Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 10+ Blaptica dubia arrived today and finally set them up in their new home. I am still a bit squirmy about handling them, but should get more comfortable with time. Now I need to have them breeding to increase their numbers so later I can use them as feeders.

My question is, is my cage okay for now? I plan to upgrade them to a larger container this weekend when I can go shopping for one. The lid doesn't have holes that they can squeeze through incase they can climb hard water build-up which I couldn't wash off it. The weather here in Southern CA has gotten warm, so I will just use a heat pad at night on one side to keep them warm. I used aspen bedding and egg crates cut up for hiding. The big block food in their cage is monkey chow that they came with that their breeder feed them. The black dish is their water. I haven't any carrots yet or any other vege until tomarrow. Is there anything I should improve other than cage size?

I have more pictures of close-up shots in the link below. Click it to see them. The page may take a little time to load, but the pictures are good.

More Pictures of my Roaches

HOw many roaches did you get again? I would say your off to a good start, as long as you kick up the size of the cage to a 22 - 40 gallon tank. I would suggest a rubbermaid tote. THey are opaque, so noone will get wierded out by them, and they are cheap. You will need more egg flats, try to cover half the cage with them. you want as many "territories" for the males as you can get, so the females are turned on. I am not big on flyin roaches, and im not sure if those guys are climbers. If they are, the top on a tote wont keep them in. THey are escape artists. vasoline will keep them in, but youll still ned the top since they are flyers.

Other than that, you should be set. I recomend no water dish because babies will drown. Applesause works great as a moisture source, and they really like it. also, just plain apples and melons work well. Cat/dog food for protein, because fishfood is just too expensive to feed them. They LOVE fishfood thou.

Later

I got 4 males, 7 females, and 3 juvies. These roaches can't climb smooth surfaces, but I assume males may have ability to fly since they have wings but doesn't seem to use it. Always better safe than sorry so I will always have a lid on their cage.

I put a heat pad on the back of their cage and one below half the bottom. It seemed they stayed in the area the 2 pads heated up in the back corner area last night. So I think I need to switch to a heat lamp when I get a bigger tub for them.

I have 5 more egg flats I can use when I get a bigger cage. In my house, we eat so many eggs that I can get 2-4 egg flats a week. I toss any that had shells stuck, soiled with yolk, etc.

The guy I got the roaches from suggested I make the substrate thicker, so I will be doing that too with the next cage. He also said they loved banana, so I will buy them that this weekend.

I would switch to pine shavings. A dark rubbermaid works the best and for the number of roaches you have plenty of egg crates. Keep the heat on the bottom, the light will only slow breeding. Almost all of these non-climbers have wings, but they CANNOT fly. Pick any of them up and drop it. Their wings will move, but they will still drop like a rock. This species is cool because the femailes do not have wings which makes it easy to tell them apart. Bananas are good, but they go bad fast and are messy. Stick with oranges, apples, baby carrots, and the dry food. You can wet their dry food on a dish for added moisture. Here come the babies!!!!!!!!!!!1111
James