#feeder roaches

[isopapa]

A visual aid to describe the difference between how I treat my male roaches (the sacrifices) and my female roaches (my little ladies)

[futurebird]

i know im in deep

i know im deep into the buglife because i was just thinking about the cute little munching sounds my feeder roaches make when they eat salad I still kinda have a phobia of pest roaches TBH. But I never dreamed I'd find their little noises adorable. They are just such timid little herbivores, always scared, always dreaming of fresh fruits and veggies to nibble.

We do the pest species dirty. We should design buildings and cities to minimize pests naturally. It can be done. I just hate the pests because I know they are covered in poo.

[fisherfurbearer]

Babbana peels. A feast for the whole family!

[dragontribeadventures]

If it’s for roaches, she doesn’t care if I wake her up.

[dragontribeadventures]

The beetles got some roachsicles last night.

[fisherfurbearer]

Feeling pretty anxious about the new roaches.

Not that I’m not ready for them...it’s more of an issue with having to treat the whole ordeal like a secret mission. Brian still doesn’t know about the roaches, and his day off is Wednesday. The roaches should ship today, which means they will likely be here Wednesday, but they’re held for pick up, so I have to walk to the post office to get them. Oh, and did I mention it’s supposed to rain?

The ideal situation is they get here tomorrow or ship tomorrow and arrive Thursday. I’m doubtful about that though. Brian does have to take one of the cats to the vet at 1:30 pm, and by then the mail should be there, but it’s a 10-15 minute walk to the post office and getting the package might take some time. This is terrifying, I’m going to have to smuggle 100+ cockroaches back into my house without him finding out, on a rainy day, without any transportation but my own two feet.

The things I do for bugs...

[fisherfurbearer]

Feeding time is always a grand occassion here. We have bolted lettuce, summer apples, split blueberries, and banana tonight (with repashy bug burger cooling in the fridge) but it's pretty clear what everyone's favorite is...

[fisherfurbearer]

Meant to post this the other day. Here’s the red goblin roach (Paratemnopteryx couloniana) colony! Their enclosure has changed so much since I got them, and it improves all the time. I made so many beginner mistakes at first, but I’m proud of how far we’ve come.

Recently I ordered 50+ more roaches to boost the colony and changed out their egg crate for something a little bigger. Their substrate is bioactive with temperate springtails as cleaners. It’s not very deep since they don’t burrow, but it definitely keeps things fresher. I keep the egg crate on top of dry leaves, and use cork to prop it up away from the walls. It keeps them nice and dry to prevent rotting, while the cork can be misted safely to form a humidity gradient.

This is such a fun species and I really can’t recommend them enough. They’re a bit strange looking, but beautiful in person. They’re really charismatic, always out and about even in the daylight. They were hiding when I took the picture, but within a minute or two of taking off the lid, they’re back to exploring like nothing happened. They’re hilariously strong and love to steal food from each other, hustling halfway across the enclosure to eat in secret.

They may be kinda leggy and weird, but I’ve grown to love my gorblin kiddos and I’m glad to have them in my little collection.