Roaches as food

[leah]

Made an interesting observation while feeding my lizards lobster roaches- my Taricha LOVE them... Tossed a couple small nymphs in the water and they didnt last 3 seconds, they sat there and ate several, each... Makes feeding a little easier when they take a liking to a food source that I have hundreds of thousands of on hand... Plus roaches will eat anything, so your gutloading possibilities are endless..

Why is the food forum closed?

 

[jennifer]

That is interesting. I have been wondering if newts would eat roaches, but so far I haven't taken the plunge into trying to culture roaches.

How difficult is it to select out very small roach nymphs? (In other words is there a way to get small ones w/o picking them out one-by-one?) If there is an easy way, then roaches might be a food option I would consider for small terrestrial newts (which are a pain to figure out how to feed).

The food forum isn't closed. You just need to click on one of the sub-forums within the food forum to post a message. Maybe some kind mod will move this thread over there.

 

[jarid]

I will give it a try. I've been meaning to, but haven't had many newts to feed in quite some time. Jen, lobster roaches produce really quickly, and since you will probably only need the small nymphs as feeders for the newts you will have a pretty steady supply with an established colony. The only problem with lobster roaches though is that they climb glass... very well. I would probably set up another container with a rim of vaseline/bug stop to use as a collecting chamber. Take the egg crate pieces out of the colonies and knock all the roaches into the container. Then just put all the adults you knock in back into the colony. I've noticed that small nymphs usually pick depressions in the egg crate and stick together in groups.

 

[joseph]

Suppose you put a screen of sorts into the enclosure and when you need nymphs lift the screen box up and then shake the nymphs out of hiding? Perhaps feces and then young nymphs would go through leaving the adults safe.

Dunno if this makes sense. Also, perhaps providing hiding places small enough so that only the nymphs could go in would also work.

 

[foster]

I had good success breeding lobster roaches. My problem was that they bred too well and the herps that I have generally only liked the nymphs. I had nothing to do with the hundreds (and I mean hundreds) of adults so I finally got rid of the whole colony. I maintain a colony of wood roaches now (a local species). They slow down reproduction in the winter but I always have plenty to use. In addition, they are smaller and soft bodied and most everything (Tylo's, and various lizards) seems to relish them.
Chip

 

[leah]

The screen idea wouldnt work, lobster roaches cling to everything and they wouldnt fall thru, they would cling to the screen and one another. I have found they cant climb a deli cup if you put calcium powder in it, and swirl it on the sides. SHake a few roaches into the cup, pick out the adults and there you have it

The only problem I have noticed is the roaches will grab onto the newts when they can and run all over them trying to get out of the water, the newts seem irritated by it, but no other problems. The bug stop would be absolutely necessary to put on your tanks if you were feeding terrestrial species, or you'd have roaches everywhere.

We keep 13 species (I think) in culture all the time, including species that dont climb, and it works out pretty well to combat climbing, but I havent tried anything but lobsters with the newts yet.

We literally have hundreds of thousands of lobsters, they will reproduce in mass quantity, however, if you keep them under 80 degrees they will not reproduce.

-L

 

[nicholas]

Scary, a roach infestation would not be good. Do these roach species have potential to cause problems?