Feeding leaves

Keith

Keith

Megaloblatta
I have B. Giganteus, and I read they eat leaves that have died and fallen for one season. In winter if I pick up brown (dead) oak/maple leaves, are they safe to feed right from outside? I have several oak/maple species, are all safe?

 
Keith said:
I have B. Giganteus, and I read they eat leaves that have died and fallen for one season. In winter if I pick up brown (dead) oak/maple leaves, are they safe to feed right from outside? I have several oak/maple species, are all safe?
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A majority of cockroaches will eat leaves from hardwood trees like oak, maple, walnut, etc., either outright or just to nibble on. Just to be safe, you might bake the leaves at 250'F for a couple of hours before putting them in with the roaches.

 
Chris Driggers said:
From what I have read, yes. Any acorn bearing tree. I have several types of oak tree in my back yard, red oak, white oak, post oak, water oak and sawtooth oak. I am using these for my domino roaches.
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I use a variety of oak leaves, leaves from nut-bearing trees (walnut and pecan) and a few maple leaves. It looks like I have not had any leaf related issues at all. Basically, get leaves from hardwood trees. My exceptions are leaves from Magnolia trees (DD Blanchard var.) and Banyan tree (I grow one in a huge pot). The leaves of choice seem to be the oak varieties with bigger leaves and the walnut leaves.

 
Green fresh leaves ok or do they have to be dry ones? Asking because every picture I have seen of leaves in roach enclosures are brown dry ones.

 
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Keith said:
I think dry and brown.
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Dry and brown. Dead leaves. Green ones mold. Bake them or not is up to you, it really depends on the source. Baking is a safety precaution to kill off invading bugs/organisms that may or may not be a threat to the roaches.

 
I got some brown oak leaves, they were pretty clean looking no mold or fungus.

I washed them under cold water, then hot, then cold again. I then dried them off and put them in the freezer for 6 hours. I took them out 1 hour before feeding them to my roaches, they were room temperature and dry.

Nobody even took a bite!

I put cat food around the leaf and misted the leaf with droplets of water so they would walk on the leaf. They ate the cat food and drank the water, but didnt even nibble the leaves although they walked over them many times.

Mabye they dont like it?

 
Try not going to so much wash and dry trouble. Just toss them in there and wait. May be a day may be a month. I usually keep a small amount damp in a closed container and add to cages from that once in a while.

 
I have no experience feeding leaves yet, however, I would like to add my two cents about what I would do with leaves ;) .

I would imagine that if you have a pressure cooker (everyone in my family has always had one, including myself) you could basically "autoclave" the dry (or fresh) leaves with the pressure cooker. I would carefully, so as not to break them, put the leaves in a vegetable steamer basket so they weren't submerged in water, and steam at around 15 lbs for like 20-30 minutes. It would sterilize, keep them moist, and possibly make them easier to digest (cooking makes food easier to digest for us!). Any leftover, could be placed in a freezer bag to be kept sterile.

Just my thoughts on what I would do if I decide to feed leaves. It's not much different than what you would do if you're preparing different substrates for cultivating mushrooms on (wood, straw, grain, etc).

 
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If they were cooked they probably would be easier to eat, like leaves you find waterlogged, they are mushy and easy to chew. Mabye i'll figure something out.

 
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