Blatta lateralis ....

[Andy_Panda]

well my alligator lizard cannot catch these things lol i just recieved 50 of them so i placed 5 in his tank and he cannot catch them ... then he did get one and just bit the head ...now it sits here lying .. twitching is there a way to slow them down or did i purchase the wrong roaches??

 

[Roachman26]

well my alligator lizard cannot catch these things lol i just recieved 50 of them so i placed 5 in his tank and he cannot catch them ... then he did get one and just bit the head ...now it sits here lying .. twitching is there a way to slow them down or did i purchase the wrong roaches??

If its lying there twitching, and he's not eating it, he's not that hungry. Every animal I've offered them to goes crazy for them. Some animals take a little time to adjust to a new prey species, especially if they've been getting the same one for a long time. Don't forget its winter time and even though you didn't hibernate, his hunger and activity level might be lower than normal, just like all the Russian and Greek posters on Tortoise Forum.

I'd skip feeding him for two or three days, keep him a little warmer and then try again. Once he's used to them, he'll figure out how to catch them better. That's the nice thing. He's got all day. You don't have to worry about your prey items dying or harming him. The lats might hide for a minute, but then they are usually out running around and attracting predators. You could also try putting the roaches in a deli cup in the freezer for a couple of minutes. Experiment with how long to leave them in there to get the desired level of slowing.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Andy_Panda]

ill try the freezing thing .. he had not eaten for almost a week as we were waiting for the roaches ... he is just being slow about it i guess

 

[Andy_Panda]

Just an update .. the lizard is a champ at catching them .. now some of the roaches are getting rather large , i cant seem to find out how long it takes them to lay eggs , and there egg crates are gettign dirty, will it stress them out too much if i change out there substrate, and "egg crate hides"? Thanks in advance

 

[RosenKrieger]

I kept my lat's with no substrate at all, and when stuff would build up on the egg crates, i just dumped it into the bottom of the tank without removing them.

 

[Roachman26]

Just an update .. the lizard is a champ at catching them .. now some of the roaches are getting rather large , i cant seem to find out how long it takes them to lay eggs , and there egg crates are gettign dirty, will it stress them out too much if i change out there substrate, and "egg crate hides"? Thanks in advance

Hi Andy. I keep mine with no substrate too. I don't worry about the dirty egg flats, but you can change them if you like. Glad your lizard finally figured it out.

It seemed to take forever to get some eggs out of mine too. Mine were nearly adults when I got them. Then when I finally did see an egg case or two it seemed to take for ever to see any babies, then within a month or so, BOOM! Hundreds or thousands, all of a sudden. I've got so many now that my egg flats feel heavy with them. BTW, I found a couple of escapees that I can't explain. I guess they could have fallen off while I was messing with them and I didn't notice, but I ran some vaseline around the top of my bin anyway, just to be safe. This didn't happen until I had millions of babies in there.

 

[Andy_Panda]

Hi Andy. I keep mine with no substrate too. I don't worry about the dirty egg flats, but you can change them if you like. Glad your lizard finally figured it out.It seemed to take forever to get some eggs out of mine too. Mine were nearly adults when I got them. Then when I finally did see an egg case or two it seemed to take for ever to see any babies, then within a month or so, BOOM! Hundreds or thousands, all of a sudden. I've got so many now that my egg flats feel heavy with them. BTW, I found a couple of escapees that I can't explain. I guess they could have fallen off while I was messing with them and I didn't notice, but I ran some vaseline around the top of my bin anyway, just to be safe. This didn't happen until I had millions of babies in there.

ok well thanks guys for the info .. i think ill remove the substrate then .. might have to get some more roaches as well lol. the reason i kept substrate in there is because i wanted it to stay humid and i read that substrate helps with that thanks again guys