What will I ever do?
- Thread starter Zephyr
- Start date
Psydeus565
Fourth Instar
Impressive! How many species is there?
vfox
Blatta
Hey Zephyr, how do you keep all of them heated properly? I need to rely on heat lamps because my living room is kept at 66 f. I'm curious because I plan on getting several new scorpions and cockroaches at the Hamburg, PA show this December. I'm trying to more effectively heat my racks without pumping out so much electricity. I unfortunately do not have a small room with a separate thermostat like some people seem to; my house is over 100 years old. Unfortunately heating lamps have been my best solution so far; I feel like heat pads may be a better solution but I've little experience with them on plastic surfaces. Any suggestions; you seem to have things down to a science lol.
When I took this photo I was using no supplemental heating. The room stayed 67-72 in the winter and 70-85 in the summer. Many of my species did just fine. Now that I have more heat loving species and I sell a lot at a local show, I've started using a single 150 watt red light bulb positioned about 4.5 feet from the rack. The rack is organized by heat priority; Heat loving species that like to bask, like hissers, are right in front of the light. Heat loving species that like more stagnant heat (Schultesia, Pseudomops, most other egg-layers, etc)go more towards the top of the rack, still in the beam of the light but not wholly. Prolific/temperate/species I don't need too many of (Hemiblabera, Therea, Polyphaga, etc) are at the bottom of the rack. Overall, now that I've started using the light, the temps in the room never fall too far below 75; during the day I'd say 80-85 is the usual.
Coincidentally my house is fairly old (about 60-ish) so the insulation isn't all that good. So I put some styrofoam sheets up against the walls in key points. Works like a charm.
I'll try to get some recent pics up soon; the rack is about 170% more organized now. I love it. lol
vfox
Blatta
Jeesh, just one bulb? I need to use 3 50 watt and 1 100 watt to keep my tanks above 70º F. I'm waiting for the ones you sold to me to mature and hopefully start breeding before I reduce the heat a bit...can't wait for the Panchlora nivea to mature and start breeding! (The male you included died yesterday sadly) Like I said the house is cool, 64-66ºF on average so I need the bulbs to keep them comfortable. I did change everyones substrate to a better mix of cocofiber and ZooMeds soil mixture. Maybe the added humidity will help them molt out better...speaking of which...my discoids are molting into adulthood like crazy the past few days, I saw eight new adults and I didn't even think I had that many sub-adults lol!
Out of curiosity when did you start raising roaches? I noticed your age the other day and I've got to say I am quite impressed that someone just out of highschool (or still in maybe?) is raising and selling such exotic/difficult species. I'm 27 and I only have a handful and not all that much experience or knowledge of them just yet. I'm impressed with the quality of your husbandry basically; anyone can own hundreds of animals but it takes someone who really knows their hobby inside and out to breed and sell that many without ruining their stock. I've heard too many horror stories of misidentification and poor husbandry from dealers twice your age or more that it sticks with me when it's done right. ^_^
My first encounter with roaches was at a Science and Engineering Competition 4 years ago. The first thing I asked my mom when I got home was "Can I get hissing cockroaches?" I will never forget her answer: "Cockroaches? In this house? You're nuts!"
I started keeping hissers about 2 months later.
I started keeping hissers about 2 months later.
Last edited by a moderator:
Ozymandias
Seventh Instar
you guys have it easy the first part of my house was built in like 1775 or so then rolled down a hill in 1830ish to be added to another building so ya not wondering full things with my house and lack of insulation. thank fully i live in a newer building that we built as a studio when we bought the house but again we did make it vary energy efficient. so now i just have all my roaches and reptiles in one room with an electric oil heater and that seams to work well. most of my bigger feeder bins are right next the the heater actually and my dubia and lateralis are producing like mad, strangely enough not my huge colony of discoid though.
vfox heat pads work fine on plastic usually most don't get about 100F. the risky thing about them is that thay can short out and over heat but that can be mitigated by using a good quality thermostat that can be expensive thought. that being said i use them with out a thermostat and so far i've been fine, cross my finger. another option option that i've thinking about was building a rack system that people use for housing reptiles with a strip of heat tape (like heat pads but longer) at the back to heat them and thus you only need like one thermostat or so.
Zephyr cant wait to see what it looks like now.
Last edited by a moderator:
GreenOasis
Second Instar
LOL...sounds like my husband a couple of months ago...and you know how THAT turned out!My first encounter with roaches was at a Science and Engineering Competition 4 years ago. The first thing I asked my mom when I got home was "Can I get hissing cockroaches?" I will never forget her answer: "Cockroaches? In this house? You're nuts!"
I started keeping hissers about 2 months later.
Okay...we raise reptiles and the "preferred" professional method is a rack system, not unlike how you have your bins set up there.
We use "Flexwatt" heat tape to provide a warm area for the snakes to thermoregulate. So...MY idea for these guys (roaches) would be to setup a flexwatt system...which you can either attach to the shelves underneath the bins, or to the wall behind them. You can also have them setup with different rheostats (dimmer switch control) for different species, enabling you to keep several species in the same rack (we use different "zones" in our rack system for the different species of snakes). The only place I know to get Flexwatt is from beanfarm.com and it's not terribly expensive...especially if you use the "dimmer switch" method...but it can get expensive if you choose to get a nice proportional thermostatic control (which, we paid over $300 for ours!)
The nice thing is that beanfarm.com also has instructions on how to hook the stuff up yourself with a dimmer switch (flexwatt NEEDS a temperature-control or it will overheat & could cause a fire)...all you need is some basic electrical knowledge and a soldering iron! (They sell "quick connect" clips, but soldering the wires is SO much better!)
I hope that helps!
-Carey Kurtz-
Green Oasis Reptiles
Although I've thought many times about using heat tape/pads many times, I've found that many species (most any live-bearers) reproduce best when given a basking light. This way they can choose just how much heat they want and move about accordingly. Egg-layers do seem to do best with stagnant heat, though. And moisture/
vfox
Blatta
Haha yeah it's kind of a certain kind of ridiculous. But because I keep tropical/savanna and desert/stepp scorpions as well it's somewhat needed. Especially because my 4 emps are so small and getting ready to molt.
Not to mention it's a good deterant for people wanting to break into a home...red lights in the window have a certain creepy neighbor sentiment to them, lol.
Not to mention it's a good deterant for people wanting to break into a home...red lights in the window have a certain creepy neighbor sentiment to them, lol.
Here's a pic of the rack as of today. It's approaching it's final form... Finally. lol
Enclosures not pictured: G. portentosa (on a dresser just to the right-front of the pic), N. cinerea (they're in a big sterilite bin just out of view on the left), Rhyparobia sp. "Malasia" (in the basement for advanced maintenance), E. chopardi (advanced maintenance), B. lateralis (residing in basement), and B. dubia (residing in basement.)
Enclosures not pictured: G. portentosa (on a dresser just to the right-front of the pic), N. cinerea (they're in a big sterilite bin just out of view on the left), Rhyparobia sp. "Malasia" (in the basement for advanced maintenance), E. chopardi (advanced maintenance), B. lateralis (residing in basement), and B. dubia (residing in basement.)
vfox
Blatta
Kyle that is impressive, I can't wait to get to that volume lol. I added a few different tanks since my image above but it's basically the same. I'm glad to see you use clear bins, everyone always gripes about clear bins let it too much light and stress them out blah blah blah. I keep all mine in glass and clear plastic and they are doing fantastic. 
JeffreH
First Instar
Very impressive, Zephyr. I'm jealous (and drooling) LOL = )
vfox, I like the red lamps - I use them for my nocturnal species of reptile for viewing purposes. Never realy thought about utilizing them to view roaches... perhaps I will invest in some 'clear' bins and set up a lamp or two. I house mine in opaque bins and typically have to wait very patiently with dim light to see any of my colonies behave normally.
I'd say the use of lights is more practical for keeping larger numbers - a single bulb could produce enough heat to cover an area over several bins. I do prefer heat tape due to its cost and wattage advantage, but I only keep a few species. You could alsoset up heat tape on a back panel for back heat to essentially accomplish what lights are doing, they don't have to be right underneath the bins. Althought for a collection size as large as yours it would probably be impractical to buy so much heat tape.
vfox, I like the red lamps - I use them for my nocturnal species of reptile for viewing purposes. Never realy thought about utilizing them to view roaches... perhaps I will invest in some 'clear' bins and set up a lamp or two. I house mine in opaque bins and typically have to wait very patiently with dim light to see any of my colonies behave normally.
I'd say the use of lights is more practical for keeping larger numbers - a single bulb could produce enough heat to cover an area over several bins. I do prefer heat tape due to its cost and wattage advantage, but I only keep a few species. You could alsoset up heat tape on a back panel for back heat to essentially accomplish what lights are doing, they don't have to be right underneath the bins. Althought for a collection size as large as yours it would probably be impractical to buy so much heat tape.
@vfox
Although I do think darkness helps them reproduce, so does light. I read somewhere that when Therea sp. eyes were artificially covered they lost their ability to ovulate. They may take some seasonal cues from lighting changes too. However, I do keep the shades shut throughout the winter. In the summer the windows will be open and I will probably turn off the red light (except on cold days.)
@JeffreH
Using red light is a breeder's trick for getting hissers to breed well. The stratification of the light lets them choose exactly where they want to sit to incubate their ooths. Plus, the light warms up the whole room; Further to the left past the view in the pic are my beardies and garter snakes, who definitely enjoy the extra heat.
Although I do think darkness helps them reproduce, so does light. I read somewhere that when Therea sp. eyes were artificially covered they lost their ability to ovulate. They may take some seasonal cues from lighting changes too. However, I do keep the shades shut throughout the winter. In the summer the windows will be open and I will probably turn off the red light (except on cold days.)
@JeffreH
Using red light is a breeder's trick for getting hissers to breed well. The stratification of the light lets them choose exactly where they want to sit to incubate their ooths. Plus, the light warms up the whole room; Further to the left past the view in the pic are my beardies and garter snakes, who definitely enjoy the extra heat.
Last edited by a moderator: