! We where unpacking his shipment and one roach escaped and made it's way across the kitchen floor to get stepped on by his younger sister who freaked. On inspection of this adult hisser we saw what looked like spaghetti crawling around from the stomache/intestens of the roaches, and you guess it with my vets diagnosis full grown round worms, and oh my God they were nasty looking and much bigger then I ever expected. The size of cut up angel hair pasta. This sucks big time as we both chipped in to hopefully get a nice established feeder colony. No way will I feed these to my dragons that's for sure, and will never use a roach again. Not sure I can name the place without getting this post removed, but I feel this must be known for all you guys now feeding these as part of the beardies diets...break one open and take a look inside. From what my vet said roaches are very susceptible to parasites like roundworm. Be very weary of who you purchase from.
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Webshots photos
www.Mystical-Dragons.com

Mystical,
I was wondering if you picked any of them up and took them to the vet or just called, b/c Roaches and most insects have respiratory structures called malpigian tubules. They are described in textbooks as Angel hair pasta and when you open up an insect they glisten and move. But if they were squiggling then yeah for sure not malpigian tubules.
Randy
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AlphaDragonZ
Coming Soon!!!
www.AlphaDragonZ.com

No these I acctually picked up and brought them to my vet/friend here in NJ, and yes he said no doubt they were adult roundworms in the roaches that I split $25 each with a buddy of mine plus shipping to start a coloney. ust wondering if you do use roches who is trustworthy with clean feeders. My fet actually told me that roaches are notoriouse for harboring intestinal parasites!!!!. Makes me wonder where everyone else is buying theirs?? I purchased these as an end of summer special wgere I could buy a nice number of adults to nymphs, and yes I got ripped cause I would never feed them to my dragons that for sure, and I thank God I did not give into my erges to try them out on my beardies the same day we bought them. If you know any trustworthy places that sell clean roaches let me know, but I tink from now on I'll be real weary of were they came from thats for sure.
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Webshots photos
www.Mystical-Dragons.com

I got my colonies started from Richie the Roachman. He has the widest variety I have ever found.
www.angelfire.com/wy/roaches/
you can also go to the roach forum (yes KS has a roach forum) and see who is there as well as post questions of reputation.

heres one of my Death Head colonies having a snack

.

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Bennett

Home Of The Florida Orange
www.beardiedragon.com

Wow,
What a bummer. Yeah Flies, Mosquitoes, and Roaches are number 1,2, and 3 as far as disease carrying vectors. Nasty little animals aren't they? Is this a big company or little company b/c I woul like to aviod them all together?

Babies look good!!
-Randy
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AlphaDragonZ
Coming Soon!!!
www.AlphaDragonZ.com

Roaches are not generally dirty like people think. Actually out of all the different types of roaches (5000), only 30 of them are considered dirty vermin and are likely to carry disease.
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Bennett

Home Of The Florida Orange
www.beardiedragon.com

Well very true but they still as a Genus are the number three vector borne disease carriers. If you pick up a Medical Parasitology book (like I unfortunately was forced to do in my curriculum) you will see that they are a mechanical vector of many many diseases. So they don't actually have to be infected with the org they can carry it in the legs and on their bodies.
-Randy
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AlphaDragonZ
Coming Soon!!!
www.AlphaDragonZ.com

I don’t think that is true. I am not doubting the book says it, I am doubting the veracity of the book. I have several books on the subject (sadly no time to read them through completely). What book is this from and what is the copyright date. The 30 or so types of roaches I mentioned are the ones that constitute the collection of nasties you refer to. I don’t see how they can condemn an entire genus based on that. species yes, but not the genus. only .6% are considdered "dirty"

Mosquitoes and flies pass on a wide array of nasties too. Mosquitoes, directly into the blood and flies, by regurgitating their food while they eat thereby depositing germs and bacteria on the food source.

as to carrying harmful bacteria or other organisms on the outside of their body, I don’t see any difference between roaches and crix or any other creepy crawlies that eat feces and garbage and have barbs on their legs catching all sorts of nasties. The question also begs to be asked, what of those nasties can be passed on to BDs or humans or other animals. There are parasites and bacteria that are genus or family specific.
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Bennett

Home Of The Florida Orange
www.beardiedragon.com

Hello Bennett,
The Medical Parisitology book that I speak of is called "Medical Parisitology" 8th edition by Markell, Voge, John. Mystical is right on and what his vet told him is true it has to do with the fact that roaches will eat almost anything. I also took 2 Entemology courses in college and they all were in agreement on the Roach issue. I am not saying they are all bad for example American roaches are less likely to carry disease b/c they are not in contact with humans as much as say German roaches. The difference between crickets and Roaches is that roaches thrive and live in closer proximity to humans and crickets for the most part have a more natural lifecycle. You are more likely to find roaches around trash and waste then Crickets...right? I am not sure what you mean by "dirty" but as far as vectors (disease carrying orgs) the are right on the top of the list. Yes I think that Roaches do get a bad wrap but from a parasitologist's view the ones that cause disease are the only onesof importance. Maybe from an entemologist point of view they are nice insects that are prevalent all over the earth.

If you have an established colony and they have not been runnning around loose, than you have total control of what they eat so no they are not going to be carrying disease most likely. Hissing roaches came from Madagascar originally and that is the perfect environment for parasites. Parasites have had a long time to evolve to infect(and catch rides)these guys and are very good at it.

As Far as flies go you are right also about regurgitation but they too are also great mechanical vectors b/c they land on feces which are contaminated and then carry ova,spores,worms, vegatative protozoa to a person.

I just thought I would post on this b/c I have a some background in the matter. So I am just trying to give some insight and possibilities. I am research scientist(microbiologist) so I had to learn about all of these nasties, but I have no experience with feeding them to Beardies.

Thanks for the good conversation,
Randy
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AlphaDragonZ
Coming Soon!!!
www.AlphaDragonZ.com

After My buddy and I made a stink over finding the roundworms in our new batch of roaches the company told us that they were being supplied by a larger roach distributor. After pushing to try and find out who this larger "reliable" counterpart was they stopped referencing them, and claimed they would handle it themselves, and reimburse our money, and shipping expenses, and never deal with the other company again....

The vet I use said roaches are notorious for carrying such parasites due to the foods they would consume if given the chance that carry these parasites. Also from the countries in which thy come from. So I'm done with roaches that's for sure. I gave it a try cause I hear all the great things and how easy it is to start a colony, but I think I'll stick to my crickets, silkworms, and supers. With them I never pulled out a huge worm and watched it wiggle across the kitchen floor... YUCK, gross !!!

If I ever see another ad from these people I'll be sure to let you know, because roundworms in our beardies would be devastating. I guess I'm lucky they got shipped to his house cause I know myself to well.... I would have fed them to the beardies as I opened the box. Thank God we discovered this before any roaches made it into the cages.
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Webshots photos
www.Mystical-Dragons.com

From what I know,
Feeder roaches are not imported.
They are generally fed the same or similar foods as crix.
I have never had this problem in 5 years of breeding roaches.
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Bennett

Home Of The Florida Orange
www.beardiedragon.com