# Just finished cleaning cockroach colony.



## cljohnson (Jul 1, 2012)

Not my favorite way to spend the day. 

















The things we do to keep our critters happy and our friends critters. 
I even a Fennec Fox that loves munching Hissers


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## wellington (Jul 1, 2012)

I don't mean this in a bad way or to offend you, but why? I don't understand why someone would want to keep a bunch of bugs, especially **** roaches. Can you enlighten me


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## jaizei (Jul 1, 2012)

wellington said:


> I don't mean this in a bad way or to offend you, but why? I don't understand why someone would want to keep a bunch of bugs, especially **** roaches. Can you enlighten me



Don't let Tom hear you say this.


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## terryo (Jul 1, 2012)

OMG!!


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## expo tort (Jul 1, 2012)

Put those in a car and it's truly a roach coach.


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## wellington (Jul 1, 2012)

jaizei said:


> wellington said:
> 
> 
> > I don't mean this in a bad way or to offend you, but why? I don't understand why someone would want to keep a bunch of bugs, especially **** roaches. Can you enlighten me
> ...



Does Tom keep them too?



expo tort said:


> Put those in a car and it's truly a roach coach.



That's what the food trucks in Chicago are called. Not a good thing here. We exterminate roaches. Luckily I have never had them and would freak if I did. But to those who keep them, that's great, just please enlighten me why


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## cljohnson (Jul 1, 2012)

wellington said:


> I don't mean this in a bad way or to offend you, but why? I don't understand why someone would want to keep a bunch of bugs, especially **** roaches. Can you enlighten me



Many lizards and other critters eat bugs. My Bearded Dragons go through a lot of them. 
It can get very expensive. 
Surprisingly roaches are one of the cleanest easiest bugs to keep.


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## jaizei (Jul 1, 2012)

wellington said:


> jaizei said:
> 
> 
> > wellington said:
> ...



http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Little-Girls-and-Their-Roaches#axzz1zQfz1F1S






cljohnson said:


> wellington said:
> 
> 
> > I don't mean this in a bad way or to offend you, but why? I don't understand why someone would want to keep a bunch of bugs, especially **** roaches. Can you enlighten me
> ...



And I'll agree with this, roaches are one of the easiest/best feeders I've raised.


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## wellington (Jul 1, 2012)

OMG. That pic of Toms daughter, the first one would be me, then it would have gotten flung to the ground and stomped on. 
It makes sense now that you feed your beardeds. I love beardeds. Never had roaches to feed mine. Just crickets and worms. I bought them though, don't like crickets or the worms he ate either.


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## Laurie (Jul 1, 2012)

This would send me into a panic!! We have a beardie too, he eats crickets and I can't even feed him. I do the greens part of the meal.

A few weeks ago, one of the crickets escaped. It was hopping across my living room! I was the only one home . The only thing I could manage to do was put a glass over it so it was trapped.. It must've been a pretty comical sight! 

I wish I could tolerate bugs better, I just can't do it.


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## wellington (Jul 1, 2012)

Laurie said:


> This would send me into a panic!! We have a beardie too, he eats crickets and I can't even feed him. I do the greens part of the meal.
> 
> A few weeks ago, one of the crickets escaped. It was hopping across my living room! I was the only one home . The only thing I could manage to do was put a glass over it so it was trapped.. It must've been a pretty comical sight!
> 
> I wish I could tolerate bugs better, I just can't do it.



I hear ya loud and clear and feel the fear. Although crickets don't scare me, I just can't touch them. I always bought just enough in the bag and dumped the whole bag. We always had some get out too. That's why I kept the cage in my sons room. Now I have a Uro, they don't eat bugs


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## expo tort (Jul 1, 2012)

Food trucks in SoCal are also called roach coaches. But most have pretty good food. The one out front of my dads work is family run and makes the best tortas. It looks like a tortoise shell in shape.


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## Laurie (Jul 1, 2012)

wellington said:


> I hear ya loud and clear and feel the fear. Although crickets don't scare me, I just can't touch them. I always bought just enough in the bag and dumped the whole bag. We always had some get out too. That's why I kept the cage in my sons room. Now I have a Uro, they don't eat bugs



Lol!! Ours is in my sons room too


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## wellington (Jul 1, 2012)

expo tort said:


> Food trucks in SoCal are also called roach coaches. But most have pretty good food. The one out front of my dads work is family run and makes the best tortas. It looks like a tortoise shell in shape.



Ya, they usually do have good food. Just got a bad name



Laurie said:


> wellington said:
> 
> 
> > I hear ya loud and clear and feel the fear. Although crickets don't scare me, I just can't touch them. I always bought just enough in the bag and dumped the whole bag. We always had some get out too. That's why I kept the cage in my sons room. Now I have a Uro, they don't eat bugs
> ...



That's too funny


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## cljohnson (Jul 1, 2012)

I've been thinking about starting a colony of Death's Head cockroaches. R

Here's a pic of one. 
Check out the spooky face on his back.


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## Tom (Jul 1, 2012)

Some enlightenment for Barb  :

If you are gonna keep insectivores, ya gotta keep insects too.

Crickets: 
Stinky
Massive die offs for no reason
Noisy
Easily survive and establish themselves if any escape
Very poor ca : p ratio
Low meat to shell ratio, lots of chitin
Difficult (relatively speaking) to reproduce in quantity

There are roughly 4000 species of cockroaches. Only six of these are listed as "pest" species. I have kept around 20 species.
Tropical Roaches:
Don't stink up the house like crickets
No noise
Rarely die
Cannot survive with out heat and humidity
Better ca : ph ratio
Higher meat to shell ratio, less chitin
Super easy to feed, care for, and reproduce. A good established colony means you never have to go buy feeder insects.

They are also just much easier to handle than jumpy crickets. Also, because most of them are bigger than crickets, it makes it much easier to feed larger reptiles like monitors, beardies, tegus and larger chameleons.

Another point is that there are many different species and each one has it good and bad points, just like tortoises. They even have different personalities and behavioral traits, just like our tortoises.


Chris, the deaths head roaches are pretty cool. Mine took a while to get established and up and running, but once they did, they were stable. All of the Blaberus are flighty, but those are even worse than the average. The only one more flighty than them were the B. giganteus. So if you are going to get some, get working on quickening your reflexes.  Also, it appears that most of the available "B. craniifer" are really hybrids with B. fusca, or something similar. Mine were true and pure. I got them from a friend who got them directly out of the UC Riverside entemology dept. 20 years ago. I gave the colony to a friend over in Yucca Valley. If you want some, PM me your email address and I'll get you in touch with him.


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## clare n (Jul 1, 2012)

Tom said:


> Some enlightenment for Barb  :
> 
> If you are gonna keep insectivores, ya gotta keep insects too.
> 
> ...



I dont have a problem with bugs in the slightest. I buy silent crickets for my gerbils... My problem would be as soon as I noticed a "personality" I'd never feed them to anything and I'd be over run


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## cljohnson (Jul 1, 2012)

clare n said:


> I dont have a problem with bugs in the slightest. I buy silent crickets for my gerbils... My problem would be as soon as I noticed a "personality" I'd never feed them to anything and I'd be over run



They actually can be kind of cute. In their own way. 
If you look close when you give them a slice of orange. You can see a little smile.


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## wellington (Jul 2, 2012)

Okay. I get it. They are food for reptiles. I thought you were keeping them as pets. That I didn't understand. I still couldn't do it, I don't think. Besides, if my apartment renters new I had those breeding in my building, well let's just say, I would be renter less.



cljohnson said:


> clare n said:
> 
> 
> > I dont have a problem with bugs in the slightest. I buy silent crickets for my gerbils... My problem would be as soon as I noticed a "personality" I'd never feed them to anything and I'd be over run
> ...



I couldn't call them cute. Some might be pretty. But I really want to see a pic of one smiling


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## Edna (Jul 2, 2012)

In his OP, Chris said he was feeding the roaches to a Fennec fox, too. I'd take on a colony of these guys if it came with a fox


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## wellington (Jul 2, 2012)

Edna said:


> In his OP, Chris said he was feeding the roaches to a Fennec fox, too. I'd take on a colony of these guys if it came with a fox



I could do that. Well, my son could do that. I take the fox, my son can house the roaches and feed the fox


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## cljohnson (Jul 2, 2012)

Unfortunately the fox isn't mine. 
He belongs to a friend. 
I do get to play with him though. 
He is about the cutest thing you can imagine. 
A giant pair of ears attached to a tiny fox.


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## Tom (Jul 2, 2012)

You know how sometimes people look at us tortoise keepers like we are crazy? They tilt their head a little to one side and go, "Well what do they DO...?" I had one lady recently ask me, "So can you cuddle with them?" I said, "Well, not really..." She said, "Oh, I get it then. So you have NO emotional attachment to them, they are just sort of THERE?" Emphasis on the "there". It was said with this disdain almost bordering on disgust. Then I explain how I intend breed them (the Gpp, in this case) because they are very special and rare. Then they ask' "Well what are you going to do with all the babies? You already have so many." I, of course, say, "Sell them! Importation on this type has been banned for over a decade, so we must reproduce what we have in captivity." This is when I get the inevitable, "People Actually BUY these....?", with the screwed up face and emphatic disbelieving tone...

It's the same way with roach keepers only worse. There are some really neat species. Like the one on my daughter for example. Everyone has heard of a pet tarantula, and that is usually understood and accepted, but for some reason a colony of pet roaches makes you worse than a leper in a crowded hotel hot tub...

There is tremendous satisfaction in acquiring a few individuals of some really rare tropical species and after months of effort, seeing your first babies. Then being able to share those babies with other interested parties, however few those other interested parties may be. For me, I kept the roaches as a novelty. I learned a lot from them and enjoyed my successes with them. Being able to feed the excess to my insectivores is an obvious bonus, but not my primary reason for getting them.


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## clare n (Jul 3, 2012)

I think many just think of them as the little critters that you find in your food in run down hotels and kitchens, rather than how they behave and what they are like as outside of that. Nothing really bothers me creature wise no matter how many legs it has  but I can understand people who dislike bugs. They're not for everyone haha.


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