# I got roachies!



## JoeCapricorn (Feb 18, 2010)

Ever since Nectarine passed, a hole formed that needed to be filled. That hole hasn't been filled, but it sure is close... I got six Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches today and they are inhabiting Nectarine's old cage. I still have a reason to go out and get Spring Mix every now and then, which I also feed to the crickets.

My mom hates these fellas though, but right now she doesn't know about them. I don't intend on divulging this secret any time soon.

I had one of these before, named Shadow, he lived for five days in my care. I have no idea what offed him, but I have some theories as to what that might've been. All of those theories, do not exist in the new colony's container (Orange cube cricket chow, Cheez-It crackers) instead I'm rearing them on organic spring mix. I also have organic carrots, which I will be giving to them shortly.

Since I have both male and female roachies, it is possible I might have roachlets in the future. I set it up so it would be a colony. What is the ideal temperature for them to breed? Right now it is 70.


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 18, 2010)

I am by means no expert, but they do need hotter temps, I have a roach booklet I got from Peter at bugsincyberspace... notice if I cannot say that here, please remove it. They need 80 or above and seem to like moisture. Also u can give them some ground up dog food, they like that, along with some fish flakes if u have them, they do not like veggies as sole food. Also they like a bit of orange , apple, banana, u get the idea!


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## PhilinYuma (Feb 18, 2010)

Joe: It's always a pleasure to answer, or try to answer, your queries, but do bear in mind that you can find care sheets on a large variety of insects if you let Google be your friend.

That said, there are several species of roach called "hissers" but you are almost certainly referring to the commonest, the humongous Gromphadorrhina portentosa, which means the "monstrous/hideous sow nose" (and I have no idea of how to get out of these damned italics --ah, guess I did!), like Odysseus's crew after Circe got at them. I find them a bit large, and their tegumen a bit tough for mantids. A way round this is to maximize the temp and humidity (85-90F/85+%RH) som that the males grow quickly and in crowded conditions so that they mature at about 2"

The usual stats for roaches: The are wingless, give birth to live young, semi odorless but hiss when scared, can climb glass, and eat all the usual fruits and vegies plus dog/cat food. Using organic food may make a difference for you, but not for the roaches!

Your roach Shadow died because of its name. Think about it. "Putrescence" and Door nail" are also bad names.

Tell your mother that you have "Soft nosed snuggle bugs" and that they are distantly related to lady bugs, and good luck.


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## JoeCapricorn (Feb 18, 2010)

PhilinYuma said:


> Joe: It's always a pleasure to answer, or try to answer, your queries.....I find them a bit large, and their tegumen a bit tough for mantids.....Using organic food may make a difference for you, but not for the roaches!


lol! I just have a habit of asking questions.

I only intend on feeding roaches to my mantises if I get a lot of nymphs and when they are quite small and fresh... if need be I wait until they just molt, before their exoskeleton hardens. But if they get too big, of course they will be spared :3

I find them to be quite adorable...

Also, pesticides on salads exist in high quantities even if they were rinsed and even if they are rinsed at home (which here, considering our chemical-warfare like tapwater, doesn't do much good). I use organic because I also feed the stuff to my crickets, which are fed to my mantises, which I do care if they absorb pesticides - which I don't want them to.

I even thought of names for at least two of them... Azazel and Autumn, both of them female. I think I'll just name the other four males Zach to poke fun at a friend of mine named Zach. That way I can say to him, "I didn't just name one cockroach after you, I named FOUR of them after you!"


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## ZoeRipper (Feb 19, 2010)

I like Phil's idea of calling them "soft-nosed snuggle bugs, distantly related to ladybugs". It puts a smile on my face, even though roaches horrify me.


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 19, 2010)

Aw! You should see the little ones hiding under their food, looks like an earthquake happened!


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## PhilinYuma (Feb 19, 2010)

JoeCapricorn said:


> lol! I just have a habit of asking questions.
> 
> I only intend on feeding roaches to my mantises if I get a lot of nymphs and when they are quite small and fresh... if need be I wait until they just molt, before their exoskeleton hardens. But if they get too big, of course they will be spared :3
> 
> ...


Ha, Joe! You are determined to confound us with your critters' names, aren't you? I was originally going to take you up on the chemically contaminated food thing and talk about the null hypothesis, seriously boring stuff, but then, on rereading, I saw that you have named one of your females, Azazel!!  

Where did you come across this amazing and venerable name? Certainly not from the same sources where I found it (originally when studying a passage from Swift, decades ago)! Azazal turns up in Genesis and Leviticus16 8 &amp;10, where the Catholic (_New American_) bible uses Azazel and a Protestant one uses "scapegoat" and gives the Hebrew, "_azazel_" in the margin. You will have most fun with this guy, though, in 1 Enoch, which I guess most Christians are not allowed to read except for the Ethiopian Orthodox (and don't they also have the True Ark?). Like most Christian stuff, it is subject to many interpretations, but my favorite is that the name is a conflation of Uza and Azael, two of the naughty angels who had sex with human women and produced the Nephilim. But if you stick with the King James and most Protestant versions, I think, you are faced with the fact that you have named one of your roaches after a "scapegoat", born to be sacrificed!

Next time, we can talk about the various Jewish and Christian prophets and saints named Zechariah or Zachary, who were killed/martyred in the name of their god, but this should do for now!


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 19, 2010)

Good Lord Phil where do u get all this knowledge?


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## PhilinYuma (Feb 19, 2010)

hibiscusmile said:


> Good Lord Phil where do u get all this knowledge?


Guess I just don't get out enough, Rebecca!


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 19, 2010)

I dont either and I don't know what u do! You are a wealth of info, I can't remember half of what I have learned and you never seem to stop. Guess some people soak up more input than others!


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## JoeCapricorn (Feb 20, 2010)

I gave Azazël her name because it's awesome! Also because Baphomet is already name of one of my mantises. Also, goat-demons are metal. Totally metal. There is a black metal band playing in my hometown called Kult ov Azazel.


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## Tomato (Jul 23, 2010)

I fully agree that goat demons are metal. PhilinYuma is correct on the biblical meaning of "Azazel." The word is actually used in modern Hebrew to mean "h e l l," not so much as a place per se, but as an expletive (such as "aw, to h e l l with it!") and as such, it is about as commonly used in everyday speech by Israelis as American English speakers might say "oh, f***!"

-Tomato


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