G. portentosa Photodump and Housing Males Together?

[KitKatie329]

Somehow I've managed to go from, "Hmmm, cockroaches..." to 3 tanks in 4 months. I was wondering though, is it possible to house only males in the same enclosure? Will they kill each other? Can I keep them in the same density, so to speak, as a mixed gender tank if it is possible? Thanks for any information on this, here's some pictures!

Tank 1 (29 gallon):

Tank 2 (10 gallon):

 

[hisserman]

First off, Welcome to the forum.

Only males together? Interesting idea (but WHY?)

I either feed off or give away my extra males, so there won't be too many. But, yeah, you could do it. It would also look good.

BTW, your tank looks great.

 

[KitKatie329]

Thanks! Well I am still living with my Dad so I want to do it mainly for population control, my room is very small, but also because I would like to selectively breed my most awesome ones, and I don't know anyone to easily pawn off my extra roaches to for food. The closest person I know with reptiles is 3 HOURS away!

 

[hisserman]

Thanks! Well I am still living with my Dad so I want to do it mainly for population control, my room is very small, but also because I would like to selectively breed my most awesome ones, and I don't know anyone to easily pawn off my extra roaches to for food. The closest person I know with reptiles is 3 HOURS away!

Wow! 3 hours!!!

You're gonna end up with some AWESOME roaches.....

 

[KitKatie329]

I'm sure I could always post the overflow on Craigslist or something, I live in a large city. I have another question, I have a 5ish (maybe a tad bigger) gallon Sterilite with 2 gravid females in there, would it be OK to stick a Zoo Med 5 gallon UTH on the bottom? I've never used one with a plastic bin before and the temp is hovering around 65 :/ And I can't tell if you're making fun of me or not, but I hope they are totally awesome, haha! Thanks for all the advice!

 

[Ralph]

They look very comfortable! As for males, I'm housing some together for a while (half experiment, half necessity) and I can tell you it's not preferable. They kinda go insane. Fighting surprisingly often, trying to mate with inanimate objects or each other... but they react normally around females when I mixed them again.

 

[Ozymandias]

I'm sure I could always post the overflow on Craigslist or something, I live in a large city. I have another question, I have a 5ish (maybe a tad bigger) gallon Sterilite with 2 gravid females in there, would it be OK to stick a Zoo Med 5 gallon UTH on the bottom? I've never used one with a plastic bin before and the temp is hovering around 65 :/ And I can't tell if you're making fun of me or not, but I hope they are totally awesome, haha! Thanks for all the advice!

you should be fine with the UTH and the Sterilite i think the most those ZooMed UTH get is around 105 or so no where near over heating the tank. if you want to be really safe you change a thermostat for it or wire in a dimmer like so if it malfunctions it doesn't over heat.

these are what i'm talking about

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/thermometers-thermostats-and-timers/-/zoo-med-rheostat-150-watts/

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/thermometers-thermostats-and-timers/-/alife-1000-watt-electronic-thermostat-with-probe/

 

[KitKatie329]

Ooh, thanks, I'll keep that in mind! I decided to just not use the heater because they've been doing fine without it in my other tank and I'm in no rush for tons of babies. I've also decided to go substrateless in my "breeding" tank for the first time, I'm sure I'll like it a lot more with the nymphs involved.

 

[vfox]

Ooh, thanks, I'll keep that in mind! I decided to just not use the heater because they've been doing fine without it in my other tank and I'm in no rush for tons of babies. I've also decided to go substrateless in my "breeding" tank for the first time, I'm sure I'll like it a lot more with the nymphs involved.

I started with 6 Hissers like 2-3 months ago maybe and I now have over 90. They are kept at room temp which is cold 62 F with one headlamp on 5 bins on that one level of my shelf. They get up to about 70 at the warmest over winter and all of my species are doing very very well and breeding like mad. My lats and lobsters are breeding faster than I'd ever need to I've been giving quite a few away. Good luck with yours, they look mighty comfy and will likely have a population explosion every few months. In other words, using mine as an example, 90 nymphs mean 90 adults, assuming half are female and live to adulthood thats the potential for like 900-1400 baby Hissers by next year. Lol.

 

[hisserman]

I started with 6 Hissers like 2-3 months ago maybe and I now have over 90. They are kept at room temp which is cold 62 F with one headlamp on 5 bins on that one level of my shelf. They get up to about 70 at the warmest over winter and all of my species are doing very very well and breeding like mad. My lats and lobsters are breeding faster than I'd ever need to I've been giving quite a few away. Good luck with yours, they look mighty comfy and will likely have a population explosion every few months. In other words, using mine as an example, 90 nymphs mean 90 adults, assuming half are female and live to adulthood thats the potential for like 900-1400 baby Hissers by next year. Lol.

One thing you need to learn about Vfox, he has some naughty roaches

How are your lobsters doing, Vfox

How are you lats doing, Vfox?

How are your hissers doing, Vfox?

 

[vfox]

One thing you need to learn about Vfox, he has some naughty roaches

How are your lobsters doing, Vfox

How are you lats doing, Vfox?

How are your hissers doing, Vfox?

I'll let you know once I wade through the roach tidal wave lol.

 

[KitKatie329]

Haha oh dear, those are naughty roaches! That's why after this explosion (which I wanted for SCIENCE! lol) I'm going to keep the males and females separate unless I want the naughtiness. I know this is counter productive to most enthusiasts, but someone should invent like a hormonal roach spray contraceptive or something.

 

[hisserman]

I'll let you know once I wade through the roach tidal wave lol.

Didn't that already happen lol?

Haha oh dear, those are naughty roaches! That's why after this explosion (which I wanted for SCIENCE! lol) I'm going to keep the males and females separate unless I want the naughtiness. I know this is counter productive to most enthusiasts, but someone should invent like a hormonal roach spray contraceptive or something.

Yeah right "for science" That's a good idea.... a very good way to keep them off Santa's naughty list!

A hormonal spray.... hmmmm..... would it be something that you "soak" the roaches you don't want to breed in?

 

[likebugs]

I like the idea of roach contraceptive. :lol: I would try keeping more species if there was a way to prevent overpopulation. I am starting small with my discoids, 1 pair of adults and 1 pair of large nymphs. :mellow: I am afraid of escapes if I have too many. Now, if I can only stay away from the store that I bought them from.

 

[vfox]

I like the idea of roach contraceptive. :lol: I would try keeping more species if there was a way to prevent overpopulation. I am starting small with my discoids, 1 pair of adults and 1 pair of large nymphs. :mellow: I am afraid of escapes if I have too many. Now, if I can only stay away from the store that I bought them from.

It's no use fighting it, once you get one more will follow.

I started with Blaberus fusca hybrids and although I no longer have them, I now care for 14 different species.

 

[Ralph]

Do roaches self-regulate their populations at all (slow breeding if there's a high population)?

A "contraceptive" would be kinda neat... Lol.

 

[KitKatie329]

We have more babies! The first in the breeding tank!

 

[hisserman]

We have more babies! The first in the breeding tank!

Congrats!

 

[Ralph]

So... Cute! Good thing that tank's escape-proof.