feeder roaches ?

[Hannibal]

We currently keep crickets for our geckos and was thinking about doing a roach colony since geckos seem to :wub: them. (I'm allergic to roaches, so precaution will be taken on where/how they are housed.) Will also be doing culture of FF/flies for the mantises I do get here in the near future.

So....I've been doing a lot of :detective: on the different types of Mantises and their food sources. For the most part all the care sheets mention: FF, flies, bees, moths, butterflies and crickets...but none mention roaches. I did a search here for roaches and have found that several members have fed roaches to their mantises. My question is: do all mantises like roaches, only certain species like them, or is it a hit an miss depending on the individual mantis? If it is only certain species, please advise which mantis species like them and which type of roaches you have used as feeders.

Thanks

 

[PhilinYuma]

Mantids like cockroaches, but they usually don't want to enter into a romantic relationship.

This is how it works, Andi. As far as we can tell, the mantis perceives a target moving in front of it. If the object moves into range of its raptorial limbs, it will seize the object and attempt to eat it. It doesn't have to be a flying insect, a creepy crawly insect or even a squishy insect, just a moving object. After that first strike though, if the mantis finds it hard to eat, like some beetles, it will ignore it in future.

The problem with roaches, and sometimes with crix is that they tend to freeze or hide, so that they do not exist so far as the mantis is concerned. Some mantids, particularly if they are starving, will register a moving prey that is out of range and pursue it until they are in striking range. This is particularly true of our Stagmomantis species and many of the larger mantids. Some of the smaller, flower mantids, though, will wait for the prey to come within reach before striking. This means that flies are the most common if not the exclusive prey of these species, not because they are "flying insects' (cockroaches and grasshoppers fly as adults), but because they are the only ones that come in range.

Some people overcome the "problem" by hand feeding their "pets". They are easy to recognize. They are the ones who lean out their cars at Yellowstone Park and feed the bears.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Yes, yes, very good info Phil, tks, but sometimes you can reconize them because their writing hand is no longer there too! :tt2:

 

[Hannibal]

Got it.....become one with the flies and leave the roaches/crickets to the calcium sniffing geckos hunters of the world. Don't want to become one of the shut-ins who's disfigured and can't write anymore.

Thanks for the clarification and Happy New Year. It starting to feel like 'year of the fly eating mantis' to me.

 

[Orin]

Got it.....become one with the flies and leave the roaches/crickets to the calcium sniffing geckos hunters of the world. Don't want to become one of the shut-ins who's disfigured and can't write anymore.

Thanks for the clarification and Happy New Year. It starting to feel like 'year of the fly eating mantis' to me.

Phil doesn't realize that grasshoppers are a main staple of many mantids diets and are far more similar to crickets and roaches than a fly. Empusids supposedly are restricted to flies and moths but you're probably not keeping those. If you keep the mantids in bare cages roaches are spectacular, easy prey items with great nutritional value.

Since mantids and roaches are the closest relatives of each other I'm a little surprised you're allergic to roaches and not mantids.

 

[PeterF]

Andi, I don't think Phil was trying to dissuade you, just making you aware of the possibilities. Roaches are easy to raise, and as you have a use for them (geckos) they could at least be a back up food for the mantids.

Phil is completely right about roaches hiding. As well as his allusion to them being too hard for some mantids (variation based on species of roach and of mantid).

If your mantid cage is clear enough to reduce the hiding, and your feeders well selected for your mantid. It is completely workable. But probably better as a backup and CX as a main feeder.

That said, it may not be worth the trouble to you, especially with the allergy.

And Phil, you are somewhat mistaken. There is no need to lean out of the car when feeding the bears at YellowStone. They will gladly stick their head in the window for a bite of your sandwich.

 

[PeterF]

Since mantids and roaches are the closest relatives of each other I'm a little surprised you're allergic to roaches and not mantids.

I suspect it is an issue of frass, or at least of volume of frass.

 

[warpdrive]

When I ran low on flys I just added a few crickets to a 16 ounce cup and put it inside my exoterras.

My ghosts then crawled down inside the tub and caught one of them and ate it while backing up out of the tub. They each took turns to eat one.

I can't see why this can't be done for dubia too.

If feeding a mantid in a small tub, then just use a scooper that comes with powdered iced tea mix.

Harry

 

[Hannibal]

Since mantids and roaches are the closest relatives of each other I'm a little surprised you're allergic to roaches and not mantids.

I suspect it is an issue of frass, or at least of volume of frass.

I hope I'm not allergic the mantids, guess we will find out soon. When my allergist tested me this past year he tested me for crickets and roaches because he knew I had geckos. I haven't been around a roach yet, so don't know what type of reaction (if any) I might have; but I do have surgical mask/glove here at home to use when handling/cleaning if needed. Then again, maybe the dr's a because he said I was extremely allergic to dogs, yet I have no symptoms around my rottweiler who's a momma's girl.

 

[lancaster1313]

Some roaches excrete an odorous substance, a person could possibly be allergic to that. I think that there are some roach species that don't use that kind of defence.The uninvited roaches, (possibly American cockroaches) that I get in my home now and then, cause my dog to sneeze, gag, and vomit when he sniffs them or gets them in his mouth. They bother him so much that I have seen him gag and shake his head after he tries to catch other insects, (like beetles) that look similar to a roach. :blink: I have had other cats and dogs that would catch and eat the same type of roach with no problems. Perhaps this particular dog is sensitive to the roach's musk, It does have an indescribable smell.

 

[hibiscusmile]

I do find that the roach frass is diff than most of my mantis, theirs is not hard little balls, but more like soil, could be all the diff in allergies, and they do seem to make more frass than mantis.

haha, to sticking head in car! gotta there Phil...

Oh, the ab ove post made me think of the water bowls I got from the web, they have a lid with an open ring, I am thinking the roaches may not get out of them like the worms can't, but havent tried it yet to see, interesting!

 

[Katnapper]

I like keeping B. dubia roaches as a "back up" food source for larger mantids. If I run low or out of their regular food sources for some reason, they are good insurance to have available to cut up and hand feed. This has worked best for me with larger sized, more agressive species of mantids... like T. sinensis or Rhombodera sp., who will usually take to hand feeding fairly easily, and who require larger prey items (or pieces of prey items).