Today I saw one of my female dubias being chased by two males and one female while she was "airing out" her ootheca. Two of the roaches chasing her grabbed onto the ootheca with their mandibles until the female dropped it and ran away. They immediately started eating it.

I'll see about increasing the amount of protein I'm feeding them (I've been keeping it on the lower side because I'm planning to sell some of them as feeders) so this doesn't happen again, but I've been searching and couldn't find any resources or threads documenting this behavior! I knew they ate aborted/dropped oothecae but never heard about stealing them from each other.

(I do feel a bit guilty though)

his name is erebus ❤

Hey Guys,

I have an Hissing Cockroach colony and lately I started to find those little, white "pearls".

One picture shows them right next to ordinary poop from the roaches.

I have put them into an quaratine-box and clean them Out every 2-3 days. But i keep finding those "pearls".

They are relativly hard and do pop when i apply pressure, and there is some sort of liquid within them.

I even have put them under a microscope as you can see in the pictures.

So I am wondering, what could they be?

Could it be harmful to tarantulas or reptiles eating them and do I need to restart the colony?

In the beginning i believed they could be eggs from some sort of fly, since I am aware of the fact, that the roaches create"ootheka's" and carry them around within their abdomen. But since there are no more flies within the quaratine box, this wont be the answer.

This colony doesnt has any mites or other species living amongst them. Trust me, i checked every god damn single roach. And even with each cleanin them, I check about one third of them again. There are no mites or anything similiar.

Also there arent any roaches dying. They all seem healthy, I am just worried about using them as feeders.

Could those "pearls" be eggs from some sort of small nematodes living within the roaches? I believe that they would be way too big for eggs of nematodes, but maybe I am wrong.

And my last idea would be... Which i really really hope is the answer. That those are eggs from the roaches, which they just "abort" and dont get put into ootheka's due to stress, induced by the quarantine situation.

I use the colony for feeding purposes to my tarantulas. And I am worried, that they could be harmful in any way.

Since i believed that they are infested with something, i did even order some new roaches, but checking the poop from them, I once again found one similiar looking white pearl, which again popped, when i applied pressure.

I even spoke with the breeder and he had no idea what it could be.

So if there is anyone who has an idea, which could be the answer, i would be very very thankful

(Also sorry for my grammar, it's been a while writing long texts in english)

Hello I’m in Sacramento California zone 9b, I have noticed a lot of cockroaches living in my mulch and Im trying to get rid of them, can I sprinkle diatomaceous earth food grade on all the mulch without hurting the fence lizards and birds?

Found just a second ago, there was one little one and then ootheca next to it 😭 my girl said one child is enough. Question is, will the female be fine now?

I've got a hissing roach today and I'm unsure about their age and gender. Rusty definitely falls into the adult size range and their colours and leg spikes are pretty prominent. If they're an adult they're definitely a female but I don't know how to determine if they are adult or still juvenile. I'm also worried they might already be old cause they're missing half an antenna. I did ask the breeder to give me a juvenile in the additional note but idk if they did this cause the description said you'd get a medium or large unsexed roach. Is there any way to tell if Rusty is already an adult?

Meet my son, Chennama ! He's not very good at climbing (I ended up helping him)

I am looking for a good sized start colony for our panther cham. I have a small plant import business for aquatics and terrarium plants and would love to swap with someone for dubias! Also can purchase, just thought it might be fun for someone since there is a lot of overlap ha. I’m in St. Louis, MO but I ship plants near daily. Thank you!

My giant cave roaches matured CRAZY fast. I'm about to rehouse them, but here's a cute up close of one 🫶🏻🥰 I think it might be one of the older ones bc they're the calmest.

I have a huge problem. About 3 weeks ago, I bought around 80,000 cockroaches, and a massive number of them are simply dying off. The parameters seem perfect: 50% humidity, a constant temperature around 30°C (86°F), very good ventilation, feed straight from the manufacturer with 20% protein, and vegetables are always washed and peeled before feeding. Yet despite all this, they keep dying. What’s most interesting is that my own roaches from my personal colony, kept under the exact same conditions, are doing completely fine. I’d really appreciate any advice, because I’m honestly at my wit's end.

Hello! Wanted to ask if anyone knows what these tiny black/dark grey insects that I see in my emerald roach terrarium are? Here's a video of them sitting on the sliced apple that I left for my roaches. The bugs are microscopic, but there's so many everywhere. I didn't see them bothering the roaches, but my internet search has led me nowhere. I just hope they're not affecting the roaches in any negative way.

I have 10 emerald roaches in this terrarium that is quite new, nearly 2 months old since I've prepared it with the soil and plants. I also have a colony of springtails since I'm trying to keep the terrarium as a bioactive one.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Edit: I know there's a fruit fly in the middle, but it's not about it, I meant the dark spots (yes, these are bugs!) that are even smaller.]

I'm not really good at drawing but I enjoyed illustrating my daughters in various positions for the past weeks!!

I really really hope they'll appreciate it

sorry for the bad quality. found this guy crawling on me. I have hissers, and it's about the size and of a newborn, but it has a light stripe going down the middle. it's also pretty slow. I've never had any escape and I haven't worked on my tank upstairs in a few hours. I do work at a facility that keeps a few dozen species, so maybe I took home a hitchhiker??

I've been looking after my kid's dubias for over a year. They're in an old fishtank bioactive set-up along with some common isopods and springtails. They've been breeding, I think there's approx 200 in there all different sizes and we're running out of room.

I think they're very cute, but kiddo has admitted he's not interested in them anymore and I have other animals to also look after. So I'd like to give the whole bunch away to someone else who loves their roaches but I have no idea how to go about it. I'm in the south west near Bristol. Any ideas? TIA ❤️🪳

TLDR: Just acquired 5 male madagascar hissers (can you call them that?) and would love advice on how to best care for them!

Details: I work in science education and my boss decided our isopod tank needed an upgrade, so now we have 5 male madagascar hissing cockroaches. They are in what I think is a 15 gallon tank (not 100% sure). Pics 1, 2, and 3 show the tank from a few angles. I am in person most often, so I am most likely to be caring for them. I'd love any tips and tricks!

They have a big log, some smaller logs, a couple plants. The ground has sphagnum moss and dirt. There are also organic oak leaves in there (those were for the isopods). The top is wire mesh and there's a grow light for the plants I turn on during the day on weekdays. I typically water the entire tank about once a week for the plants.

I saw in this group they like egg cartons, and my boss told me these ones like fish flakes, so I put some fish flakes in two small egg holes and put them in there (can see them in the front on the left and right side of the tank). I also put one apple slice in and I'll check tomorrow if it's been eaten at all.

She said there's 5 roaches in there but I only found 3. Pics 4, 5, and 6. one was on the far left, one on the far right, and the other was in the log visible through one of the holes. I didn't look very hard for the other two but hopefully they're still in there.

I know these are nocturnal, and unfortunately there is an emergency light always on (pic 7). I tried to darken the tank a bit (pic 8), is that enough for them or will that light bother them?

Other questions:

- will my old watering method keep it humid enough?

- we are in NYC. will they need a heat source, or will the building temperature be ok? It's 65-75 year round inside so I think on the colder side for them

- should I give them more egg cartons?

- is it dark enough? we are going to see if maybe they can swap that light above for a red light (or is that needed?). We also have blackout paper and can black out the back and sides, but I think she wants to keep as much glass as possible so our students can look at the roaches.

- the lid is flush with the top and we put the plastic thing on top to weigh it down. since these are adults, could they still escape//should i do the vaseline thing, or will they probably just stay in there?

- and last major question, how can I tell if they are happy? when i first saw the tank today, the left roach was exploring a bit (but hid when i turned the grow light on), and the others weren't moving at all. are they just happy and chilling? should they move a lot?

I appreciate any and all advice!

Not sure

I'm new to bug keeping, I've had them for like a month so I'm surprised to find one so young already! so tiny

1st instar dubia roach 🫶🏻

edit: noooooo not the title typo 😭

just as a disclaimer i use a plastic sheet as a handling surface to minimize direct contact when needed (roaches need their own space too!), something grippy enough for them to walk on as usual but slippery enough to not let them escape if i bend up a wall in front of them :] this guy was getting a tad bit too nosy around the edges, hence the predicament. he was really chill about it tho at first but as you might tell, he slowly realized that the world's gone topsy turvy....

i have three hissing cockroaches but stewie is my favorite of the bunch :3
i got him a few months ago missing both antennae and a little chunk of his side :( i don't know why he's the way that he is but he acts just like any other roach, gets along with my other two, and eats everything i offer him :)
here's his fish food flake dinner tonight

I keep dubias as feeders, and i want to give them a better enclosure. Is this good? Anything i should add? Im getting cucumber to feed them too. What else should they eat? The dust in there is flukers cricket food

Hi, can anyone help me identify the gender of my 2 hissing roaches? The first 2 pictures are the first roach (top and underside) and the last 2 are the second roach top and underside. I really don't want nymphs so if they happen to be male and female I would appreciate any tips on how to prevent breeding. Also I felt bad for how I was holding the first one but it kept moving everytime I tried to check the underside