Hello all. I was referred to this forum from a bearded dragon forum and I'm hoping you can help. I saw a couple of recent posts regarding this subject but didn't want to hijack their threads.
I bought a dozen Turks for my beardie last night. Since he's still young I asked the reptile store for smaller roaches. I don't think any of them were bigger than 1".
They were purchased to serve for the next morning's feeding. The store packaged them in a plastic bag which was then placed in a paper bag. When I woke this morning they had chewed a small hole in the plastic bag and all but 4 had escaped. Through an exhaustive search of the room and adjacent rooms I found another 6. Over night I caught another 5 in glue traps and/or duck tape bringing the total to 15 caught.
I called the reptile store and asked the clerk if he could recall exactly how many he put in the bag. His best guess was between 12 and 15. I've also found two pinhead sized roaches (one in the bag and one climbing on my wall). I didn't see the clerk put the roaches in the bag but I assume he shook something causing the roaches to fall in which also caused the babies to fall in as well. As a result, I don't have a lot of confidence in his count.
My obvious concern is that they will survive and start breeding. I live in the Pacific NW. Outside temps today range from 40 - 50 degrees F. Temps are going to be colder over the weekend. Temps inside my house range from 61 - 70 degrees in the basement and between 67 - 74 degrees upstairs (where they escaped). Of course, there are appliances and areas that get warmer.
A few questions come to mind...
1) Is there any risk in them breeding at their current size?
2) If not, what size (and temps) do they need to be to start reproducing?
3) How long can they live in this house considering the current temps?
4) Should I lower the temps inside my house? I could raise the windows and bring the temps down considerably if that would be a quick fix.
I called a couple of local exterminators and neither had any experience with this roach so I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice.
I bought a dozen Turks for my beardie last night. Since he's still young I asked the reptile store for smaller roaches. I don't think any of them were bigger than 1".
They were purchased to serve for the next morning's feeding. The store packaged them in a plastic bag which was then placed in a paper bag. When I woke this morning they had chewed a small hole in the plastic bag and all but 4 had escaped. Through an exhaustive search of the room and adjacent rooms I found another 6. Over night I caught another 5 in glue traps and/or duck tape bringing the total to 15 caught.
I called the reptile store and asked the clerk if he could recall exactly how many he put in the bag. His best guess was between 12 and 15. I've also found two pinhead sized roaches (one in the bag and one climbing on my wall). I didn't see the clerk put the roaches in the bag but I assume he shook something causing the roaches to fall in which also caused the babies to fall in as well. As a result, I don't have a lot of confidence in his count.
My obvious concern is that they will survive and start breeding. I live in the Pacific NW. Outside temps today range from 40 - 50 degrees F. Temps are going to be colder over the weekend. Temps inside my house range from 61 - 70 degrees in the basement and between 67 - 74 degrees upstairs (where they escaped). Of course, there are appliances and areas that get warmer.
A few questions come to mind...
1) Is there any risk in them breeding at their current size?
2) If not, what size (and temps) do they need to be to start reproducing?
3) How long can they live in this house considering the current temps?
4) Should I lower the temps inside my house? I could raise the windows and bring the temps down considerably if that would be a quick fix.
I called a couple of local exterminators and neither had any experience with this roach so I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice.
