Blatta Lateralis

hey long time no post anyways, today at the reptile super show in Pomona, i picked up some Blatta lateralis from a guy on Tortoiseforums. i was wondering if they could be kept succesfully in a large cricket keeper, which i keep my crickets in right now (they would not be in there with the crickets). would they get diseases or parasites from the crickets waste? and also i wanted to ask, are they cannibalistic? AND on last question, can i gutload them on cricket crack and water crystals? thanks everybody

Here is what I would do....Get those roaches out of your house. No joke! They can easily infest, they are extremely fast and can survive deep freezes for long periods of time. Go with B. dubia, they are a much safer species to use. They work great for feeders because they can reproduce extremly fast, but that is also bad if a couple escape into your house.

Cricket Crack might have too much calcium in it since I know they fortify other cricket foods with calcium and too much calcium is bad for roaches. I use something called Roach Roast for my lobster roaches and they're doing great. I buy it from Mantis Place. Water crystals would be fine as long as they're not the ones with calcium added. I don't know how many roaches you bought, so I don't know whether it would be big enough or not. I've heard dubias can be cannibalistic if they don't get enough food, so lateralis might be the same.

Here is a link for the Roach Roast.
http://www.mantisplace.com/feederinsects.html#Roach-Roast

I will agree with kilgour. You must be very careful with this roach. They don't climb plastic or glass but you cannot control what happens to them once in a chameleon cage unless you watch each and every one eaten. They are nearly impossible to get rid of if they ever get out. I have battled them for years now and am only comfortable in that I am killing them constantly in my basement and the number of sightings gets less as the months go by. They have not managed to get upstairs to the living levels of my house
( or so I think, I've never seen any) but the possibility is unnerving. I will not deal with this roach at all until the day I am on a farm and they are in a barn a couple of acres away from my house.

They are pretty and surely nutritious but there are other roach options, as one mentioned dubia, so know the pitfalls before you plunge.

Never had a problem feeding high calcium foods to my roaches. Feed them the same thing as my crickets and supers. I like my lateralis. If you're worried, put them in in their own tub, then put them in another tub that has a Vaseline barrier AND a packaging tape barrier. I did that and kept them outside for a while. No escapes so far! I always crush their heads before I feed them though so if any get out, they die after a few weeks.

I am way too squirmy to deal with Turkistan Roaches. They are very fast.. eventhough they are non climbers, any dirt/ calcified water spot stick to the surface of the glass can be used as a leverage by the little ones .

So, remember to use packing tape as a security. These roaches WILL survive in California climate.

ok thanks, and i kinda just wanna try them as feeders and then see if i need to get rid of them or not

Just jumping on the "be careful" bandwagon.

I've got these running loose in the yard and in the storage room of my lizard building after trying some for a few months a few years ago.

Last winter we had several weeks straight with snow on the ground. Spring came and these guys were still to be found beneath boards and rocks and things. When snow was still on the ground I flipped a board over and found some moving slowly.

The storage room in my building gets cold in winter sometimes too.

I would *never* *ever* bring these into my actual home. I have very little doubt that they could establish in most homes in most of the country.

If you don't need a ton of roaches, dubia are much much safer. If you need tons of roaches, lobsters are more "risky" than dubias, but are still much safer than lateralis. Personally, I will only allow dubia in my home as feeders. The lobsters remain in the lizard building. I have hissers as well. Only the dubia come inside the house for the few animals we keep there rather than the out-building.

CHAMaDdIcT said:

ok thanks, and i kinda just wanna try them as feeders and then see if i need to get rid of them or not

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They work great as feeders, like Tkilgour said they breed so fast they seem to be a perfect feeder because you will have and endless supply.
Thing is, all it takes is a male and female to escape and once they mate it is over. Tkilgour had his place sprayed twice to eliminate the nasty things from running around and he had his double binned with vaseline, etc.

Just use B. dubia, they breed fast and are safe. Trust what people are saying, you will be much happier in the end.

Flux has brought in to a very REAL point. I kill about 2 a week in my basement so I know I am in the danger zone of a problem, however, they must like where they are because I've yet to see them in the house. Funny that yesterday I was doing work in the yard and moved a tarp I was using to kill off some weeds and what do I find underneath? 3 Blattas and one was mature with an egg case hanging off its end. I was able to kill all 3 but it only confirms they are potentailly spreading outside, too.

And then I read Flux post and see I'm not the only one. Doesn't make me feel better. Stick with dubias or anything controllable unless you have a special barn or outbuilding. Never again.

ok thanks for all these replies it really opened my eyes! well i guess im gonna just put em down while i can, im thinking just wrapping the entire top of the little plastic cup with duct tape so no air can come in then just chuck them in a dumpster lol, is that ok?

CHAMaDdIcT said:

ok thanks for all these replies it really opened my eyes! well i guess im gonna just put em down while i can, im thinking just wrapping the entire top of the little plastic cup with duct tape so no air can come in then just chuck them in a dumpster lol, is that ok?

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Burn them!

aaahh really?

I would probably burn them just to be extra safe. What if you put them into a chest freezer for a week or so? I bet that would take them out as well.

That is my #1 concern as I near towards the start of my breeding feeders. I am really scared of having a pair of dubias get out and then get out of hand.
What makes the dubia safer anyways? From what I have gathered they need a higher temp, no? So they won't be able to survive outside of their environment is my guess.

I'll take them. I use them as feeders myself. Right now the colony is going under the protein treatment to get the colony going.