Skitters from the Shadows

Krissim Klaw

Krissim Klaw

Second Instar
Hello fellow bug people.

I'm new to the roach hobby, however I have experience with inverts in general and use to catch pretty much anything that moved growing up. My bug of choice would be mantids, and some of you might recognize me from Mantid Forum.

At this point I am mostly looking to try my hand at getting a feeder colony of roaches started for my mantises. This isn't to say I don't also intend to enjoy my roaches. Considering I typically keep things light with only 1-5 mantises at a time, I figure that leaves a lot of room for many of the roaches to live out their little bug lives without ending up on the menu. I've had a breeder tank of crickets going for years, but I felt like it might be fun to try something different.

Since I hail from FL, I was leaning toward Panchlora nivea as a possible choice in species, but I'm open to any suggestions and input.

I'm looking forward to talking with everyone. =3

 
Welcome! Be careful with P. nivea since they can be escape artists. I would get one of those waterproof containers, then cut a hole into it and glue a piece of screen mesh to it. Have you found any P. Nivea locally? I seen them often when I set up black lights outside to catch beetles.

 
Cool more people from Florida! I am in Broward County and my feeder of choice is the Australian roach, Asian roach, and Oriental roach ....none native. hmmm thats sad in a way.

well you can go out at night a collect the tiny little natives that live all around us but rarely ever see. theres a pretty little white one and two or three yellow types that just hang out on the tips of leaves and flowers.

 
greatwun said:
Welcome! Be careful with P. nivea since they can be escape artists. I would get one of those waterproof containers, then cut a hole into it and glue a piece of screen mesh to it. Have you found any P. Nivea locally? I seen them often when I set up black lights outside to catch beetles.
Click to expand...
So they are really bad when it comes to escaping? Is this both the adults and nymphs? I know the adults can climb good and fly, but when researching I saw a lot of people mention the nymphs especially seem way more interested in burrowing into the moist substrate than climbing. I was planning on giving them a few inches of moist substrate along with adding some springtails and isopods to keep things clean for me. My main gripe with crickets is I am so over cleaning up cricket poo.I was hoping to use my 20L tank that I used to use as my breeder bin for crickets. The lid is pretty solid as far as tank lids go and keeping the adults and larger nymphs in wouldn't be a problem. I'm sure though the teeny tiny ones could probably find a way out though if they were really determined, which would be a bummer.

I know I have seen a couple P. Nivea over the years, but my mind is drawing a blank on specific locations. I don't currently have a black light for night hunting. I know I really ought to get one. The closest my lazy bum currently comes though is occasionally using the porch light to draw in stuff. I've got a bunch of a fat toads though that live under our horse trailer/spa that like to pilfer what I draw in. The gluttons don't take long to appear once they see the light is on.

Alex said:
Cool more people from Florida! I am in Broward County and my feeder of choice is the Australian roach, Asian roach, and Oriental roach ....none native. hmmm thats sad in a way.

well you can go out at night a collect the tiny little natives that live all around us but rarely ever see. theres a pretty little white one and two or three yellow types that just hang out on the tips of leaves and flowers.
Click to expand...
Hahaha, yah I was hoping to go with something native since that tends to make things easy. A lot of roaches look like they would be overkill size wise, but the P. Nivea seemed like they would be a good fit, and when reasearching I noticed that some others have had good luck breeding/using them for feeders in general. Bonus points that green is my favorite color, so I do look forward to seeing the adults.Now that I joined the board I would be curious to know what the roaches are I often find in the grass outside are. I'll have to collect them and post some photos since I fail hardcore at IDing stuff.

 
Krissim Klaw said:
So they are really bad when it comes to escaping? Is this both the adults and nymphs? I know the adults can climb good and fly, but when researching I saw a lot of people mention the nymphs especially seem way more interested in burrowing into the moist substrate than climbing. I was planning on giving them a few inches of moist substrate along with adding some springtails and isopods to keep things clean for me. My main gripe with crickets is I am so over cleaning up cricket poo.

I was hoping to use my 20L tank that I used to use as my breeder bin for crickets. The lid is pretty solid as far as tank lids go and keeping the adults and larger nymphs in wouldn't be a problem. I'm sure though the teeny tiny ones could probably find a way out though if they were really determined, which would be a bummer.

I know I have seen a couple P. Nivea over the years, but my mind is drawing a blank on specific locations. I don't currently have a black light for night hunting. I know I really ought to get one. The closest my lazy bum currently comes though is occasionally using the porch light to draw in stuff. I've got a bunch of a fat toads though that live under our horse trailer/spa that like to pilfer what I draw in. The gluttons don't take long to appear once they see the light is on.

Hahaha, yah I was hoping to go with something native since that tends to make things easy. A lot of roaches look like they would be overkill size wise, but the P. Nivea seemed like they would be a good fit, and when reasearching I noticed that some others have had good luck breeding/using them for feeders in general. Bonus points that green is my favorite color, so I do look forward to seeing the adults.

Now that I joined the board I would be curious to know what the roaches are I often find in the grass outside are. I'll have to collect them and post some photos since I fail hardcore at IDing stuff.
Click to expand...
Yes it's just the adults that you really have to worry about escaping. If you have a good lid for the 20 gallon then you should be good to go. Although I'd only keep then in the air tight containers (with air holes of course). I have found P. Nivea in areas with lots of large oak trees. They come to my lights often. If you are willing to spend some money for a light you can pick up a bug zapper at Lowes. It was the 40 watt unit and I sawed off the plastic housing, cut the - and + wires going to the metal grid and wrapped them separately in electrical tape, and removed the metal grid. It attracts so many species of insects every night.

 
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