# roaches and tricolors



## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

Has anybody tried to feed B. lateralis nymphs to tricolors? (anthonyi)

It won't be long before I buy a culture from doubleds.org (along with some dwarf white woodlice).


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

nyfrogs, do you have any tricolor to try them out?


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## nyfrogs (May 1, 2005)

Rain_Frog said:


> nyfrogs, do you have any tricolor to try them out?


i do but the tricolors are about 3/4 grown and dont know if they would take them. i can try and get back to you. all my other frogs love them! and i hope i see stronger frogs and eggs with offering such a diverse diet


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## nyfrogs (May 1, 2005)

doug you spiked my quriosity so i dropped 1 single nymph in and bam gone! no problem at all. my tincs dont even take them that well. so i fed a total of three. they both are the size of a large adult basti allitle bigger. i hope i have helped. i have alot of egg cases if you want to try one?


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

are you serious? :shock: Your tricolor (anthonyi) are only 3/4 grown and already eating food that big?

Right now, I've just bought some waxworms. I'll be trying my hand at those before I try roaches.

It will be helpful later to get roaches because I keep getting eggless jelly from my tricolor (I think egg eating or something) and I have gotten nothing but spindley leg from clutches from my mantellas.


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

Roaches are the easiest thing to breed - ever! I spend maybe 5 minutes a culture every week on them. Just remember, unless you are gong to get mature adults, its going to take awhile (possibl up to a year) to get a culture going full steam.


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## chuckpowell (May 12, 2004)

The problem with roaches of any kind is the frogs won't catch them all and then they grow up in the terrarium and they will eat your plants. You'll start loosing your best plants after awhile and they'll be the reason. 

Best,

Chuck


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

chuckpowell said:


> The problem with roaches of any kind is the frogs won't catch them all and then they grow up in the terrarium and they will eat your plants. You'll start loosing your best plants after awhile and they'll be the reason.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Chuck


I don't doubt they would like to eat eggs as well


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

well, I noticed some of the egg cases must have hatched (that nyfrogs gave me). At first, I thought they were baby crickets that got loose from my cricket container. Upon closer inspection, they were definitely baby roaches. They hide well, in the smallest nooks and crannies.

I caught four of them, and gave them to my tricolor. BAM. Both male tricolors helped themselves to TWO each.  

One of my females was observing close by, possibly jealous. :wink:


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

chuckpowell said:


> The problem with roaches of any kind is the frogs won't catch them all and then they grow up in the terrarium and they will eat your plants. You'll start loosing your best plants after awhile and they'll be the reason.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Chuck


I had some roaches that made it to adulthood in my mantella tank, and they actually seemed to prefer the live hydei that I dumped in there for the frogs, if I didn't see it (multiple times) I wouldn't belive it.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

you mean to tell me, the roaches ate the flies?

Brian, it seems you have had very negative experiences with roaches.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Well, I've found survivors in all of the tanks that I have fed to...even the P. Bicolor's temp enclosures, and they have no problem eating the roaches.
There is no doubt that they are excellent nutrition though.
At least they were easy to trap out of the manellas tank.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

brian, can you explain again how you trap them? 

I haven't had any issues with finding surviving crickets in my mantella tanks, but useful to know how to trap roaches and crickets if need be. And, it would keep the prey contained so the frogs can get at it (like a vial) if they are hungry.


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## RBroskie (Jan 21, 2007)

i put my nymphs in a petri dish, they cant climb the sides and it catches xtra supplements.


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

I fed off 500 nymphs only a few times, and months later I am still finding the occasional 1/4inch roach in some tanks...they hide VERY well...and grow

which BTW does scare me a bit, b/c I too have seen the juvi roaches pounce on live FF's and swallow them down...scary stuff...like what would they do to a pumilio morphet? or the plants? or eggs?

Easy, yes. but smart? I'm having my doubts.... [anyone want a lateralis culture  ]

S


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Yeah...

The full grown roaches in my BYH tank haven't eaten eggs...unless my pair is laying more than the twice a week I am pulling.

Trapping the adults is pretty simple, being that they run for food, and cannot climb smooth surfaces.
What I do is take a glass pint iced tea bottle, put a piece of sweet potato and some fish food (something they can smell) in the bottom, then lean the bottle up against the background or piece of wood where you have seen them hang out before, then gradually they go for the food, and cannot climb the smooth glass bottle.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

I caught the nymph out of my culture in a film canister, to test whether or not they can climb. Apparently, adults have more problems climbing smooth surfaces than a hatchling, probably because they can find the smallest crevices to gain a foothold. 

Nevertheless, unless the film canister was slanted, the young nymph couldn't climb out. So, I decided to put a film canister trap in with some fish food to see if any stragglers happen to survive.

I then threw the nymph in my tricolor tank and one of my males took it down.

I have significant doubts that I will run into a problem though; my tricolors have come from the back of the tank (from virtually nowhere) to spot crickets that I put in at the front of the tank....that have already started to get away. 

I think the trick is to feed sparingly, and not feed the frogs the next day (at least, that is what i've always done) because the frogs will be more willing to scour around for food. Plus, roaches and crickets tend to drown easily. 

My mantella tank is heavily planted with lots of leaf litter and I still have yet to find any crickets that have survived to adulthood.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

an update,

I have been feeding out lateralis mostly as a staple to my anthonyi and mantella ebenaui.

So far, I have not found any large juveniles that the frogs couldn't eat. However, I found quite a few uneaten nymphs hanging out together in the mantella tank. I have not checked the tricolor tank yet.

However, I have noticed my lame female tricolor who was skinny at one time, plump up quite a bit. AND she laid a clutch (despite it didn't have any eggs).

I have been able to trap the loose nymphs with a yogurt cup and dog food, but unfortunately I think they escaped the trap last night because the snails leave a trail that makes the sides less slippery.

No doubt though, they are triggering better breeding and health for the frogs.

The next time though, I'll punch holes in a lid of a yogurt cup and place bait with a little vegetable oil. oil will suffocate a roach nymph within a few seconds.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

I'd think twice about the oil, what about the frogs that may try to zap a few bugs crawling on the bait?
I don't think oil on the frogs skin would be good.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

It is possible my male ebenaui ate the three nymphs this morning out of the trap because i found him near the front for a change. So, I can understand your concern.

However, i said I'm using a lid this time with holes. So, roach nymphs crawl in, but frogs can't go after them. I've just been using an open container with cat food.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Oh, like a chemical free version of a roach motel?


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

precisely Brian.

I can place a small bottle cap of cat food in the center surrounded by a shallow moat of vegetable oil (no more than what you grease a skillet with) inside the closed container. Alternately, honey can be used because that will get rid of stray fruit flies.

The container works best sunk into the soil.

Ultimately, it would be nice to trap both roaches and the excess snails.

The snails pose more of a threat to my frogs than the baby roaches because I found dozens of them going after my mantella eggs. Sometimes I wonder if that caused only four tadpoles to hatch while the rest of the clutch went bad.

Are you still feeding out lateralis? If you are, are you only trapping the adults, or stray baby nymphs?

As far as I'm aware of, I haven't come across any nymphs much bigger than what I feed out.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

update,

roach trap is working. After placing the yogurt cup in the tank last night, I discovered three nymphs dead in the oil this evening.

I reset it and came back an hour later after the lights were out.

I found three live ones hoovering around the cup, making their way to the holes as they smelled the food.

This trick works well because the roaches are still small and holes in the containers do not have to be big (so there's no dilemma of frogs getting covered in oil).

I'm also eradicating many of the egg eating snails in my tanks. It traps both.


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