Long term roach colony success

birdonfire

birdonfire

First Instar
I can find little discussion on what it takes to be successful at managing colonies over a period of years. Looking to expand with some of the more common species like little Kenyans and glowspots but I'm overwhelmed by the prospect of managing ever increasing colony populations. How do you successfully manage roach colonies long term and their ever looming population growth? Selling locally for me is not an option as no one is interested. Culling is not something I like to do.

 
Maybe you could try getting some insectivorous animals to help relieve your colonies? Besides that, selling/trading and culling are really the only other options. If colonies get too large, they will technically manage themselves by crashing and eventually repopulating, but this is the worst option ethically.

 
I just received my Halloween Hisser colony start today.  Now It's wait and see what happens over the years.

 
Sorry to bring back an old thread, but I have the same concerns now that my two hissers finally bred. Do I have to worry about incest? Will siblings mating with each other cause genetic issues? If so, how often should I introduce new specimens? Thanks!

 
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DMarinel4 said:
Sorry to bring back an old thread, but I have the same concerns now that my two hissers finally bred. Do I have to worry about incest? Will siblings mating with each other cause genetic issues? If so, how often should I introduce new specimens? Thanks!
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Inbreeding is not a concern with roaches, unless you purposely are keeping horribly deformed individuals in your gene pools and allowing them to breed with healthy ones (though most genetic deformities, rare as they are, are fatal, and kill the roaches before they can breed and spread those bad genes anyways).

Most of the roaches in the hobby are only established in culture from a handful of individuals, and thus are inbred as heck, with no issues whatsoever. Some decades old stocks were started with literally single gravid females or pairs, and are still going strong.

 
Hisserdude said:
Inbreeding is not a concern with roaches, unless you purposely are keeping horribly deformed individuals in your gene pools and allowing them to breed with healthy ones (though most genetic deformities, rare as they are, are fatal, and kill the roaches before they can breed and spread those bad genes anyways).

Most of the roaches in the hobby are only established in culture from a handful of individuals, and thus are inbred as heck, with no issues whatsoever. Some decades old stocks were started with literally single gravid females or pairs, and are still going strong.
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Thank you very much for this information!

 
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