With the few recent problems arising *semi-deformed wings on my death's heads, mysterious dark individuals appearing in my discoids, and some baby discoids who may be dubias and vice versa* I just want to check on my methods to make sure my roaches will be healthy and happy.
Giant cave roaches:
I have these guys in a 15" by 9" plastic container with holes in the top. There are multiple oak leaves, bits of egg crate, and dog food in a cut-out cream container bottom. I'd say they're about 78 degrees from indirect red light and humidity a bit higher than the room.
Questions: Will the smell from the cream container discourage them from feeding? Will they eat parts of the oak leaves? IS the temp and humidity ok for them?
Lobsters:
These guys are in a 27 quart-long container, no substrate, and simply on one egg crate with a food and water dish. Ventilation is in the form of 1" wide strips along both long sides of the container, with average household screening. Along the bottom, and up the sides and above the screening is Vaseline. Temp is about 80 from semi-indirect red lighting, while moisture comes from the occasional misting.
Questions: I have many nymphs, but only two adults who came as such. When will the largest nymphs molt? I've had them for a few weeks now...
Hissers:
They are in a 20 tall fish tank with a heat pad for heat. The air temp is around 75 in the summer and 80 in the winter. The substrate is coconut chunk, with about 2 1/2 inches. I have old kleenex boxes, paper towel rolls, and treated logs near the heat source, and food is available in the form of a 4 inch deep dish, which is changed when all the dog food/parrot food/ fresh food is gone.
Questions: I usually feed off males to my lizards, and I know who the dominant males are from watching. Will feeding off the submissives affect the population negatively if I leave mostly females and all dominant males?
Death's heads:
These guys rest below the giants but above the lobsters in my roach stack. They have a 27 quart-long tank with the same ventilation as the lobsters. The other day when I first received them, one of them had a bad molt and is stuck with wings that don't completely shut, while another has one wing that sticks out a tad bit from the others. I switched the hiding spot to a kleenex box with two holes, because I think the lack of room during molts caused the deformed wings. Temp is around 78, and humidity is provided through misting.
Questions: Will the two semi-deformed guys be okay to live their lives and reproduce, or should I feed them off?
Also, when picking up the least deformed guy, I noticed a faint but still there hissing sound while he was running around and resting on my hand. Do these guys hiss as well? I've heard hissers hiss, and this sounded very similar yet fainter.
Discoids:
These guys are near the bottom of the pile in the standard setup, and receive almost direct heat at about 82 degrees. I currently fed off the 3-4 smallest guys I found, because I want to keep my strains pure from the start, and they may have been dubias due to a trade I did with a friend.
Questions: Is this too much heat? I also have 2-3 individuals who have an uncanny resemblance to death's head nymphs, even though I never bought deaths heads for this tank. Could they be the dreaded discoid X fusca or X craniifer?
Should I separate them if they are?
Peppereds:
These guys have the best spot in my opinion. They have a temp around 80, and decent humidity in the same setup as listed above.
Questions: Should I switch to kleenex boxes to prevent the wing stunting with these guys, as when they molt they will need extra room.
Turkistans:
These guys are in high heat, around 85 degrees and almost direct heat. I recently had to swap their container with the innocent peppereds, as they seemed to be close to busting out, but now they can't reach the screening.
Questions: I've seen two egg cases, and I'm concerned the heat will dry them out. One has been around for about a week, the other a day. Any suggestions or will they be fine?
Orange heads:
These guys are my fave and are doing good in the 90 degree zone. They are half done with their dog food, and I'm going to give them cooked hamburger when it's gone. They are growing at a phenomenal rate, I went from about 5 adults, 20 large nymphs and 25 medium ones to 11 adults and all large nymphs.
Questions: When I spritz them, the come to the screen and drink the droplets. Should I provide more moisture for them? If so, any suggestions for a permanent moisture source in such a hot tank? They devour the calcium gels I put in their tank...
Dubias:
I got a few of these as an additional package during a trade. They don't appear to be eating the dog food in their 78 temp zone, but I do notice that the inner-structure of the dog food is becoming exposed, so I guess it's just due to the low population. These guys may have a discoid mixed in, and it's really got me paranoid.
Other than that, they are pretty cute, and the females are really nice.
Questions: Any advice for helping me with paranoid-ness? It's really a pet peeve of mine to possibly have mixed species and not be able to identify them. >.<;;;
Giant cave roaches:
I have these guys in a 15" by 9" plastic container with holes in the top. There are multiple oak leaves, bits of egg crate, and dog food in a cut-out cream container bottom. I'd say they're about 78 degrees from indirect red light and humidity a bit higher than the room.
Questions: Will the smell from the cream container discourage them from feeding? Will they eat parts of the oak leaves? IS the temp and humidity ok for them?
Lobsters:
These guys are in a 27 quart-long container, no substrate, and simply on one egg crate with a food and water dish. Ventilation is in the form of 1" wide strips along both long sides of the container, with average household screening. Along the bottom, and up the sides and above the screening is Vaseline. Temp is about 80 from semi-indirect red lighting, while moisture comes from the occasional misting.
Questions: I have many nymphs, but only two adults who came as such. When will the largest nymphs molt? I've had them for a few weeks now...
Hissers:
They are in a 20 tall fish tank with a heat pad for heat. The air temp is around 75 in the summer and 80 in the winter. The substrate is coconut chunk, with about 2 1/2 inches. I have old kleenex boxes, paper towel rolls, and treated logs near the heat source, and food is available in the form of a 4 inch deep dish, which is changed when all the dog food/parrot food/ fresh food is gone.
Questions: I usually feed off males to my lizards, and I know who the dominant males are from watching. Will feeding off the submissives affect the population negatively if I leave mostly females and all dominant males?
Death's heads:
These guys rest below the giants but above the lobsters in my roach stack. They have a 27 quart-long tank with the same ventilation as the lobsters. The other day when I first received them, one of them had a bad molt and is stuck with wings that don't completely shut, while another has one wing that sticks out a tad bit from the others. I switched the hiding spot to a kleenex box with two holes, because I think the lack of room during molts caused the deformed wings. Temp is around 78, and humidity is provided through misting.
Questions: Will the two semi-deformed guys be okay to live their lives and reproduce, or should I feed them off?
Also, when picking up the least deformed guy, I noticed a faint but still there hissing sound while he was running around and resting on my hand. Do these guys hiss as well? I've heard hissers hiss, and this sounded very similar yet fainter.
Discoids:
These guys are near the bottom of the pile in the standard setup, and receive almost direct heat at about 82 degrees. I currently fed off the 3-4 smallest guys I found, because I want to keep my strains pure from the start, and they may have been dubias due to a trade I did with a friend.
Questions: Is this too much heat? I also have 2-3 individuals who have an uncanny resemblance to death's head nymphs, even though I never bought deaths heads for this tank. Could they be the dreaded discoid X fusca or X craniifer?
Should I separate them if they are?
Peppereds:
These guys have the best spot in my opinion. They have a temp around 80, and decent humidity in the same setup as listed above.
Questions: Should I switch to kleenex boxes to prevent the wing stunting with these guys, as when they molt they will need extra room.
Turkistans:
These guys are in high heat, around 85 degrees and almost direct heat. I recently had to swap their container with the innocent peppereds, as they seemed to be close to busting out, but now they can't reach the screening.
Questions: I've seen two egg cases, and I'm concerned the heat will dry them out. One has been around for about a week, the other a day. Any suggestions or will they be fine?
Orange heads:
These guys are my fave and are doing good in the 90 degree zone. They are half done with their dog food, and I'm going to give them cooked hamburger when it's gone. They are growing at a phenomenal rate, I went from about 5 adults, 20 large nymphs and 25 medium ones to 11 adults and all large nymphs.
Questions: When I spritz them, the come to the screen and drink the droplets. Should I provide more moisture for them? If so, any suggestions for a permanent moisture source in such a hot tank? They devour the calcium gels I put in their tank...
Dubias:
I got a few of these as an additional package during a trade. They don't appear to be eating the dog food in their 78 temp zone, but I do notice that the inner-structure of the dog food is becoming exposed, so I guess it's just due to the low population. These guys may have a discoid mixed in, and it's really got me paranoid.
Other than that, they are pretty cute, and the females are really nice.Questions: Any advice for helping me with paranoid-ness? It's really a pet peeve of mine to possibly have mixed species and not be able to identify them. >.<;;;
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Remember, they had several inches of substrate (the nymphs like to burrow) and the the egg crate "cups" are just too small to accommodate their large size. They had large pieces of cork bark where the late instar nymphs and adults like to hangout. I put an overturned quart berry container under the largest cork bark cave which works great for the nymphs due to the large, flat sides. The large nymphs would come outside and molt where they had plenty of room. Rule of thumb: at least 3x length of final size in order to molt. I would give them a minimum of a 10 gallon tank or buy a large Rubbermaid container and cut out a big area in top and use silicone or glue gun to attach screen (even though they don't climb, males get feisty when breeding time comes!) Granted, you don't have as many as I do/did (yet) so you don't need something quite as large 