Eublaberus prosticus

[T-ReXx]

Curious if anyone has experience with using these as a feeder. I have used both lateralis and dubia in the past and have had mixed results. My main issues with dubia are lack of activity(doesn't attract the attention of most of my animals very well and therefore means I mostly have to tong feed them) and they're a little slow on the growth rate. I have mostly larger species in my collection and my need for larger feeders is sort of causing some issues with the slow growth on dubia. I also find anything with wings tends to go over a lot better. I did use lateralis for quite a while, until they infested my kitchen. And they did in fact breed; after destroying my colony last winter(which by the way took leaving them outside in the snow for a WEEK before they were all dead) I found not only adults but fresh babies in the spring. Only now have I managed to get to the point where I believe I have finally gotten them all. So I will not be working with lats again. And I live in the Northeast, and keep my house fairly cool and dry most of the year.

But all that aside, I am interested in peoples' experiences with orange heads. They interest me mainly because:

a) they get big. Bigger than dubia.
b) both sexes have wings.
c) I have heard they actually breed faster than dubia.
d) they have softer bodied nymphs
e) They may be more active and get a better feeding response.

The downsides I've heard of are they require more protein and are known to be wing biters(not a real issue, that can be contained with proper diet), they have somewhat spiny legs(not something that really worries me as most species I keep can handle hissers no problem) and they have a defensive odor. I have also heard they do best with some substrate and higher humidity, though I have heard mixed reasoning behind that. I'm just looking for some personal experiences with them to get a better idea of what of the above is fact and what is fiction. If you've used them, what do you like about them, and what don't you like? Comparisions to Blaptica dubia for those who have used both species is also appreciated.

Thoughts?

Thanks
Ted

 

[Ozymandias]

i keep them along with two other Eublaberus species (E. distanti "six-spotted roach" and E. sp. Ivory "Ivory-Head Roach") and yes thay have a defensive oder (and in general smell more than dubia but not as much as say lobster roaches in my opinion) and thay do have spiny legs but actually not as bad of most of my hisser species. on a plus though thay do move more when i add them to my geckos feeding bowl than dubia but if you leave them in there a while thay will hunker down like the dubias. as for the size and softness of nymphs adults are a little bit longer and much chunkier then dubia and nymphs are actually a little bit harder than dubia nymphs but i find that a non issue really and even then i'm not sure i would call them harder thay are just smoother than dubia. for housing i really didn't give them any substrate or really extra humidity i just let frass acumulate for them and most of the moisture in the tank came from fruit actual which is the exact same way i keep my dubia.

as for how fast thay breed i have no real clue but this was what was absorved by a guy on a roach forum that i am part of on how fast it take them to start breeding from molting into and adult to actually giving birth so it not there whole average and it may actually take less time once thay have given birth once but it does give you some idea.

the full set of info i posted on my roach thread along with some nutritional info on Eublaberus distant (six-spotted roach) a close relative to orange heads

Eublaberus posticus
First adult female observed: ~September 23rd, 2011. (Adult males were present before the female(s) matured)
First babies observed: December 25, 2011.
Days between female maturation and parturition: 93 days.
Approximate temperature: 75-82 degrees Fahrenheit (depending on season and time of day.)


Blaptica dubia
First adult female observed: ~September 23rd, 2011. (Adult males were not present until ~September 29th)
First babies observed: January 5th, 2012.
Days between female maturation and parturition: 104 days.
Approximate temperature: 75-82 degrees Fahrenheit (depending on season and time of day.)

 

[T-ReXx]

i keep them along with two other Eublaberus species (E. distanti "six-spotted roach" and E. sp. Ivory "Ivory-Head Roach") and yes thay have a defensive oder (and in general smell more than dubia but not as much as say lobster roaches in my opinion) and thay do have spiny legs but actually not as bad of most of my hisser species. on a plus though thay do move more when i add them to my geckos feeding bowl than dubia but if you leave them in there a while thay will hunker down like the dubias. as for the size and softness of nymphs adults are a little bit longer and much chunkier then dubia and nymphs are actually a little bit harder than dubia nymphs but i find that a non issue really and even then i'm not sure i would call them harder thay are just smoother than dubia. for housing i really didn't give them any substrate or really extra humidity i just let frass acumulate for them and most of the moisture in the tank came from fruit actual which is the exact same way i keep my dubia.

as for how fast thay breed i have no real clue but this was what was absorved by a guy on a roach forum that i am part of on how fast it take them to start breeding from molting into and adult to actually giving birth so it not there whole average and it may actually take less time once thay have given birth once but it does give you some idea.

the full set of info i posted on my roach thread along with some nutritional info on Eublaberus distant (six-spotted roach) a close relative to orange heads

Thanks for the info. That's interesting. The activity level is about what I expected, they seem like they are more active than dubia but with the exception of lateralis most roaches I've seen tend to kind of hunker down after sitting for a while. That data is interesting. Seems like they're not a whole lot faster than dubia, though in that case the dubia did not have adult males around immediately after the females appeared and the proticus did. Production rates in that particular case seem pretty parallel. The odor thing doesn't really concern me; lateralis smell and I wasn't really bothered by that. Have you noticed any difference in acceptance by your animals of this species vs dubia? One thing that did give me some issues with lats was the defense goo, I had a fair share of geckos who didn't like that. I doubt smell would really affect geckos very much with their fairly poor sense of smell but I do wonder if it affects palatability. I'm basically trying to decide if it's worth getting a larger quantity of these guys or just adding a small group and also adding to my dubia colony. Dubia are good but they're not everything I would like in a feeder roach. If there was a non-climber large species with the size of dubia but also the reproductive rate and activity of lats or lobsters that would be the perfect roach. Unfortunately I don't think that exists

 

[Ozymandias]

i mean i mostly use them with my 2 leo and thay go after them with out a problem, though i my tokay does like them too when i bowl feed her. personally i would get a small colony of these guys first to see if your animals like them and that you like them before going all in. lol and i'm with you there i currently work with 25 species of roaches and am always looking for new species and i have yet to find that exact mixture. i'm curentlly experimenting with Henschoutedenia flexivitta (Giant Lobster Roach) the only down side to them is thay climb. another species i have just for the fun of it is Eurycotis floridana (Florida Skunk Roach) there nice and big and quite active but (at least with that specific species) thay are master climbers and can go right over Vaseline some times. what i hope is thay fine a Eurycotis species or something similar that doesn't climb all that well that would be perfect. and hell there are 4,000 plus species of roach out there i'm sure there is a species close to it.

 

[T-ReXx]

Thanks a lot for the input. I have yet to meet a roach my tokays won't eat, they're roach crazy. I've only tried dubia, discoids, lats, hissers and lobsters(test feeding run only) and the lobsters were so difficult to feed with the climbing and speed factor that combined with the fact that I had a minor infestation with lats pretty much made my mind up that if lateralis could breed in my house lobsters would take the place over. I did like hissers but their reproductive rate makes them sort of a poor choice as a feeder. They're cool to keep around as pets though. Discoids I found pretty much identical to dubia. So far best choice I've found are the dubia but they're still not perfect, and I'm all about trying as many varieties of feeders as I can. I think I'll order a few hundred orange heads and try em out. I just don't accept that dubia are the "only" good feeder roach because there are so many species that's just not likely with how relatively new using roaches is to the hobby. I guess I'll stick with the dubia and pick out some samplings of other contender species and give em a whirl starting with orange heads.

 

[Ozymandias]

lol i'm with you there and it's why i got into roaches in general, on the lobster lol ya i had a colony for a while till the smell finally got to me and thay started breeding in my tokay geckos tank (not a horribly bad thing but still annoying) and i actually still see a few in there evey now and them. another species you might look into are Blaberus fusca (Dusky Cave Roach) there pretty big (i usually recommend these to people with monitors or other larger lizards) but thay might work out for you too though again thay aren't the perfect roach lol.

 

[T-ReXx]

Thanks. I'll look into them.

 

[T-ReXx]

Well, I ended up ordering a 200 mixed lot of prosticus to try out and some more lateralis from someone who has a strain thats very cold intolerant and bad at climbing. I'll give lats one more shot with me being extra careful about containment and feeding protocol. I'm really hoping the orange heads work out, as I have heard a lot of good things about them.