Blatta lateralis!

[CammieNLeno]

Blatta lateralis - aka Turkish Roaches. Went to my first reptile show this weekend, and picked up a starter breeding colony for 12 bucks - I THINK it was a good deal, got about 30 or so in there, with 5 egg sacks already waiting to hatch. Came with a bunch of food as well.

http://www.nyworms.com/turkistancare.htm

Read alot about em, mixed reviews here and there, but one thing I was a bit surprised about was the smell? Everywhere I read, people state "GREAT BECAUSE THEY ARE ORDERLESS!!!!" Well my little setup stinks to HIGH FREEKIN HELL. My god, i cant even put my head near it because its so awful. I cleaned out all the "cannibalized" parts and such.. and expected it to be better this morning, but no? The egg crate is bran new as well.

I also tested one to see if my guy would eat em up. Put a smaller male in with my morning load of crickets yesterday, and he picked off every cricket, and left the roach. SIGH - so now im 0/3 on variety of feeders for my guy. I actually don't mind yet, because i want the colony to establish and he will grow alot by the time its ready to start feeding from, but man, this cham ONLY eats crickets. My entire pod of silks are about to spin their cocoons now too!

Im kinda wondering if this is worth the trouble? Are Turks even that good of a feeder? Should i be looking at dubias instead? Im paranoid as HELL about raising roaches.. one of the "selling" points they had at their display booth at the show was "hey don't worry if they escape! these roaches wont last a day on their own here in colorado due to the temps" but man.. i dunno about that, i think its a load of crap to get me to buy from them? Any thoughts on that? So far the one male roach hasn't left my little screen feeding cup i use for my crickets (I have left him there for 2 days now to see if my panther will eat em) and im not terribly worried about a male getting loose.

Well, mostly just wanted to see what you all thought. Im just nervous about it. I have my container all setup and such for them to live in, so its gonna be pretty transparent to me for the next 2 months or so, minimal maintence.. just kinda.... bleh about the whole thing.

 

[Vegas Chad]

I have yet to personally work with that type of roach, but if I don’t keep an eye on my lobster roaches they can get a little funk to em. My hissing and dubia roach tubs have never smelled… is your set up open with lots of air flow and dry enough as to where to poo will dry and not smell? To me that roach looks like too much like a normal house roach for me to keep, I like the big ones that are easy to differ from the pest roaches. I don’t *like* having thousands of roaches in my home, however I have only had one or 2 escape and the reptiles love them. In the end I think it is worth it.

Some chameleons can be rather snooty in what they eat, I have some that won’t touch a roach. Unless oh course they are allowed to become hungry. I have never had a chameleon that has starved to death with food readily available to it. Even when it is not it’s favorite thing in the world. Have you tried going off crix for a while and only offering the new type of food?

 

[SoCaliSon]

Well I have never tried turkish roaches... But I breed Dubias and Hissers, and both completely odorless aside from any food substance that is present. I really like the Dubias because not only are they odorless... they are incredibly easy to handle... I keep them in a rubbermaid tub with egg crates and they can't climb the walls(and don't even attempt to)... They seem to not care about escaping. I can reach in and easily pick one up... It will scurry a little but are not incredibly fast, and when I flip them over on their backs they play dead and that is when my Chams love to eat them for some reason.. They will watch them crawl around all day ... but wont eat it until I show the underside of the belly... Weird Huh?

As far as escapes... I have never had a Dubia Escape(as far as I know)... And they told me that if they did they would die in our climate as well.. .Being tropical... Well I have had a couple living in a cup outside with no food, water or heat in the avg 75' daytime., lows of 56' at night... and they have been alive for a week and still kickin'... So I have a feeling that they are able to live in my climate better than I was led to believe. On the other hand... as far as infestaton goes you would have to have at least 2, or 1 prego female escape in order to breed outside, and they warm temps to breed... But if you think about it...But realistically I believe there are places in every house in america that could sustain any kind of tropical roach if they happened to escape. They would love it under your fridge or clothes dryer, or in the wall panels next to your water heater and along the piping. When they use this sale tactic I believe that they are refering to the roach escaping into a local ecosystem where it is not native and beginning to thrive... I doubt they would be able to survive in the American Wilds... But there are more than enough perfect little nooks and crannies in American Suberbia to allow any kind of roach to take over a house. But all this aside they are great feeders... Sooooo... Anything for my Chams is my Moto. I scatter roach traps around the house and especially in the room I keep my roaches... and have never had a trap catch one... But I feel that this precautionarry measure could end up being way worth it... if there ever was an escape.

 

[vetdebbie]

I looked at getting some of these today, but couldn't bring myself to do it..... I'm a complete insect-phobe. After 2 years, i can cope with looking at crickets and locusts but not touch them. unfortunately, being a typical veiled, my Dave has gone off both these. Do you think he'll be ok on mealworms and silkworms for a while??

 

[CammieNLeno]

I looked at getting some of these today, but couldn't bring myself to do it..... I'm a complete insect-phobe. After 2 years, i can cope with looking at crickets and locusts but not touch them. unfortunately, being a typical veiled, my Dave has gone off both these. Do you think he'll be ok on mealworms and silkworms for a while??

He would be ok on silkworms forever if he eats em!