Albino Roach

[Lankyrob]

Wayne, and others that breed dubias.

Have you ever seen an albino, pure white roach??? I have one in my colony i noticed today, didnt get a chance to take pics but will try tomorrow. Just wondering if it is a common thing or not?

[Jendee]

Ive seen albino roaches at my grandmas house lol little white things crawling around creep me the f*ck out lol

[infernalis]

Your roach is going into molt Rob.

They all turn white momentarily.

Don't feel bad, I thought the same thing once.

[Lankyrob]

Okay, good to know!! Thanks wayne, on a similar subject do you know what stage the males become sexually mature?

We have done two feedings now from the colony and the lizards seem to tear into roaxhes much more energetically than they ever did with locusts and crickets.

[TCS-bot]

I thought they went white shortly after molting until the shell hardened up a bit.
I could be wrong though, but it's definitely something to do with the molting though. :D

[infernalis]

I thought they went white shortly after molting until the shell hardened up a bit.
I could be wrong though, but it's definitely something to do with the molting though. :D

good point mate, I knew is was molting, just not sure if it's before or after.

[Lankyrob]

Okay, good to know!! Thanks wayne, on a similar subject do you know what stage the males become sexually mature?

We have done two feedings now from the colony and the lizards seem to tear into roaxhes much more energetically than they ever did with locusts and crickets.

Just wanting to bump this question, think it got lost slightly

[infernalis]

Just wanting to bump this question, think it got lost slightly

It hit me just after I walked away from my PC Rob.

So sorry about that.....

I really don't know what age, I have a colony, the colony makes more. I never really timed it.

I know they make more roaches really fast once they get established.

[Lankyrob]

Ok, no worries, we have a number of males without the full wings and dont want to feed off too many of the full winged guys and leave the colony with no breeding stock, may let the lizards have a couple of boxes of locusts and rebuild the male stock again.

[bighog85]

Rob, you really only need to leave like one adult male per four or five adult females. I feed off mostly males because if you get to many they will start competing for space instead of breeding. And yes, they are pure white right after they molt until their exoskeleton hardens.

[Lankyrob]

Thanks Brian, the colony is still young and i am new to the working out how many need to stay etc. So any advice is welcomed.

Another question that comes to mind, is there any way to tell a pregnant femael from a non pregnant one?

[TCS-bot]

I've never noticed with my roachs either, I've always assumed that when they have wings that they're mature.
I tend to feed off some of my males though to try to keep a better male/female ratio. At the moment I probably have about 1 male to 3 females. I would imagine that so long as you have a couple males in the colony then it should be ok.

Do you find you tend to get more males than females as well??

[Lankyrob]

At the moment seems to be more females than males, certainly at the mature stage anyways. Am hoping to feed majroity of males but as i said the colony is young and i am concerned at disturbing the balance too much.

[bighog85]

Another question that comes to mind, is there any way to tell a pregnant femael from a non pregnant one?

I just go off their size. If you can find two obvious females and one of them just looks bigger, then I usually consider that one pregnant. That has been confirmed a few times when I did feed a pregnant female because when they get crunched by the monitor or whatever, the egg sac usually pops out of the butt of the roach. It certainly is not an exact science but it will at least enable you to make an educated guess, lol.

Also, I do seem to get more males in my colonies if I don't feed them off. I don't know if they are like some reptiles and temperature decides what sex the babies are but the males definitely tend to overpopulate quickly if I don't feed them.

[Lankyrob]

Doing my daily check of my little guys and a few have become "albino" :rolleyes:

Took some pics - they look so adorable like this - especially the big male with the wings.


Males
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo200/Lankyrob1975/Photo0229.jpg
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo200/Lankyrob1975/Photo0227.jpg

Female ( i think)
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo200/Lankyrob1975/Photo0226.jpg