Fighting?

A

arachyd

Third Instar
Forgive me if these are silly questions, I'm a total newbie when it comes to roaches as pets. Is it normal for roaches to fight? I have a small group of Dubia which includes 2 mature males. Tonight they just started fighting, I mean really biting each other and chasing each other around their container. I've never seen them do this in the time I've had them. Do other roaches fight too? Is this mating competition or territorial behavior? Do I have to separate the males?

 
A female probably just matured, male roaches often get aggressive when there's a new female. I don't think you'll need to separate them if the enclosure is big enough.

 
Thanks for the reply. After a while they took turns fighting and pestering a female and then just laying around. All is peaceful again today. It never occurred to me that they had it in them to be aggressive in any way. I think I'm going to keep a closer eye on them. Every time I watch them they do something unexpected. I got them with the intention of using them as feeders but they are actually becoming interesting to me :o .

 
Most species like B.dubia really can't hurt each other during fights over mates but B.giganteus males sometimes severly damage each other.

 
Roaches can do that to a person, but don't worry, it's normal. I've gotten pretty interested in some feeders I've had before too.

 
I am starting to see what you mean. One of my gyna lurida just matured today (only the second one I've seen mature, the other one was tan/brown) and it has a lot of yellow on it. I almost did a happy dance but stopped myself just in time :P before the kids saw me. I only have these 2 species.

 
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