Cockroach of the Week 10/19/09- Polyphaga aegyptiaca
- Thread starter Zephyr
- Start date
Matt K
Eurycotis
Few days have gone by and still no pic..... ?This week's RotW (chosen by myself) is the Egyptian sand roach. I'll have some pics up within the next few hours.
OBJ
Fourth Instar
Is Zephyr the only contributor of pics? any pics with male & female together?
So 'Allpet Roaches' by Orin says: 24-33 mm (1 - 1½"), males the much smaller gender...
Males are with full length wings, but normal sized hind legs, whereas:
Females have no wings, but long back legs used for flipping her over as a 'play dead' protective measure...?
They do not climb glass, but are the they diurnal or nocturnal?
Who will continue with feeding .... or breeding....
BR/
Ole
So 'Allpet Roaches' by Orin says: 24-33 mm (1 - 1½"), males the much smaller gender...
Males are with full length wings, but normal sized hind legs, whereas:
Females have no wings, but long back legs used for flipping her over as a 'play dead' protective measure...?
They do not climb glass, but are the they diurnal or nocturnal?
Who will continue with feeding .... or breeding....
BR/
Ole
buddylee79
Third Instar
Well...I wish I could contribute this week but I currently do not have this species. I am hoping for some good info though, knowing I will in the future....If Zepher is the only "contestant" I wonder what next weeks will be.....
buddylee79
Matt, surely you have them...How about a little input, and maybe some pics.
buddylee79
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Somewhere I sent an incredibly detailed report about what I've found to be the "best" P. aegyptiaca setup. Let me track it down...
*Found it!
I've been keeping P. aegyptiaca for 3 years now; they're a very hardy species and easy to setup.Buy a $1 Sterilite storage container (depending on the size of your colony you may want a different container; however you want it to have some depth) from Target, a dollar store, etc. Drill holes 1 inch from the top of the container along the rim with about 8 holes on the long sides and 5 on the short sides. No holes drilled on the top. For substrate, I do a mix of everything. However, the key is keeping the moisture just right. So you'll need a mix of about 35% top soil, 35% vermiculite (coarse or fine works,) 10% peat moss, and 20% coconut fiber. Allow this mix to "air out" til it looks visually dry. Mix in some strands of wet moss (sphagnum moss works well.) To your container, add enough to fill 35-60% of the container. Put an inch of well-crushed, dried, dead, oak leaves on top of this and mix it into the substrate a little. For temperatures, anything in the 70's will produce more than you'll ever need. For food, they'll eat the oak leaves; however I add a small piece of carrot or fruit every week, with some occasional dog/fish/cat/parrot food.
The most crucial part of caring for them is the weekly moisture check. The surface of your mix should look dry. Mark one side of the container "wet" and the other side "dry." Every week when you add treat foods, pull back the "wet" side of the enclosure so there's only an inch of substrate on the bottom visible. Mist this until it's thoroughly moist. Push the top layer of the substrate back over this and do the same with the other side, except mist only enough to make it appear damp (do not mist NEARLY as much as the other side!) Pull the substrate back over and mist the top of the substrate well. This provides the perfect humidity gradient for all stages of life.
*Found it!
I've been keeping P. aegyptiaca for 3 years now; they're a very hardy species and easy to setup.Buy a $1 Sterilite storage container (depending on the size of your colony you may want a different container; however you want it to have some depth) from Target, a dollar store, etc. Drill holes 1 inch from the top of the container along the rim with about 8 holes on the long sides and 5 on the short sides. No holes drilled on the top. For substrate, I do a mix of everything. However, the key is keeping the moisture just right. So you'll need a mix of about 35% top soil, 35% vermiculite (coarse or fine works,) 10% peat moss, and 20% coconut fiber. Allow this mix to "air out" til it looks visually dry. Mix in some strands of wet moss (sphagnum moss works well.) To your container, add enough to fill 35-60% of the container. Put an inch of well-crushed, dried, dead, oak leaves on top of this and mix it into the substrate a little. For temperatures, anything in the 70's will produce more than you'll ever need. For food, they'll eat the oak leaves; however I add a small piece of carrot or fruit every week, with some occasional dog/fish/cat/parrot food.
The most crucial part of caring for them is the weekly moisture check. The surface of your mix should look dry. Mark one side of the container "wet" and the other side "dry." Every week when you add treat foods, pull back the "wet" side of the enclosure so there's only an inch of substrate on the bottom visible. Mist this until it's thoroughly moist. Push the top layer of the substrate back over this and do the same with the other side, except mist only enough to make it appear damp (do not mist NEARLY as much as the other side!) Pull the substrate back over and mist the top of the substrate well. This provides the perfect humidity gradient for all stages of life.
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I find males and females to be equally sized, but that's counting the male's wings.Is Zephyr the only contributor of pics? any pics with male & female together?So 'Allpet Roaches' by Orin says: 24-33 mm (1 - 1½"), males the much smaller gender...
Males are with full length wings, but normal sized hind legs, whereas:
Females have no wings, but long back legs used for flipping her over as a 'play dead' protective measure...?
They do not climb glass, but are the they diurnal or nocturnal?
Who will continue with feeding .... or breeding....
BR/
Ole
The males also have pretty long hind legs (compared to their body size) but nearly as long as the female's.
I've found females and nymphs "playing dead" but not as well as, say, B. dubia.
They are as nocturnal as any roach will be; in fact when I do enclosure checks the only time I ever see them eating anything is at night.
Unfortunately no one near me keeps these roaches. Its supposed to be 4-6 months to adulthood, I'm not sure how old mine are now, but soon as they turn adult I'd be happy to take photos.
Hibiscusmile
Sixth Instar
I would like them to, but it appears to much work for me to keep them right, I have to go with easy guys!
Matt K
Eurycotis
I have a very large colony of them and have been feeding them to some of my lizards. I thought I posted pics a long time ago... but will look to see. Maybe I can take some pics for grins here in a while.
I really like the roach of the month/bimonthly idea, by the way. I have this species in culture and sorry I didn't get to taking photos. Polyphagids are my favorites. I just offered my P. aegyptiaca some beets. No surprise--not interested!
buddylee79
Third Instar
Hey Kimix.. What will the next roach be?
