A couple question on Roaches and colonies...

[Ruby2uesday]

I went to get my roaches for Huego tonight and to change out their oranges which they LOVE!!!! But when i moved the orange quarter peels i noticed that there was mold all over bottom of them. How do i prevent that from happening???

also, i've noticed some white roaches in my colony. is that normal? they're like albino, totally white.

and i have a TON of HUGE HUGE roaches, it seems and it's hard to get just the smaller ones for Hue since he's only 3 1/2 mo. is there an easy way? or should i get a new bin for just them and try and seperate them leaving the big ones to do their thing???

Thanks!
Ruby and Huego

eta: one more question....

Ok, i have to say, it's harder then i thought to get my roaches out. although i dislike them less then i do crickets it's hard for me to get them. This is what i've been doing.... i have my crates stacked on their side, i put the bowl/dish on the crates to one side. grab a crate from the other side and then bang it on top of the bowl so that the roaches fall into it. i then have this rubber brush thing that i used to use on my dogs that i use to "gently" swoop the to big ones back into the bin. this at times poses a problem when i get about 15 HUGE roaches in one session of banging and very few little ones. So then i have to dump and repeat until i get enough of the smaller ones. once they're in the dish, i'm fine. i can even flick/touch them to ensure they're not playing dead in the enclosure. is there an easier way to get them out besides trying to pick them up w/ my bare fingers?Thanks!

 

[forgiven]

Fruits and veggies got to get them out after a day or they will mold.

You just have to commit to the roaches. Make sure it is warm enough and dark enough. I did that and started wtih the gutload from the roach guy and just kept the water and food and wait a month or two and you will have a TON. Just supplement with crickets until your colony is established then no more stinky crickets.

 

[Ruby2uesday]

Fruits and veggies got to get them out after a day or they will mold.

You just have to commit to the roaches. Make sure it is warm enough and dark enough. I did that and started wtih the gutload from the roach guy and just kept the water and food and wait a month or two and you will have a TON. Just supplement with crickets until your colony is established then no more stinky crickets.

oh ok on getting the fruit out after a day! i didn't realize and quartered up a whole orange and threw it in! LOL i'll just put in a couple next time.

I don't have crickets. i hate them so never started w/ them. only roaches and i got some phoenix worms also. And i have what i would think is quite a few midsize ones for him to eat, it's just hard to get to them w/out getting all the big mamma jamma's. lol
thanks! r

 

[CapeFearDragons]

The "albino" roaches are just roaches that have recently molted. That means they are growing, which is a good thing

To collect roaches to feed: I make a trap to collect my feeder roaches and it has worked very well for me. Get a large plastic container with a lid (like a big CoolWhip container or something like that). Cut out a big part of the center of the lid - depending on the size container, around 3 or 4 inches diameter.
Cover the opening with hardware cloth (you can get it at any hardware or home supply store or even a farm supply if you have such a thing in your area). If you only want small roaches in the trap, use 1/4" mesh hardware cloth. If you don't care about size, use 1/2". I staple mine to the lid and then use Liquid Nail adhesive all the way around to seal it real well.
Just drop a piece of their favorite fruit in it before you go to bed or before you leave for work and collect your roaches when you return. When you put the trap in, make sure there is some kind of ramp or something so the roaches can climp up to get to the container opening. I just drop mine in the bottom and pile egg crates around it.
Make sure they don't have any other fruit in their enclosure so they have to go in the trap if they want any and don't use too much fruit in the trap as it can get kind of "juicy" and some small roaches may even drown in it.

I hardly ever give my roaches fruit anymore (other than as bait) because it's so humid here most of the year it just molds. You can give your insects the same greens that you feed your dragons as their source of moisture and they won't mold. I also give shredded carrots and shredded raw sweet potato.

I wouldn't worry about separating them until you have a lot.

Hope this helps

 

[Ruby2uesday]

Capefeardragons, thanks for the advise! Now i just had to tell my fiance he was right! Thanks alot! lol I had heard one time (not on here) that if a roach can get his head through a hole, it didn't matter what size his body was, he could get in. So i figured i'd still be catching the big ones! but i will definatly try that!!!! Thanks again for the suggestion!

BD.org rocks!
ruby/hue