Specific roach species that tend to smell?

A

aoikirin

Third Instar
I don't mean because of having a huge number of them in a small container with rotting dead.  I mean more which species have a smell in general even with a clean enclosure.  

The only species I have where I've noticed an odor is my container of male Aeuluropoda Insignis a.k.a. flat horn hissers.  Their enclosure has a strong smell.  I won't say it's horrible, but it's definitely musty.  I have females of the species in a different enclosure and I don't find they smell at all.  Weird right.

 
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I never noticed my flat horns having a smell, but orange heads and the red headed roach both defiantly have a staple smell to them. 

 
Hissers have a smell to me. If there is a dead hisser in the colony, it will also have a distinct smell. Hissers smells remind me of vinegar.

My orange heads have a bit of a smell if you mess with them too much. Otherwise they seem to smell mostly like the substrate. I don't notice a specific orange head smell, unless they are disturbed.

 
Periplaneta americana colonies always have a certain, "roachy" smell to them, can be pretty strong in larger colonies. 

 
varnon said:
Hissers have a smell to me. If there is a dead hisser in the colony, it will also have a distinct smell. Hissers smells remind me of vinegar.

My orange heads have a bit of a smell if you mess with them too much. Otherwise they seem to smell mostly like the substrate. I don't notice a specific orange head smell, unless they are disturbed.
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I find this interesting, because I’ve always felt like hissers smell like a musty closet with moth balls in it more than they smell of vinegar. I actually don’t mind the smell of them at all.

The dead ones have a unique funk that is almost... Foul cheese-like.

aoikirin, I would say most bug tanks do get an earthy, musty smell, (especially depending on the number of specimens in the enclosure) even when the tank is nice and clean. Perhaps try using a different substrate? 

 
Well, I generally don't think my sense of smell is great, but it could be individual differences between us, or differences in our roaches and/or their environment. I do find the musty mothball approach to be interesting though. I can imagine that, and maybe some of the substrate has that kind of smell, but I just can't imagine that as a hisser smell. I'm going to have to do some bug sniffing later today and think about that.

 
I wouls say OrangeHeads, much more then my Hissers and Red Runners, while my Disciods and Pallids have very low smell, Dubia in between.

 
aoikirin said:
I don't mean because of having a huge number of them in a small container with rotting dead.  I mean more which species have a smell in general even with a clean enclosure.  

The only species I have where I've noticed an odor is my container of male Aeuluropoda Insignis a.k.a. flat horn hissers.  Their enclosure has a strong smell.  I won't say it's horrible, but it's definitely musty.  I have females of the species in a different enclosure and I don't find they smell at all.  Weird right.
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Red runners (Shelfordella lateralis or Blatta lateralis) smell very musky.

Perhaps it is the mating pheromones the males and females display you can smell?? When you remove the males from the enclosure there is no need for the females to use energy on mating pheromones and as such they do not smell.

Have you tried making a male only enclosure? Only asking out of curiosity :)

 
Supposedly many winged species have a defense smell or so I've been told. My warty glowspots (Lucihormetica verrucosa) are little stinkers lol. Their enclosure certainly smells of them, when I handle them they don't smell unless I accidentally scared them beforehand. 

 
The most stinking species I know:

-   Rhyparobia maderae, the goldies too. If their defensive secret gets onto human skin it 

    leaves a also stinking spot for some days. 

-   Eurycotis opaca - marcipan like, but only nice in little dose, in high dose it hardens breathing.

-   Eurycotis floridana - the "skunk roaches" trivial name recflects its programme

-   Syploce pallens - if the colony gets stressed it smells like hamster cage

-   Periplaneta americana has a strong odor, too, I agree

Greetings, Marco

 
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