PEPPERED ROACH ENCLOSURE

Hornetboy

Hornetboy

First Instar
Hello, my fellow cockroach lovers!

I am new here and I am eagerly looking forward to forming new friendships in this wonderful forum. :)

Anyway...

I recently finished setting up a large enclosure with substrate, plants, pieces of cork bark, a deer antler, an opossum skull, a pine cone and food & water dishes. It looks awesome! I just ordered a stand for it. This enclosure will be for a colony of peppered roaches (Archimandrita tesselata). These monster roaches will serve two purposes for me... as pets and as feeders (The birdeaters that I am planning on getting can easily eat the adult peppered roaches with no problem!).

I will not mist because I want the enclosure to be as dry as possible to avoid problems with flies and mites. So, the substrate will be bone dry (It is a good thing the pothos and spanish moss draped on the cork bark are fake!). The peppered roaches will get their moisture from the water dish and fresh fruits & veggies.

The deer antler will make a very unique climbing branch for the roaches! LOL!!!

Here are photos which show my peppered roach enclosure sitting on top of the new stand. As you can obviously see, I have it nicely decorated. Please let me know what you folks think. Thanks! Here ya go:

IMG_3268.jpg


IMG_3266.jpg


IMG_3261.jpg


IMG_3254.jpg


IMG_3248.jpg


IMG_3247.jpg


IMG_3238.jpg


My next step is to buy peppered roaches for this enclosure. I am shopping around for the best deal. Does anyone in this forum have a great deal on these roaches??? Please let me know. Thanks!

Bring on the feedback. :)

Take care,

Terry

 
Alfacuria said:
Nice i think they will be happy least till they are fed to giant tarantulas
Click to expand...
Alfacuria, thanks for your feedback! :)

It shouldn't be too difficult to decide which ones to keep as pets and which ones to use as feeders. I'll just feed off the old ones which aren't in the best condition.

 
Welcome, I think I remember you from the venom list. That enclosure looks very nice. Your peppereds should be pretty happy in that as long as there is enough hides.

 
Your enclosure looks really nice; however, I'm not 100% sure how the roaches will fare being bone dry. If your only worry is mites/flies, then I would personally at least mist them every few days; the flies I've seen need a lot of moisture to take hold. And even then, they aren't really that bad, just a bit of a nuisance. I even mist my desert roaches once a week, and I've never seen a fly in their enclosures, and A. tesselatas are a pretty tropical species. Anyway, that's my two-cents. However you end up doing it, good luck.

On a side note, that's a pretty cool hornet's nest in your pic. I'm curious, how do you go about collecting these large nests? Do you kill the residents, or do you mark them and come back in, say, winter, when they have been abandoned? (And even then, do they ever come back to the same ones after winter?) It seems like a pretty interesting hobby.

 
recluse said:
Welcome, I think I remember you from the venom list. That enclosure looks very nice. Your peppereds should be pretty happy in that as long as there is enough hides.
Click to expand...
Hello, recluse.

Thanks for the welcome! :)

Yep, my main hangout spot is the "Bees and Wasps" forum on the Venom List website.

The three giant pieces of cork bark which you see in my enclosure will provide the perfect hiding places for the peppereds.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
satchellwk said:
Your enclosure looks really nice; however, I'm not 100% sure how the roaches will fare being bone dry. If your only worry is mites/flies, then I would personally at least mist them every few days; the flies I've seen need a lot of moisture to take hold. And even then, they aren't really that bad, just a bit of a nuisance. I even mist my desert roaches once a week, and I've never seen a fly in their enclosures, and A. tesselatas are a pretty tropical species. Anyway, that's my two-cents. However you end up doing it, good luck.

On a side note, that's a pretty cool hornet's nest in your pic. I'm curious, how do you go about collecting these large nests? Do you kill the residents, or do you mark them and come back in, say, winter, when they have been abandoned? (And even then, do they ever come back to the same ones after winter?) It seems like a pretty interesting hobby.
Click to expand...
I sincerely appreciate your feedback, satchellwk. :)

Well, the peppereds won't be completely dry. I am planning on giving them fresh water in a dish and fresh fruits & veggies. The moisture/humidity will come from these.

Thanks for your kind words about my photo. The best time to collect nests is during the late fall/early winter after a couple of hard freezes. This is when wasps abandon their nests and die. Old nests are typically not reused. People from around this country and from around the world ship nests to me (This is how I get most of them!). They are masterpieces of nature in my humble opinion. I specialize in collecting MONSTER nests (The bigger the better!). My wasp nest collection is extensive and impressive. It is my pride and joy! Here are some pics:

IMG_2338.jpg


IMG_1645a.jpg


IMG_2227a.jpg


IMG_0742a.jpg


IMG_1667a.jpg


IMG_2851.jpg


IMG_2943.jpg


IMG_2085a.jpg


IMG_2990.jpg


Picture136a-1.jpg


 
Here is a picture of my A. tesselata enclosure. Despite providing several hides, I've found that they just burrow down into the substrate anyway.

100_2707.jpg


 
Toasty said:
What substrate are you using for the tesselata?
Click to expand...
Actually, my substrate is in two layers. I am using a 50/50 mix of cypress mulch and coco soft chips for the bottom layer and the top layer is sphagnum moss. I don't have the roaches yet, but I am hoping that I will have them in the near future.

 
Toasty said:
Here is a picture of my A. tesselata enclosure. Despite providing several hides, I've found that they just burrow down into the substrate anyway.
Click to expand...
Your enclosure is nice! :)

From my past experience in keeping this wonderful species, I've noticed that the nymphs tend to burrow more than the adults... and the adults tend to show themselves more than the nymphs.

 
That is such an amazingly awesome collection! That room must be so much fun to show off to people. :) It really makes me want to go climb some of the trees around here in fall as the nests are so gorgeous close up! I bet if you were to have just one as a decorative piece in a living room that company would never figure out what it was just by glancing at it. They would think it was a sculpture, or a woven basket. Really incredible. :D

 
Thank you, I was fairly pleased with how it turned out :) .

I would suggest adding some leaf litter to your substrate. A. tesselatas seem to need it to really thrive. I use oak leaf litter mixed in with eco earth.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
wodesorel said:
That is such an amazingly awesome collection! That room must be so much fun to show off to people. :) It really makes me want to go climb some of the trees around here in fall as the nests are so gorgeous close up! I bet if you were to have just one as a decorative piece in a living room that company would never figure out what it was just by glancing at it. They would think it was a sculpture, or a woven basket. Really incredible. :D
Click to expand...
Hehehe!!! I sincerely appreciate your kind words regarding my collection. It really does mean a lot to me. :) Oh, I absolutely love showing off my collection to people just for their reactions of sheer awe! LOL!!! It is also a great opportunity to educate people on the beneficial aspects of these fascinating creatures. Wasps are very beneficial to have around because they prey on large numbers of pests such as flies, caterpillars, spiders, etc... Just think of them as natural pest control. By the way, wasps are NOT out to get people! Yes, wasp nests are very beautiful. They are truly masterpieces of nature! You should collect some during the late fall/early winter after a couple of hard freezes and display them inside your home as decorations/conversation pieces. Here are more photos which show my collection (Enjoy!):

IMG_2336.jpg


IMG_2340.jpg


IMG_2346.jpg


IMG_2349.jpg


IMG_2352.jpg


 
Toasty said:
Thank you, I was fairly pleased with how it turned out :) .

I would suggest adding some leaf litter to your substrate. A. tesselatas seem to need it to really thrive. I use oak leaf litter mixed in with eco earth.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestion. :)

 
I am still looking for peppered roaches. My enclosure remains empty until I find some. Are there any good deals to be had? Can someone please help me out??? At least point me in the right direction. Thanks!

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top