Believe it or not:

[Matt K]

So a couple weeks ago, I realized that my G.oblongonota colony was overcrowded. Instead of burning them as usual, I skimmed some out into a seperate container and palced the bulk of them outside. The colony is in an escape-proof bin, and the temps outside were 20-34'F. My thought was they would freeze and I'd pop them into the fire when I could in the next day or two. My pond froze over, all standing water in anything froze solid 2" plus. A container with some water in it on top of the coloy froze solid. The colony remains were in shade during the day so no solar gain would wamr the inside, plus it is ventilated and there is no place for them to huddle together in any mass at all inside.

Today temps warmed into the mid 50's so I went to clean out the bin- never ever had a 'get around to it' thing going, normally I toast them immediately. opened the bin to scoop out what may be smelly remains, and to my suprise- a majority of them survived the week plus of freezing. Moving VERY slowly, but alive. Brought one in to warm up and its as good as new.

Now they are all disposed of, but was suprised to see a group of hissers, a tropical species, able to live through freezing weather. Who would have thought it? HAte to say it, but the US government may have some justification after all.....

 

[Ozymandias]

i can believe it thay are a roachs, though i don't think thay could survive the whole winter.

 

[Zephyr]

A friend of mine did an experiment freezing G. portentosa. Approximately L3 nymphs were used. They survived a chill down to freezing for 24 hours and recovered just fine.

He also measured their breathing rate warming up, but in my opinion that wasn't the interesting part.

 

[hisserman]

That's true, (but also cool)!

 

[makoygaara]

Roaches are really amazing creatures! When I used to have my B. Lateralis a year ago and got tired of burning, I put many of them in a container filled with water and methylene blue.

I was thinking they were dead because they were not moving for about 10-15 minutes, but to my suprise, they were moving again and alive.

That's when I decided to use the burning method yet again.

 

[recluse]

I have never quite fully understood why you guys burn off your roaches, especially G. oblonogota. I would be happy to pay shipping and a little extra to take them off your hands.

Hans

 

[Zephyr]

I have never quite fully understood why you guys burn off your roaches, especially G. oblonogota. I would be happy to pay shipping and a little extra to take them off your hands.

Hans

Generally when your colony gets to the numbers where you'd start doing extensive culling like that, you're running out of room in the container, and the roaches are suffering because of it.

It takes time and effort to put up ads, separate out which ones you're keeping/not keeping, and then give the ones you're getting rid of a temporary enclosure. Then you could have somebody back out of getting them, and you'll be stuck with an extra container that may be taking up useful space.

It's a lot easier to burn them in cases like these.

 

[Matt K]

Generally when your colony gets to the numbers where you'd start doing extensive culling like that, you're running out of room in the container, and the roaches are suffering because of it.

It takes time and effort to put up ads, separate out which ones you're keeping/not keeping, and then give the ones you're getting rid of a temporary enclosure. Then you could have somebody back out of getting them, and you'll be stuck with an extra container that may be taking up useful space.

It's a lot easier to burn them in cases like these.

For me, its more a case where if I ran an ad, sold what ever the community would buy that week or two, then I am still stuck with a couple hundred leftovers after the sale. Shipping a few or a couple dozen is one thing, but shipping a hundred or two large hissers in a box is problematic in getting them good ventilation, and not having someone in the shipping company freak out over a hissing box. So if I sold everyone who could buy them small, shippable quantities, I'm left with still overpopulation to destroy. If someone in an easy drive distance from me wanted them, they could have them... for cheap.

 

[recluse]

Now that makes better sense to me thanks guys.

For me, its more a case where if I ran an ad, sold what ever the community would buy that week or two, then I am still stuck with a couple hundred leftovers after the sale. Shipping a few or a couple dozen is one thing, but shipping a hundred or two large hissers in a box is problematic in getting them good ventilation, and not having someone in the shipping company freak out over a hissing box. So if I sold everyone who could buy them small, shippable quantities, I'm left with still overpopulation to destroy. If someone in an easy drive distance from me wanted them, they could have them... for cheap.