Roach Condos

Roachman26

Roachman26

Seventh Instar
Does anyone see a reason why this won't work? It is held together by hot glue. Will the roaches eat the glue? Will it hurt them if they do? I like it because it keeps me from squishing babies when I peel apart the egg flat layers to check on them. Seems like it also gives a lot of vertical space for emerging adults to straighten their wings.

 
Hi

Non of my roaches ever ate hot glue but my Pachnoda marginata peregrina larvae did and according to the fast reproduction it hasn't done any harm yet.

Our hot glue (in Switzerland) consists mainly (because it isn't hard and brittle it obviously isn't pure and has to contain other things like plasticizer) of polypropylene, an inert and non-digestible plastic. But plasticizers aren't that great... the most frequently used ones in PVC are phthalic acid derivatives infamous for their hormone-like potential (estrogenic).

Grüessli

Andreas

 
Roachman26 said:
Does anyone see a reason why this won't work? It is held together by hot glue. Will the roaches eat the glue? Will it hurt them if they do? I like it because it keeps me from squishing babies when I peel apart the egg flat layers to check on them. Seems like it also gives a lot of vertical space for emerging adults to straighten their wings.
Click to expand...
I'm finding my own reason why it doesn't work. You can't get to the roaches in the middle! It works fine if you don't ever need to get to them, but I like to get in there and "mess" with 'em. So my solution was to detach each flat but leave the tubes attached. This way I can remove individual panels, but the tubes keep them relatively vertical and prevent the flats from stacking and squishing anything.

 
discoidtub.jpg


I use this method and love it. just cut some cardboard same size as flats and used for dividing them. Notice the water dish thingy, it no longer is used I have for some reason left it in there, I now just spray them down now and then and the roaches LOVE it. If you look close enough you can see the flats are damp and one of the discoid has water droplets on his back. I would hardly ever see them getting water from the dish with the Cristal junk in it but when I spray them down they go nuts, great way to see most of them they come out in masses for the water after being sprayed.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
James M. said:
discoidtub.jpg
I use this method and love it. just cut some cardboard same size as flats and used for dividing them. Notice the water dish thingy, it no longer is used I have for some reason left it in there, I now just spray them down now and then and the roaches LOVE it. If you look close enough you can see the flats are damp and one of the discoid has water droplets on his back. I would hardly ever see them getting water from the dish with the Cristal junk in it but when I spray them down they go nuts, great way to see most of them they come out in masses for the water after being sprayed.
Click to expand...
Great pic! Thank you. That seems like a much better and easier way than what I came up with. I'm going to give that a try. I've got a couple of questions.

1. I have lots of those kind of dishes, but I was afraid the smaller babies and nymphs wouldn't be able to climb up the smooth sides. Judging by your pic, it doesn't seem to be a problem. I use them with my hissers to contain the food and keep things neater, but they can climb anything. How can they (Blaberus, etc...) climb the smooth sides of the food dish, but not the sides of the tub?

2. I hate messing with those water crystals, but its much easier than any kind of water dish. The air where I live is very dry and even dryer in my heated reptile room. Usually in the single digits or teens for humidity, at least according to several cheapy-type humidity guages. As a result I spray my colonies thoroughly at least once a day, but sometimes several times a day. During the hot summer days it gets in the 90's and very dry in there. I've been keeping them with no substrate and things seem to be working so far. My question is: Do you keep them successfully with no water source at all now? Do they seem to be getting all their water needs met by food and daily spraying?

 
I used sand paper to ruff up the food dish so they can climb it. :) inside and out but not the bottom so i can clean it.

 
Thats a good idea :) I use chick waterers in a few of my cages and the nymphs always have trouble getting to the water. I will have to try that. Thanks!

Kevin

 
My question is: Do you keep them successfully with no water source at all now? Do they seem to be getting all their water needs met by food and daily spraying?

yes definitely.

they seem to be doing better this way.

 
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