Do roaches know when it's feeding time?

L

Longhorn1234

Third Instar
I keep my colonies in a closet in my balcony (I live in an apartment) and the lights are off except when I go to feed/mist/do maintenance. Every time I go my E. Posticus seem to start going crazy and move around a lot. I never notice before but they actually go to their feeding container every time I go in there with food. I've gone to the closet three other times without food and they seem to just go out with their business as usual. So now I'm assuming that they're not going crazy just because I turn on the light or because I'm there. Since they only start moving a lot and they go to their feeding container every time I go in there with food, is it safe to assume that they know when it's feeding time?

 
Well... they have very sensitive chemoreceptor ? So they may know when there are food close to them... for example, in your hands when you open their tupper. 

Do you use a feeding container? (I just throw the food in anywhere on the substrate of my Eublaberus spp.) ? ...it is very interesting that they could be learning to go there when 'smell' food around. 

 
I do use a feeding container for E. Posticus since that's my only colony that I keep without substrate. I agree, it would be interesting to find out why they're doing that, maybe it's just a coincidence, who knows haha. But roaches do exhibit interesting behaviors that's for sure. I'm just a beginner roach keeper so I haven't seen enough, hopefully one of the experts can chime in.

 
I think there was a research paper somewhere online that trained roaches to associate peppermint odor with sugar, so it certainly might be possible that your roaches are learning light = food.

Many other insects display some ability to learn and remember as well

 
They certainly can associate the food bowl location and they have a great sense of smell so they probably smell the food and go for the bowl even before you put it in there.

 
I have a few smoky browns in my domino enclosure, and they get up and start feeding their antennae through the cracks around the lid when they smell certain foods. Mostly they like bacon, sausage, and fresh biscuits. 

 
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