My Dubias arrived - yeah!

[kimmie]

First off --- EEEWWWWW

Both creepy and kind of cool all at the same time. NOT ENOUGH to get me to touch them though. DD - she picked one up (gloved hand mind you) and coo'd at it! DS & I just sort of stood there looking at her like she was some alien :lol:

So they are all set up nice & cozy in their bin - yeah!

I take it the white ones are ones that just shed? We thought they were pumpkin seeds at first ...'till they MOVED! ROFL

I ordered the kit (with egg crates, screen, food, etc) and there looks like a bag of rock salt. WTH is that for? Hopefully someone knows what that's for as I am CLUELESS!

I still can't believe I even HAVE these things in my house ....DID I say EEEEEWWWW yet? LMAO

 

[Toyguy]

The "rock salt" are water crystals, I believe. You use that instead of putting in a water dish or wet sponge.

Have you spotted the big adults? Now those are ewwwwww

 

[kimmie]

OH DUH! Yeah that's what they are! I'll save them as I still have cricket quencher on hand. Glad I didn't try tasting it to find out

OH MY GOD ...yes I saw the BIG ONES! Even MORE EEEWWWWW! I don't know if my gloves are THICK enough to touch them and I not DARE say a word to my husband about them! ROFL Bad enough we took in a kitten that has to be bottle fed (we're trying to find a home for it) but ROACHES! Then again, we've had crix, phoenix worms (maggots), hornworms & silkworms so why NOT roaches!

The small ones are kind of cool looking though. Yeah like rolly polly bugs. I didn't mind touching those (the real rolly pollies) as a kid but I don't know about these things. Then again, I DID say I'd NEVER do the roach thing either! Hmmm I hear a song in the back of my head ..."Never Say Never" LOL

 

[Stycim]

It took me a while to get the water crystal thing right. What I do now is put a couple pinches into a ziplock sandwich baggie. Then I ad about 3/4C of water, seal it up, and let it sit out. I check on it after half an hour or so and add more water if they can take it, or more crystals if it's too liquidy. At first I wasn't putting in enough water. It's amazing how big those crystals get, usually around the size of a green pea!

Oh, and my 19month daughter is completely enthralled with the roaches. She gets all excited when it's time to feed Growler. She even pulls out the egg crates and taps them into the container I use. And she'll pet them forever if I'd let her. Weirdo :roll:

 

[Trogdorpheus]

I like to just watch my roaches lol. But unfortunately my bin is right under my viv, so when I take it out to watch them, my girl goes nuts! I feel like I'm teasing her lol.

 

[Sapphire]

1 - My advice for the water crystals: Since you mentioned you have cricket quencher, I assume it's the same stuff I was buying, it's yellow and comes in a 13 oz (?) jar right? I bought a jar of water crystals at home depot (the ones without plant food of course) and it came with a little scoop, I think it's about 1/2 tsp. I put two scoops of crystals in the bottom of the empty cricket quencher jar (so approx. 1 tsp I think), fill it up with water, and that's a perfect mixture. About an hour later you have a re-filled jar of cricket quencher without the yellow #5 dye or added calcium, though I'm sure if you reeeally wanted to, you could add dye, lol.

2 - As for the roaches...... THEY'RE AWESOME. I suggest picking up a baby or a female, cuz the males can jump & flutter (not fly) so if you pick it up it might take a leap of faith and end up scurrying away before you can recapture it. I just held an adult female today just to freak out my friend. She thinks the roaches are creepy. I think they're awesome. I'm afraid to just pick them up off the ground because I'm afraid to hurt them, but I let one crawl out of the box onto my hand and it just felt like holding an oversized ladybug, except the roach won't bite you. You don't need to wear gloves, they aren't dirty, they don't bite. No reason for gloves.

 

[dmglakewood]

Just a tip on the water crystals...less is more.

I put 1 table spoon with of water crystals into water and it made ½ gallon worth of water crystals. So until make a few batches of water crystals I would just put like ¼ table spoon worth of water crystals in.

Also the trick to the water crystals is to get a large cup or container and fill it up with the hottest water you can. Then simply dump the water crystals in and wait for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes the water crystals should be huge. If you notice some of the crystals are a lot smaller then some of the other ones it's usually because the water crystals have expanded so much that they can no longer expand in the container/cup. When this happens I usually fill up another cup of hot water and place the little ones in the new cup. This will allow them to expand fully like the rest of them.

It's tricky at first but you will get the hang of it.

As for not touching the roaches that's something that will wear off quickly. I was the same way for a few weeks. Then I realized it's a lot easier to feed my beardie if I just grab them. It's weird at first but you get used to it.

I find myself opening up the bin from time to time just to see what they are up and and just watch them. In a weird way it's kind of cool to watch them.

 

[Sapphire]

I find myself opening up the bin from time to time just to see what they are up and and just watch them. In a weird way it's kind of cool to watch them.

I do the same thing. Though I also do this with my crickets. I find it funny to watch the crickets fight over food. I give them a ton of food, but you still get the groups of crickets that all want the same piece of food, and they start having a tug o war battle over it. One time I threw in a few leftover bits of collard from my beardie's dish and watch as like five crickets all fought over one piece, they were all pulling each other in every direction... It was funny as heck.

It's more fun to watch the roaches though cuz they don't stink when you look down into the bin......

 

[kimmie]

OMG reading this is creeping me out about touching them! Oh I'm sure in time I'll come around. LOL I do like to watch them though. The white ones are FREAKY! Just like the 1st time I saw a freshly shed cricket.

I have chow for them but I'll have to give them some collard greens or other goodies just so I can watch them. Yesterday after putting them into their tub, I put their food in. It was fun to watch them run out to eat.

 

[Sapphire]

Watching them after putting the food in is usually fun because I'll dump the food in and then watch, and almost immediately I'll see a roach poke its head out from under the egg crate, pause for a second, then come rocketing across the bin to the food. Like he's looking around to see if there's any danger.

PS: Mine seem to love mandarin oranges, strawberries, and tropical fish flakes. They also eat baby carrots. I haven't tried giving them collard or kale cuz the first roaches I bought (the ones I got as a test to see if Vash would like them) didn't even touch the collards I gave them, and it's just easier for me to give them stuff I know they'll eat so I don't have to clean up wilty gross plant bits, lol.

 

[Trogdorpheus]

Just be careful with stuff that can mold, they like to drag stuff around in the bin. I've found small chunks of orange halfway up my eggcrates in the middle of the stack, and if you miss pieces like this mold can be a real threat.

 

[kimmie]

Ok, silly question - do you put the food in a small lid or something or just dump in on the end somewhere so the little ones can get to it?

I have those caps from cake frosting for the food and just realized maybe not all of them can get to the foodies. Don't want them starving - but I did see where they were HIDING under it! I was expecting to see them carry it off :lol:

 

[BlueDevil]

I just use a small lid from a yogurt container or margarine lid or something like that. I find over time the food ends up outside of the boundaries of the lids but the babies usually don't have a problem getting in as long as the lip isn't too high.

 

[Trogdorpheus]

I tore off a small piece of egg crate for my dry food. About 4 "eggs" worth, so I have 4 little dishes of food. Water crystals I have a cream cheese lid, and I took a fine tooth saw and drug it around the lip on the inside and out to rough it up. My babies can climb all over it no problems now.

 

[kimmie]

AHH ok, so I'm fine on the makeshift food dishes, thanks to Dunkin Hines!

I had to peep tonight (felt like a voyeur) - they didn't seem all that active so I lifted the egg crate - they are hiding in there. Not sure why they weren't all out partying like I thought they would be since it was DARK in the room.

I'm getting another colony tomorrow. Guess I should keep them seperated, not sure. Also getting 2 Madagascar roaches - oh boy! My kids are excited about those however the hairs on the back of my neck are standing out straight! ROFL