roaches

[neven]

hey guys n gals
just wondering about breeding roaches. i no their recomended temp for their environment is 25-30 but does it have to be that for them to breed?
im askin this to try and avoid buying a heat map plus another thermostat to breed my roaches. any ideas?
nev

 

[neven]

would a 4.3m 25w heat cord from stockeh do the job you reckon?
and if i just used that with out a thermostat it shouldnt get above 30deg should it? or would i be safer gettin the 4m 15w heatcord?
nev

 

[ether]

Have you read the article on them on the herp shop site. It has heaps of info. As to whether or not they only breed if the temp is over 25 degrees i am not sure. I know they are much more active if they are kept at a higher temp so maybe they would be more likely to breed.

 

[neven]

yeh thats where i got that they are most active when the temp is in that range. just didnt no if that ment the wouldnt breed if the temp was below that or not...

 

[africancichlidau]

Yes indeedy if the temp is too low they just won't breed. All I do with with mine is sit the tub on top of an enclosure above the heat source and the randy little buggas are at it all day
Hope this helps you as much as heat helps the roaches

 

[neven]

lol... yeh i used to do that but my mum cracked it at me cos she reckons it stinks up my room...
so i have to put them in another room where it cold. so yeh need to decide which heat cord to go with... either the 15w or 25w depending on how hot they get...
nev

 

[africancichlidau]

I think heat cords are crap, I would just hang a 15 or 25 watt light globe in there

 

[soulweaver]

heard you can put them in your microwave to keep them warm.....

thats just what i heard

 

[neven]

:?

 

[nuthn2do]

Mine are out in the shed at ambient temps (5 - 15 deg at the moment). They're still producing eggs, I was looking at them yesterday. So yep they still breed, they just do everything a lot slower.
Craig

 

[Parko]

I use a 25w heat cord, and dont find it to be ''crap'' lol. Dont underestimate how hot they get, I know from experience that they will melt through a plastic enclosure in no time so put something between the heat cord and anything plastic.(I use a ceramic dish) They are a very good cheap option for roaches.

 

[neven]

oh lol lucky you told me that... was gonna rap the cord around my plastic tub... ahah would have about 4000 roaches running around the house. mum would luv it...
nev

 

[soulweaver]

i'd still do it, and go opps

 

[Parko]

Neven, another option is to put a deep oven tray on some plywood or similar with the cord in it and fill it with sand.(all inside the tub)

 

[herptrader]

Mine do fine on top of an enclosure as others have suggested. I also find that they hardly smell at all??

They really do not like cooler temperatures. I left some in the garage for a couple of days when the temperature would have dropped below 10C and it was a bit sad. I had done a cull because there were too many SFR's and was waiting for the weekend when we could get some entertainment by feeding the unlucky ones to the local birds. The result was roaches dying half way through shedding their exoskelotin. It was quite sad to see.

 

[neven]

how do you clean you tub you keep them in? i find it hard to clean with out still leavin crap in their... or losing a lot of roaches to the bin...
nev

 

[herptrader]

Easy - you need two tubs. While one is in use the other gets washed and a fresh coat of the Floun paint. When it comes to cleaning/culling time the toilet rolls I use for their multistory accomodation just get picked up and deposited in the fresh enclosure. It is all to simple really.

Another trick I have found useful is when selecting roaches (for our frogs) I place a yogurt container with the calcium and Herptvite powder at the bottom inside with the roaches. I can then pick up the toilet rolls and flick off the adult roaches into the container. Once they have the vitamin and mineral powder on their feet they find it hard to climb the side of the smooth yoghurt container.

 

[rodentrancher]

We have ours in an old fridge. Use Vaseline to stop em getting out. Using light globe on thermostat at the moment. Haven't had time to organise our heat cord from Animal Attraction(Stockeh) as yet. Only prob is if the lightbulb blows where the thermostat is, the light bulb stays on in other fridges. Lost a heap of breeding roaches. Grrrr!!! no time to do a lot at the moment. Renovating rental house to sell. Cheers Cheryl

 

[neven]

yeh i normally do what you do herptrader with the swapping tubs... however when i lift my egg carton boxes there is still about 200 roaches running on the ground of the tub amongst all the crap... how can i get them out and leave the crap their... is there ny easy way?
nev

 

[Sdaji]

I find that mine still breed at temps of 10-15 degrees, but it's much slower. At 25-30 they go nuts and you can very quickly breed ridiculous numbers of them. Last spring I expected to need a fair few roaches so I set some new tubs up and kept them at about 28 degrees (on top of snake boxes), within about 3 months I had many kgs of the damn things, far more than I could feed off. Most of a year later I still have too many of the damned things, even though I've given away several kgs of them and kept them at about 15 degrees to try to stop them from breeding.