Moving Day

[martianmoons]

Tonight I am moving all of my Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches out of their plastic cage into Lizzy's old hamster cage, which is an old glass fish tank with a screen mesh cover

Comments

[morgian_le_faye]

Oh wow! Your family is not happy with the roaches! I am trying to convince my boyfriend that we need a tarantula. He's not going for it. I read an article the other day about how many bugs go into a self-induced coma when introduced to water and can survive very long dousings. Spiders especially.

[martianmoons]

Tarantulas are very dear creatures. I have a number of them myself, as I believe you know. Some species are more "dear" than others, I have one Mexican red-leg that almost always flicks hairs at me when I clean out her water, but even she is sweet in her grumpy-spider kind of way! ;)

So I am a big fan of tarantulas, they are very elegant creatures! :)

[chessiekitty]

It's been several years since I worked with these guys. But I seem to remember one zoo smearing the top 4 inches or so of the glass terrarium with vegetable oil to make it more difficult to climb. But that might have been the leaf cutter ants... YOu night want to check into that though. :)

[botia]

Vaseline, and it works very well for roaches. I use it on both the hissers and my lobster roaches :)

[martianmoons]

Thank you for the excellent suggestion, I have purchased some and am all set to give it a try! :)

[martianmoons]

Thank you so much! I will try the petroleum jelly, I think that will be a sure fire winner for everyone! :)

[drocera]

How big are the babies? How do you capture them after they've gotten away? Is there a chance that they could breed and create a Madagascarian infestation in your house? I'm with you in thinking they're interesting creatures, but I think I'd freak out a little at the thought of them roaming my house and not being properly contained!

Here's hoping this last home will be the solution to all your problems!

[botia]

They don't tend to survive outside of the specific conditions of captivity, because they are rainforest creatures. The roaming ones will probably die without reproducing.

I *would* suggest getting a piece of fruit and putting it near where you think some might be hanging out, and then checking on it 5 or so minutes later; they are very good at sniffing out foods, and might come and attach themselves to the fruit.

[martianmoons]

I agree with you regarding their slim survival prospects outside of their captivity, and that is an excellent suggestion about the fruit bait! Thank you so much! :)

[martianmoons]

My family feels the same way you do, that roaches are so adaptable that despite the fact they are tropical rainforest creatures, they will breed inside the house. I give roaches a lot of credit, but imho these are not quite that adaptable. For instance, just some of the many species of roaches inhabit/infest houses. But I could be wrong!

[martianmoons]

Figures I am such a bug nut, that my first thought when Kat told me that was, wow! what a wonderful creature to be able to survive a wash cycle, that is really amazing! But I don't think Kat thought that way, and I think I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut! ;)

[harebell]

Someone else mentioned vaseline, and it really works. I never had an escapee.

[martianmoons]

Thank you so much, I just bought some and will give it a try! :)