Finally got my hands on some of these and I'd like to ask you guys the benefits of these roaches over crickets. I'm really interested to know about their nutritional value, their lifespan, how easy it is to breed them, etc. I never liked roaches but strangely I find these roaches beautiful. If my wife finds out about them, I'm gonna be so dead though.
Blatta Lateralis
- Thread starter sufistic
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I don't have this species of roaches, but rather Blaptica dubia.
Pros over crickets:
They don't climb or jump... don't escape out of an open lid Rubbermaid tub
They don't stink as bad as crickets
The "creep" factor.... I actually don't mind handling them or touching them as much as crickets.
I'm not sure which is more nutritious, but it seems people don't blame mantis deaths on roaches as food like some do blame crickets.
They have much longer lifespans, and if you have a colony producing you will likely have whatever size you need for different sizes of mantids.
Easier to catch
Cons of roaches versus crickets:
They like to burrow and hide more and are not as accessible to the mantids
They don't jump around and attract as much attention
Pros over crickets:
They don't climb or jump... don't escape out of an open lid Rubbermaid tub
They don't stink as bad as crickets
The "creep" factor.... I actually don't mind handling them or touching them as much as crickets.
I'm not sure which is more nutritious, but it seems people don't blame mantis deaths on roaches as food like some do blame crickets.
They have much longer lifespans, and if you have a colony producing you will likely have whatever size you need for different sizes of mantids.
Easier to catch
Cons of roaches versus crickets:
They like to burrow and hide more and are not as accessible to the mantids
They don't jump around and attract as much attention
+1Also, the roach might be a better food but it is really what you feed your feeders that count. While female does not climb glass, male has long wings and able to flutter high enough to escape. Although they breed slower than lobster roach, my mantis loves it and handfeed them to the mantis is no problem. Good luck hiding them from your 'boss' Shaik
PhilinYuma
Well-known member
Ha ha! When I saw yr request for info on Blatta lateralis, I didn't post anything because I reckoned that lots of people would want to extol these GREAT roaches, which are easily my favorite. But it turns out that my friend Katt was the only one to post, and she doesn't keep them (wrote that before seeing Yen's).
This is a nice looking cockroach that lays egg cases, making harvesting of the nice little (about 3mm) nymphs easier than with livebearers.
Maintenance is made easier by the fact that they can't climb glass or shiny plastic. I have never claimed that a few of my roaches don't escape, and since they thrive in low humidity (they were introduced into the States in the 70's, I think, and live happily along the SW US border) I was afraid that they might colonize in my apt and become a pest. I checked this out a year or so ago, and the expert moderator at Allpet said that he had never heard of them achieving pest status, and my experience tends to support that. (One day, Orin, I'm gonna bill you!).
Optimal temps seem to be around 80F-85F, though they can tolerate temps as high as 115F and as low as 70F
Higher temps wil cause them to breed faster, and so does plenty of food. Forget the "toss in something a few times a week" school of husbandry if you want maximum growth, Scatter the food around, make sure that they are never out of it. Rick's and my old favorite, bok choy, should be readily available for you, but I use a lot of sliced grapefruit because they are a good source of moisture and I can pick them up free around here(!) "Gut loading" isn't an issue if you are feeding them to mantids, but they will take dog and cat food, and there's no need to crush it. (And I just read Yen's post, and since he is on my short "never contradict" list with Rebecca and a cuppla others, I will just say that he may have some special food that I dont. They are also very easy to dust with pollen or Yen's mix).
Size ranges from about 3mm for the newly hatched nymphs (somewhere around 20-30 eggs per ooth so far as I can tell,) and in captivity they will grow to about 4cm, though they tend to be scrawnier in the desert. I haven't kept them for long enough to have much info on lifespan but depending on all the usual suspects like food and temperature and whether or not you sing to them at bedtime, they will live somewhere between one and two years. One thing that I enjoy about them is that they grow much more slowly than crix that double their weight every week in captivity.
Oh yeah. Some folks keep them in 10-20gal tanks, but like Rick, I prefer Rubbermaid containers, and I think that they have a factory in Singapore, don't they? I've seen what happens when a tank full of fish breaks, and I'd hate to see one go with a thousand roaches in it.
Roach keepers usually sift out the size of roach they want by passing them through 5gallon buckets with holes bored in the bottom (though YEMV).. Use the same size holes any given bucket, but stack them with the smallest holes in the next to bottom one. I have done this and found it very irritating (often, the roaches do not understand the principle of nested sieves). So in the new year, I am going to harvest egg cases and keep nymphs of all about the same size in about three smallller enclosures so that I can quickly suck out the size I need with my famous "vacuum harvester."
You will also find that they produce a great amount of "frass," so after a while you will need to reserve a holding container when you clean out the living quarters every few months.
So there you go. These are my favorite roaches for everything but the largest mantids. They look pretty and mine, at any rate, don't smell bad.
You asked for a pro and con list, but you already have two good ones (did one of them mention that these will almost never disturb a molting mantis?), so you'll have to put up with one of my infamous "essays" instead. No extra charge.
(wrote that before seeing Yen's).This is a nice looking cockroach that lays egg cases, making harvesting of the nice little (about 3mm) nymphs easier than with livebearers.
Maintenance is made easier by the fact that they can't climb glass or shiny plastic. I have never claimed that a few of my roaches don't escape, and since they thrive in low humidity (they were introduced into the States in the 70's, I think, and live happily along the SW US border) I was afraid that they might colonize in my apt and become a pest. I checked this out a year or so ago, and the expert moderator at Allpet said that he had never heard of them achieving pest status, and my experience tends to support that. (One day, Orin, I'm gonna bill you!).
Optimal temps seem to be around 80F-85F, though they can tolerate temps as high as 115F and as low as 70F
Higher temps wil cause them to breed faster, and so does plenty of food. Forget the "toss in something a few times a week" school of husbandry if you want maximum growth, Scatter the food around, make sure that they are never out of it. Rick's and my old favorite, bok choy, should be readily available for you, but I use a lot of sliced grapefruit because they are a good source of moisture and I can pick them up free around here(!) "Gut loading" isn't an issue if you are feeding them to mantids, but they will take dog and cat food, and there's no need to crush it. (And I just read Yen's post, and since he is on my short "never contradict" list with Rebecca and a cuppla others, I will just say that he may have some special food that I dont. They are also very easy to dust with pollen or Yen's mix).
Size ranges from about 3mm for the newly hatched nymphs (somewhere around 20-30 eggs per ooth so far as I can tell,) and in captivity they will grow to about 4cm, though they tend to be scrawnier in the desert. I haven't kept them for long enough to have much info on lifespan but depending on all the usual suspects like food and temperature and whether or not you sing to them at bedtime, they will live somewhere between one and two years. One thing that I enjoy about them is that they grow much more slowly than crix that double their weight every week in captivity.
Oh yeah. Some folks keep them in 10-20gal tanks, but like Rick, I prefer Rubbermaid containers, and I think that they have a factory in Singapore, don't they? I've seen what happens when a tank full of fish breaks, and I'd hate to see one go with a thousand roaches in it.
Roach keepers usually sift out the size of roach they want by passing them through 5gallon buckets with holes bored in the bottom (though YEMV).. Use the same size holes any given bucket, but stack them with the smallest holes in the next to bottom one. I have done this and found it very irritating (often, the roaches do not understand the principle of nested sieves). So in the new year, I am going to harvest egg cases and keep nymphs of all about the same size in about three smallller enclosures so that I can quickly suck out the size I need with my famous "vacuum harvester."
You will also find that they produce a great amount of "frass," so after a while you will need to reserve a holding container when you clean out the living quarters every few months.
So there you go. These are my favorite roaches for everything but the largest mantids. They look pretty and mine, at any rate, don't smell bad.
You asked for a pro and con list, but you already have two good ones (did one of them mention that these will almost never disturb a molting mantis?), so you'll have to put up with one of my infamous "essays" instead. No extra charge.
revmdn
Well-known member
I rather enjoy your essays Phil. I want to do the roach thing but there is no way the gf will let it happen.
WHAT DOES GF STAND FOR MARTIN? and haha, wifes must just know they are beatles! thats what I was told to say
ps, Kat I havent held one yet, just babies, do they grab and hang on with their feet? they look like they will and that will freak me out! In other words, I don't wanna fling them across the room while peeing myself :lol:
Well, they do kind of grab on a little bit, but not real hard or creepy actually. They just sort of either sit there or walk around on your hand... just like mantids do, and their grip kind of feels like that too. But they're easy to brush off. Try it!!ps, Kat I havent held one yet, just babies, do they grab and hang on with their feet? they look like they will and that will freak me out! In other words, I don't wanna fling them across the room while peeing myself :lol:
PhilinYuma
Well-known member
Not sure what Martin means, but for me, gf = goldfish. Some goldfish can be very possessive.
I'll trust u a little Kat, but they really look like they can hang on for dear life, or is that the superworm beetles? They do hang on to the screen or carrots and wont let go, I find myself looking for the plyers whenever I open the cage....btw, love your Christmas decorations!
jebbewocky
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For what it's worth--as a person who doesn't have mantids, but rather, tarantulas---with lateralis you have no worry of them burrowing.
They don't burrow, at least not in my T cages.
They can climb, but aren't great at it (no plastic/glass really), so they should be ideal for your mantids.
They don't burrow, at least not in my T cages.
They can climb, but aren't great at it (no plastic/glass really), so they should be ideal for your mantids.
Thanks jebbewocky! I'm liking them so much I'm gonna start a colony. My wife will freak if she discovers them.
