Lobsters vs. Surinam

Matttoadman

Matttoadman

Blatta
If you had to choose between these two species which would choose and why? Reproductive rates, maturation rates, housing requirements, ease of containment, smells, heat requirements, and ease of using as a feeder etc. Personally I am leaning towards the Surinam.

 
Interesting, don't just the adults climb? I would think it would be fairly easy to contain the adults. Proper lid, vasoline....

 
Don't have either, but it seems like the lobsters are the more popular species. Definitely curious to hear what others say since I've been looking to get both to use as feeders as supplement to my other feeder species.

 
I only have the lobsters, but they are quickly turning into my favorite feeders. They reproduce fast, mature fast, are easy to keep, and are versatile enough in size to feed small mantids, all the way up to large tarantulas.

 
I have surinams, and I like them a lot! This species has a special place in my heart, it was one of the first roaches species I ever kept, back when I lived in FL. I love the fact that they are parthenogenic, and they are one of the easiest roaches to culture. Never had any escapees, only adults can climb. And if they did get into other roach enclosures, I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to remove them if they were causing problems.

 
With the Surinam it sounds like the amount you can keep per enclosure depends on how much substrate it can hold. The lobsters, how many egg cartons.

 
Matttoadman said:
With the Surinam it sounds like the amount you can keep per enclosure depends on how much substrate it can hold. The lobsters, how many egg cartons.
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I stack the box with as many egg flats will fit. No need for a substrate with the lobsters, in case you didn't know.

 
Lobsters FTW! I've had terrible luck using surinams as feeders because they burrow into substrate. Consequently this resulted in the death of some of my assassin bugs, and surinams actually ate them when the bugs became weaker due to starvation.

Surinam nymphs CAN climb by the way. It's one of the ways I use to distinguish surinam nymphs from green banana roaches

 
Cariblatta lutea said:
Lobsters FTW! I've had terrible luck using surinams as feeders because they burrow into substrate. Consequently this resulted in the death of some of my assassin bugs, and surinams actually ate them when the bugs became weaker due to starvation.

Surinam nymphs CAN climb by the way. It's one of the ways I use to distinguish surinam nymphs from green banana roaches
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Wow, I thought roaches were safe feeders!

Small surinam nymphs can't climb, but the larger ones can, don't know why I said only the adults can. :wacko:

 
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Sounds like I might be picking up some lobsters in the future...planning on emptying a bin of mini mealworms (anyone want some?), so that'll be a sizeable container I can put a bunch of egg crate in.

 
Thanks guys. Fabulous discussion. Lobsters it is. Plus the guy that I got my pantanal from has lobsters.....now preparing myself to unpack hundreds of mixed lobsters.....yikes lol. I struggled trying to get 27 hissers out of a deli cup. Man they stick tight! Any tips on unpacking hundreds of climbers?

 
Do it in a large bin so any runners will still have to climb up another wall. If you have their enclosure all ready when they arrive (I'm assuming you'll have vaseline around the edges) you can just try to unload them into that. You'll probably still have a couple escapees initially in the chaos of it all, but they'll be much easier to round up than a few hundred lol.

 
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