Things roaches in general won't eat:

Does the size matter? Just wondering about the fish food I've got, it's not flakes but tiny granules, maybe 1mm in size. Are they actually able to grab such tiny pieces? I've been trying to search pictures of hissers mouth anatomy. They are chewers I presume? So they can't suck up stuff like flies or butterflies? Do they use their legs when they eat, like grab something in their "hand" and put it in their mouth? Or do they just gnaw stuff? If that's the case, it would seem logical to give food in relatively big chunks and then clean out leftovers.

 
Ps - size, I dont know, I normally feed chunks. Even cat food in small chunky buisciuts was difficult to tell what they were eating.

 
Ok after intensive googling I've learnt that they've got these arm like moving things called maxilla that pick up food and take it to the jaw like things called mandibles. But it's still difficult to see if they've actually eaten anything. They've got fish food all the time there and now pineapple (fresh, not canned) and orange. I guess it would be easier to feed them if there were more hissers, maybe then the food would clearly disappear? Hopefully they're happily eating the tree bark I've given them and not having a hunger strike.

 
WJSTLL?! said:
Actually, my cockroaches ate Cilantro. (Mine are American cockroaches though, so I can't speak for the "fancy breeds") And my cockroaches also eat carrots, but only when I don't give them apples or such.
Click to expand...
I second that. I have left over cilantro from some caterpillars I am raising, and my hissers/dubias seem to love it. They won't eat the curly leaf parsley though.

I have an idea for how to organize all this data. Perhaps a google spread sheet where different folks can enter info about what their roaches will eat. That way, instead of trying to sort through so much data, you can just take a quick glance.

 
My hissers aren't too crazy about grapes for some reason. Never have been. It's weird since I hear other people's hissers love grapes and I make sure to halve them and everything. Same with bananas. They just sit around and attract gnats :(

 
Prunes. I thought they would go nuts (especially since I haven't fed them anything sweet in a while) but it's been 3 days and they haven't touched them. Strange considering the way they pick all the raisins out of raisin bran. Celery wasn't a big hit either.

 
Roachsmith said:
I put some cantelope in my roach tanks last week. I thought they would love it since it's soft and sweet but they barely touched it. I gave it to b. fusca, peppereds, hissers, banana roaches, etc. The only roaches that ate it were my dubias.
sad.gif


I have yet to find a food that dubias won't eat though.
Click to expand...
My Dubias weren't overly joyed by cantaloupe :l I've even had them eat eggshell!

Also they barely touched strawberries

But I generally stay away from bananas as well because for some reason the pesticide causes problems in my colony.

Maybe organic would be fine but they aren't overjoyed when it's introduced regardless.

 
I've found my Dubias love bananas, as long as they are ripe. They also seem to really enjoy curly and regular varieties of dock leaves (Rumex crispus and related).

 
I'm new to keeping roaches. I mean I had 6 female dubias for the past year but when I got them I was going to feed them to the gecko. They turned out to be too big so I kept them as pets. All I gave them was cricket chow and water crystals for. I tried apples and bananas and other than a nibble on the apple they don't seem interested in it. They LOVE the water crystals and they all seem nice and fat.

But now I added 7 nymphs and 6 large question mark nymphs to a larger enclosure. I'm hoping to see some different behaviors in eating but so far no luck. The cricket chow wasn't even nibbled nor the flax seed. I put in banana yesterday and it doesn't appear anyone cares about that either. They're living in a ton of crumbled oak and some other leaves (that have remoistened) so maybe they're good with that. The temperatures have dropped too in my house.

This is a great thread to see how picky some roaches can be.

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