Question for Sputnik

[Dr Alan]

......or anybody else with hints, tried and true tricks, and advice.

I've got the lobster roach thing down. They're multiplying like... well, like roaches. But I'm having basic issues nonetheless. How do you catch these guys and separate little ones from big ones, and most importantly get them out of their enclosure and into the appropriate feeding zones without losing so many (they can climb and jump faster than heck) that your wife threatens divorce if she finds another escapee. There MUST be some easy way to quickly sort big from small and once sorted, get the friggin' thing into the appropriate gecko enclosures without losing one or two (or ten). HELP. I hate to admit it, but I'm starting to think they're smarter then I am. They certainly climb faster and better.

[sputnik]

I have had success with seperating them.... to a degree. Using a food strainer that has holes big enough for the small tiny ones to fall through and still have the remaining larger ones in the strainer. Using a plastic strainer is what I am talking about.

You can also drill holes in these plastic ones to allow bigger ones to drop through.

Escappee roaches, well that kinda comes with keeping them, but you can get small roach baits. They come in packs of 12 I think at walmart. I have used them with great success and killed a lot of escapee roaches.... so well in fact the divorce threats stopped!

That's all I can think of off hand. Maybe someone else might have a few ideas. At least they are a clean roach, not a dirty motel type!

[tokaysunlimited]

Well go with something else then lobster roaches.lol.
I just get what i can.But there are a few Gecko's loose in the gecko house.
All BS aside Scott pretty much has the right idea,the strainers work fairly decent.
Maybe Olivia could chime in on this one for a bit more advice.;)

[bassett524]

cardboard cat scratch pads... big ones can't fit inside the holes and little ones thrive in them, all you have to do is brush the large ones off the outside and put the cardboard in a seperate container.. works pretty well, you don't get ALL the small ones, but when u are dealing with lobsters you most likely won't need all of them unless you have a gecko army bigger then jeremy's....

aside from that you can go with death-head roaches. still a pretty soft body and they can't climb glass. only downside is a lot of smaller lizards can't fint adults in their mouth, they're more for varanids, and even some of the dwarfs have problems with them.

I've never had a problem with a single escapee but then again I ahve a small number of geckos so I feed them one by one as wella s the tarantulas. some of the geckos I ahve to rip the hind legs off of the roaches so they move a lot slower.. so this isn't a time saver really, but it does work from preventing escapees while feeding.

[AussieDragons]

Paper towel tubes make nice little roach chutes.

The freezer slows down all roaches.

I never bothered separating them.

Cats LOVE roaches.

[Cool Evil Liz]

Escappee roaches, well that kinda comes with keeping them, but you can get small roach baits. They come in packs of 12 I think at walmart. I have used them with great success and killed a lot of escapee roaches.... so well in fact the divorce threats stopped!

That's all I can think of off hand. Maybe someone else might have a few ideas. At least they are a clean roach, not a dirty motel type!

I was not going to divorce him but did have a tent outside ready for him & his roaches

[roaches42993]

this may not help but...

I take one of those deli containers hit an egg cartoon over the roof (with roaches) then put the lid on . go to whom ever im feeding them to open the cage then open the lid and hit thhe container till they al fall out . Hope it helps:D

[bassett524]

this may not help but...

I take one of those deli containers hit an egg cartoon over the roof (with roaches) then put the lid on . go to whom ever im feeding them to open the cage then open the lid and hit thhe container till they al fall out . Hope it helps:D


thats a pretty good idea too, but to add to it. once the'yer in the container give it a few good shakes and it stuns the roaches so they can still move, but don't climb walls too wel and are definately slowed down.

[Damnitbonnie]

this may not help but...

I take one of those deli containers hit an egg cartoon over the roof (with roaches) then put the lid on . go to whom ever im feeding them to open the cage then open the lid and hit thhe container till they al fall out . Hope it helps:D

What I do is similar. I have a plastic cup (like they sell betas in) and put some minerall in it. This makes it so they can't climb.
I also have only certain lizards that will eat them so I just take the cup and hold it under the nose of who I'm feeding. Marilyn tries to climb into the cup.
I also use the baits for escapees. I have more cricket escapees than roaches.

[Dr Alan]

cardboard cat scratch pads... What the heck is that? Is it a pet store item?

Sounds like a good idea.

Thanks everyone for a lot of good ideas.

[geckogirl171]

What the heck is that? Is it a pet store item?

Sounds like a good idea.

Thanks everyone for a lot of good ideas.

We have them at our grocery store in the pet food isle.

[bassett524]

it's basically lieka lot of cardboard box ends put together. It's liek the very tip, or sid, of cardboard that has all the holes in it running longways inside the box. they crawl inside there.