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#2192604
KimboSliceEatsCats
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Palmetto bugs, Eurycotis floridana, as feeder roaches 
What would anyone say about these as feeder roaches, there is a good few of them around my woods, they are easily found, would attempting to breed adults and raise the young feeders be a waste of time?
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12/13/10 10:11pm
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#2192685
Krusty
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Message To: KimboSliceEatsCats In reference to Message Id: 2192604
Palmetto bugs, Eurycotis floridana, as feeder roaches
These are excellent feeder insects. I use them actually. They are detritus feeders found under rotten logs and slow-moving, meaty and very little home-invasion potential given their habits. They are very much like the South American types everyone keeps (e.g. Blaptica dubia, Blaberus craniifer) or Hissers without the shell. They don’t reproduce quite like Dubias, and lay external egg sacs that need warm/moist earth to hatch, but they are a great local roach to grow up and feed off to your lizards. My turtles go ga-ga over these things outside.
The name "Palmetto Bug" should be the name for this species you mention as they are found if you dig out a Palmetto plant from the ground, but the American Cockroach (Perplaneta americana) usually gets the common name "Palmetto Bug". Periplaneta americana is a filthy, flying, fast-moving, sharp-legged, hard-to-kill, loves to hide-in-your-walls and fall-on-you-at-night, nasty creature that strikes fear in the heart of man here in Florida. I literally have had nightmares about these nasty roaches despite me being an animal freak. lol
The true Palmetto bug, E. floridana:
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12/14/10 01:16pm
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#2192689
Krusty
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Message To: Krusty In reference to Message Id: 2192685
Palmetto bugs, Eurycotis floridana, as feeder roaches
The other really good Florida-local roach (since it’s not allowed to bring the tropical types here, just the other 47 continental states) is the Surinam Roach, Pycnoscelus surinamensis. They are all females and reproduce via parthenogenesis. They are the same size and softness as Lobster roaches and do well in a colony full of some leaves and cocopeat kept slightly moist down deep. You can actually find Lobsters in Tampa too, if you go looking. They’re feral here now.
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12/14/10 01:32pm
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#2192737
KimboSliceEatsCats
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Message To: Krusty In reference to Message Id: 2192685
Palmetto bugs, Eurycotis floridana, as feeder roaches
Very cool, hopefully I wont have any trouble finding any tomorrow, this weather needs to stop. If I can find and catch a few I will post some pictures in case I can not tell if I have the right species or if I cant differ the sex between them. I have been looking into roaches to feed my Savannah, I want to get roaches in her diet. She is growing before my eyes.
A few questions, can they climb glass, do they eat the nymphs, and they need a moist dirt substrate to thrive?
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12/14/10 06:09pm
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#2192857
Krusty
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Message To: KimboSliceEatsCats In reference to Message Id: 2192737
Palmetto bugs, Eurycotis floridana, as feeder roaches
Surinam’s can climb somewhat, but the E. floridana’s are not really that good at going up vertical walls. Use a slick plastic bin like the black ones sold at Staples stores. Put 2" of Vasoline along the rim of the container and keep the lid on, but poke a couple air holes. Stick a cheap Zoomed small heat pad to the outside of the bin down low on one side or the bottom. Try to get temperatures of like 95*F hot side and 80*F cool side. Put cocopeat husk brick like sold at Petsmart or whereever mixed with some oak leaves from outside on the ground. Add a few eggcrates and a decomposing small log or bark. You’ll get some rolly-polly native bugs in the colony, but if you pick them out here and there, they don’t make too much of a competitor for the Surinam’s or E. floridana. But they do better with a few inches of material kept moistened a little - particularly the E. floridana’s. They are not too hard to get infested in the bins if you dial in the conditions and temperatures well, but they don’t quite reproduce like the types sold online (dubias, lobsters, etc).
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12/15/10 05:04pm
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#2192864
KimboSliceEatsCats
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Message To: Krusty In reference to Message Id: 2192857
Palmetto bugs, Eurycotis floridana, as feeder roaches
I went looking today and picked up a rotting piece of wood, I saw over a dozen of e. floridana, but the rotted wood broke in half as I had lifted it and by them time I got the pieces up I was only able to catch one as they had hidden in the grass, I will look tomorrow in the same place hoping for better luck.
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12/15/10 05:59pm
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