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| Female hisser |
Having an ever growing population of Reptiles in the house had me thinking of how I could supply them with their insect diet without going broke buying crickets at the pet store, not to mention gas spent driving there and back.
The answer came when I discovered Blatta Lateralis also known as the Turkistan Roach. A roach colony could multiply really quick compared to crickets given the right care. I chose this type to start with due to the fact they are non fliers and can't climb smooth surfaces plus they are a tropical species that requires additional heating to produce in our cool state. After locating a reptile hobbyist that was selling off some of his roaches I acquired around 500 adults to start with. Since then my colony has blossomed.
This species was a great start for a constant supply of small feeders, but have a down side as well, they only get 1 1/2 inches long max so my larger herps require a lot of roaches for each feeding.
I then got to thinking something bigger might be an asset to my collection so I discovered the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. They get much bigger(3") and their young start out much larger then the B. Lateralis. Besides what's cooler than a bug that hisses at you when you touch it.
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| my ten big bugs |
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| look a bug dad! |
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| female |
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| male (notice the bumps on it back) |
Very nice, I've got a family of meal worms and beetles going to the horned lizards.
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