vfox
Blatta
I know it's not the best thread title because American roaches are not native but, meh.
Anyway! I just wanted to start a thread about our dear friend Periplaneta americana, aka the American cockroach.
I personally have two colonies; one colony of regular morph and one of the white eyed strain. Periplaneta is an amazing genus in my opinion and the one that everyone knows, like it or not, is the good ol' American. They are everywhere, literally every continent, including the antarctic research station. However, until I started keeping roaches I had never seen one upclose and was scared of their pest status. I even remember a myth about if you crush one with your shoe you'll need to clean them thoroughly so you don't bring eggs into the house. There are so many misconceptions about this critter that it almost seems unfair to it.
Each of my colonies are strong, the white eyes breeding less because that's just their thing, but both have plenty of babies. They are easily contained with a Vaseline barrier and I've personally never seen one fly. (although they can) I trust this non-flying tendacy so much that I often walk away with the colony open while I'm getting their food. I've never had an American escape, I've never been diseased by them, I've never been bitten by them, I've never had a single issue with them.
These slow growing speedsters are beautiful throughout their life cycle and always maintain some of the craziest behavior of any of my roaches. Their long legs gives them the ability to hop short distances but they normally maintain contact with the ground to speed away. I'm sure if you've ever lived in a city or sub-tropic region you've seen this behavior first hand. Oddly enough mine do not fear the light, they tend to be active around dusk but relax at night. During the day they are about as active as the night, dusk is where it's at.
The females lay plenty of ootheca but much fewer than Blatta lateralis (Shelfordella tartara for you UK'ers). Their babies can climb well but as said, are easily contained. The adults are handlable but beware they move FAST and can be on your shoulder in half a second. Luckily they arnt too hard to catch in this event and even if they did escape it's likely the average neatly kept suburban/rural home is too dry for them. And with a 12 month maturity time, these are one of the easiest medium sized roaches to control.
So now that I've spouted a mouth full about one of my favorite roaches, let's hear what you guys think of them, good or bad, I'd love to hear some stories and thoughts. Maybe I cam even convince some of you to take on raising these entertaining critters.
Anyway! I just wanted to start a thread about our dear friend Periplaneta americana, aka the American cockroach.
I personally have two colonies; one colony of regular morph and one of the white eyed strain. Periplaneta is an amazing genus in my opinion and the one that everyone knows, like it or not, is the good ol' American. They are everywhere, literally every continent, including the antarctic research station. However, until I started keeping roaches I had never seen one upclose and was scared of their pest status. I even remember a myth about if you crush one with your shoe you'll need to clean them thoroughly so you don't bring eggs into the house. There are so many misconceptions about this critter that it almost seems unfair to it.
Each of my colonies are strong, the white eyes breeding less because that's just their thing, but both have plenty of babies. They are easily contained with a Vaseline barrier and I've personally never seen one fly. (although they can) I trust this non-flying tendacy so much that I often walk away with the colony open while I'm getting their food. I've never had an American escape, I've never been diseased by them, I've never been bitten by them, I've never had a single issue with them.
These slow growing speedsters are beautiful throughout their life cycle and always maintain some of the craziest behavior of any of my roaches. Their long legs gives them the ability to hop short distances but they normally maintain contact with the ground to speed away. I'm sure if you've ever lived in a city or sub-tropic region you've seen this behavior first hand. Oddly enough mine do not fear the light, they tend to be active around dusk but relax at night. During the day they are about as active as the night, dusk is where it's at.
The females lay plenty of ootheca but much fewer than Blatta lateralis (Shelfordella tartara for you UK'ers). Their babies can climb well but as said, are easily contained. The adults are handlable but beware they move FAST and can be on your shoulder in half a second. Luckily they arnt too hard to catch in this event and even if they did escape it's likely the average neatly kept suburban/rural home is too dry for them. And with a 12 month maturity time, these are one of the easiest medium sized roaches to control.
So now that I've spouted a mouth full about one of my favorite roaches, let's hear what you guys think of them, good or bad, I'd love to hear some stories and thoughts. Maybe I cam even convince some of you to take on raising these entertaining critters.
They're so resistent that even bug killer ain't doing anything, the only thing keeping them out of my house (more accurately, out of my sight) is my dog... 
