Rotten wood for roaches?

Cucarachacamina

Cucarachacamina

First Instar
Has anyone ever tried to feed their roaches decaying wood? I found some perfectly rotting nearby a trail while my son and I were looking for bugs. It was damp, clean, and crumbled as i moved it. Found a decent sized blueish centipede there which was cool (couldnt find anything on google about centepedes in virginia but oh well). I decided to bring some home and probably use it for rearing beetle larvae in the future, as well as for isopods, but I was wondering if hissers or rhinos would like them too? Happy to hear your thoughts! 

 
Rhino roaches will nibble on rotten wood, hissers seldom touch it. I keep several species in the subfamily Panesthiinae, which require a substrate entirely composed of rotten wood, which makes up the bulk of their diet. So it definitely has it's uses in Blatticulture.

 
@Hisserdude Do you need to be careful of the species the rotten wood came from? Like only using maple or oak?

 
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Hisserdude said:
Rhino roaches will nibble on rotten wood, hissers seldom touch it. I keep several species in the subfamily Panesthiinae, which require a substrate entirely composed of rotten wood, which makes up the bulk of their diet. So it definitely has it's uses in Blatticulture.
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My rhino roaches havent moved from the same corner in like two days😅 should i be worried? I think the wood that i got was rotten pine. What are panesthinae? When i looked it up it didnt show a specific roach. 

 
Cucarachacamina said:
My rhino roaches havent moved from the same corner in like two days😅 should i be worried? I think the wood that i got was rotten pine. What are panesthinae? When i looked it up it didnt show a specific roach. 
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If I remember correctly pine is not a good idea for roaches. I'm pretty darn sure, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 
Cucarachacamina said:
My rhino roaches havent moved from the same corner in like two days😅 should i be worried? I think the wood that i got was rotten pine. What are panesthinae? When i looked it up it didnt show a specific roach. 
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Probably not, as long as they CAN move and aren't like, dead in the corner. 😅

Pine has to be very well rotten (dark brown and crumbly) in order to be edible for most roaches. Hardwood trees tend to make better food.

There are several Panesthiinae genera in culture, including Ancaudellia, Panesthia, and Salganea spp.. Here's some of my Panesthia angustipennis cognata for an example:

P.a.cognataCambodia2022%238.jpg


 
They are very much alive they just like to hangout under the moss where its moist. When i gently poke them they start to scurry so i know theres a heartbeat lol im gonna have to go back to the site where I collected this wood. Some of it was dark brown and super crumbly, the other was still crumbly but a lighter color, the center of the log hadnt rotted away yet and i snapped it. I just wanna see the trees that were surrounding it. Man those look awesome! They breed well ?

 
Cucarachacamina said:
They are very much alive they just like to hangout under the moss where its moist. When i gently poke them they start to scurry so i know theres a heartbeat lol im gonna have to go back to the site where I collected this wood. Some of it was dark brown and super crumbly, the other was still crumbly but a lighter color, the center of the log hadnt rotted away yet and i snapped it. I just wanna see the trees that were surrounding it. Man those look awesome! They breed well ?
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Yeah they probably just like hiding under the moss, or are seeking more moisture.

The Panesthia are pretty hardy yeah, they're slow growers that take around 8 months to mature, and about 6 months to gestate their broods, despite this I went from 10 to like 100+ in only a couple years. :)

 
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