Eucalyptus species

Another problem that I am worrying about feeding them broader leaves instead of narrow leaves is that I noticed leaves from trees such as E. robusta and C. torelliana contain more tannin than narrow leave trees such as E. tereticornis. When i go out collecting samples, most broad leaves had much deeper brown colour than narrow leaves. Turns out broad leave types need many more wet/dry cycle to get the tannin out of them, I tried boil/steam them, but after 10 times, each time for 10 mins, improvement is really negligible. But my guess would be tannin don't harm GBR since they mulch on bark and wood often.

And I also got some leaves from a local invert forum member, he bought them from Australia, and had been feeding his GBRs for years with them without any problem. They're narrow type leaves, by the smell of it, it definitely is not E. citriodora. Those leaves have a strong eucalyptus essential oil smell, so I probably wouldn't worry about dried E. robusta containing too much eucalyptus oil anymore as I previously mentioned.

 
Does anyone out there know if dried leaves from Eucalyptus globulus (a long, narrow leaf, species) are safe for Macropanesthia rhinoceros? I would especially like to hear from anyone that actually feeds this species to their roaches and have either noted or not noted any issues.

Luke

 
I only have been keeping my rhino roaches for a very short period of time, so please don't take my words for it. I am using Liquidambar formosana as my roaches' staple, with an array of other leaves to make up the rest. I offered Eucalyptus globulus totally dried and crushed on top of other plant matters in their bin as treat. First time I offered E. globulus to my roaches, a few of the larger ones literally ran out to feed, and E. globulus remain as their favourite leaves by far, this maybe because E. globulus retain their aroma much longer than other gum leaves in my possession.

Whether these leaves have any long term effect on the roaches, I really don't know, at least not yet.

Cheers

Kenneth

 
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macbrush said:
I only have been keeping my rhino roaches for a very short period of time, so please don't take my words for it. I am using Liquidambar formosana as my roaches' staple, with an array of other leaves to make up the rest. I offered Eucalyptus globulus totally dried and crushed on top of other plant matters in their bin as treat. First time I offered E. globulus to my roaches, a few of the larger ones literally ran out to feed, and E. globulus remain as their favourite leaves by far, this maybe because E. globulus retain their aroma much longer than other gum leaves in my possession.

Whether these leaves have any long term effect on the roaches, I really don't know, at least not yet.

Cheers

Kenneth
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Hi Kenneth,

Thank you for replying. How long have you been feeding E. globulus to your rhinos?

Luke

 
For less than a month, so I would really find others opinions, or check back with me in a few more months if I were you. :excl:

 
I ordered a pound of Eucalyptus leaves from Dexter and Debbie at Double D's. I have not seen them eat it, but it appears that they do. My rhinos have never come out running for anything! I never even see them unless I dig them out.

 
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