Associate
- Joined
- 30 Aug 2008
- Posts
- 1,508
- Location
- West Yorkshire
agreed, would love to see if anyones got some other crazy pets.
My new pet
- Thread starter G18241
- Start date
I have a spiderling of one of these (P. Irminia - Venezuelan Sun Tiger tarantula):
A spiderling of one of these (H. Lividum - Cobalt Blue tarantula):
Two of these, one of which is really rather large with ~ 7.5" legspan (L. Parahybana - Salmon Pink Birdeater):
One of these (P. Regalis - Indian Ornamental Rainforest tarantula). They have amongst the most potent venom of all tarantulas, and are extremely fast. Their movement can be likened to teleporting:
Two of these, although this is not my image, currently about 3" legspan, get to ~8" (A. Geniculata - Brazillian White Knee):
And about 60 of these (Madagascar hissing cockroaches of various species):
The roaches are very interesting, and all have individual characters (some more noticable than others). Males have fights which entail butting one another with their 'horns'. They eat all fruit, but don't seem to like carrots for some reason. They also love cheerios! Great pets for getting started in inverts, as they're nigh on impossible to kill, and live ~4 years. They don't bite and aren't very fast moving.
A spiderling of one of these (H. Lividum - Cobalt Blue tarantula):
Two of these, one of which is really rather large with ~ 7.5" legspan (L. Parahybana - Salmon Pink Birdeater):
One of these (P. Regalis - Indian Ornamental Rainforest tarantula). They have amongst the most potent venom of all tarantulas, and are extremely fast. Their movement can be likened to teleporting:
Two of these, although this is not my image, currently about 3" legspan, get to ~8" (A. Geniculata - Brazillian White Knee):
And about 60 of these (Madagascar hissing cockroaches of various species):
The roaches are very interesting, and all have individual characters (some more noticable than others). Males have fights which entail butting one another with their 'horns'. They eat all fruit, but don't seem to like carrots for some reason. They also love cheerios! Great pets for getting started in inverts, as they're nigh on impossible to kill, and live ~4 years. They don't bite and aren't very fast moving.
Might sound a bit mad but I always wanted to keep cockroaches, I reckon they are very cool little creatures.
But I would be worried about them breeding like mad and ending up with too many, or some escaping and taking over the house. GF would go nuts!
But I would be worried about them breeding like mad and ending up with too many, or some escaping and taking over the house. GF would go nuts!
There are loads of species of roaches. The hissing roaches seem to have some of the most interesting behavioural traits (fighting/butting and hissing etc), which is one of the reasons that they are so popular.
They give birth to 20-40 nymphs (depending on species/size of female etc), and will onlt really breed if it's warm enough. They apparently breed fast over about 80F, and much below that you'll be lucky to get them to breed much/at all. Mine have produced two 'batches' of nymphs in just over a year. I think that there are about 10 left from the first batch (there weren't that many, and they easily die/get eaten), and probably about 20 of the second lot of nymphs remaining.
As for escaping, well the nymphs can easily squeeze through small gaps, so you need to make sure there's nowhere for them to get through (nylon netting is probably best for this). I've no doubt had a few escape, but they can't survive outside their tank for long (I found one dead one once about 2 feet from their enclosure). They're not a pest species, and unlike American/German roaches and other pest species, cannot eat just about anything (glue/card/whatever), and need a good deal of moisture to survive. They're pretty slow moving compared to pest species too.
A further barrier against their escape is to smear a 1.5" band of vaseline around the top of their enclosure. They cannot climb the stuff at all.
They range in size from 40mm to 100mm long depending on species/sex (the roach on my hand is about 80mm long), and are really quite impressive as a result. They also harbour mites, which are not parasitic, but help to keep the roach clean by eating all the old food/debris that sticks to the insect. They can only survive on the cockroach, and are non-transferable to humans (well, they can fall onto you from the roach, but washing your hands will have rid of them). They are very intersting, and I highly recommend them to anyone looking to keep inverts. They're more interesting than stick insects, and very, very easy to keep.
They give birth to 20-40 nymphs (depending on species/size of female etc), and will onlt really breed if it's warm enough. They apparently breed fast over about 80F, and much below that you'll be lucky to get them to breed much/at all. Mine have produced two 'batches' of nymphs in just over a year. I think that there are about 10 left from the first batch (there weren't that many, and they easily die/get eaten), and probably about 20 of the second lot of nymphs remaining.
As for escaping, well the nymphs can easily squeeze through small gaps, so you need to make sure there's nowhere for them to get through (nylon netting is probably best for this). I've no doubt had a few escape, but they can't survive outside their tank for long (I found one dead one once about 2 feet from their enclosure). They're not a pest species, and unlike American/German roaches and other pest species, cannot eat just about anything (glue/card/whatever), and need a good deal of moisture to survive. They're pretty slow moving compared to pest species too.
A further barrier against their escape is to smear a 1.5" band of vaseline around the top of their enclosure. They cannot climb the stuff at all.
They range in size from 40mm to 100mm long depending on species/sex (the roach on my hand is about 80mm long), and are really quite impressive as a result. They also harbour mites, which are not parasitic, but help to keep the roach clean by eating all the old food/debris that sticks to the insect. They can only survive on the cockroach, and are non-transferable to humans (well, they can fall onto you from the roach, but washing your hands will have rid of them). They are very intersting, and I highly recommend them to anyone looking to keep inverts. They're more interesting than stick insects, and very, very easy to keep.
Last edited:
And a fire millipede called Betty:
Bought the Millipede for the GF as she thought it was pretty
Our millipede has died today
have no idea why either, the GF is really upset.All info has been followed to the dot for her so really am shocked to find out she has gone
Associate
- Joined
- 15 Apr 2008
- Posts
- 1,031
- Location
- West Didsbury, Manchester
Our millipede has died today
All info has been followed to the dot for her so really am shocked to find out she has gone
Sorry to hear that mate, where did you get her from? She looked stunning! How long are they supposed to live for?
Our millipede has died today
All info has been followed to the dot for her so really am shocked to find out she has gone
See, the trick here is to buy loads. That way they breed, and it doesn't hurt so much when the odd one snuffs it.
That said, I'm fond of an old roach called Ol' Sniffer that's been going for ages. She was knackered when I got her 14 months ago, and still soldiers on despite having had most feet bitten off and almost none of her antennae left (was like that when I got her). Probably my favourite insect and I'll be sorry to see her bite the dust.
Got her from the same place i have got everything else from
Can live upto about 10 years, she might have just been ill when we got her, no way of really knowing.
The GF is so upset though, am going to have to buy her amother one, though at over £20 a pop tghey are not the cheapest of things to buy, might have to have a look at a different species, preferably a bit cheaper
The GF is so upset though, am going to have to buy her amother one, though at over £20 a pop tghey are not the cheapest of things to buy, might have to have a look at a different species, preferably a bit cheaper
I know what she needs.
A Woodlouse in a matchbox.
http://www.virginiacheeseman.co.uk/millipedes-c-33.html?osCsid=c5a1d61f59faa6e2f7b0962073b26395
http://www.virginiacheeseman.co.uk/burmese-beauty-millipede-unknown-species-juvenile-x-6-p-543.html
http://www.virginiacheeseman.co.uk/african-olive-spirostreptida-sp-subadult-x-6-p-348.html
Some decent value 'pedes on there. Knock yourself out!
What were you using as a substrate?
http://www.virginiacheeseman.co.uk/burmese-beauty-millipede-unknown-species-juvenile-x-6-p-543.html
http://www.virginiacheeseman.co.uk/african-olive-spirostreptida-sp-subadult-x-6-p-348.html
Some decent value 'pedes on there. Knock yourself out!
What were you using as a substrate?
Last edited:
Roaches and millipedes make awesome pets. Ive kept them for years but since moving into our flat I haven't been able to get any more as the landlord says no pets
Ive always wanted to have a couple of fire millipedes but they seem so hard to get hold of in the uk, and from my experience after getting them through the post they usually don't last very long.
As for the roaches, I have never to this day owned a species of roach that can climb vertical glass or plastic - I used to keep mine in plastic fish tanks (with snap on lids) and they could never climb the sides.
Ive always wanted to have a couple of fire millipedes but they seem so hard to get hold of in the uk, and from my experience after getting them through the post they usually don't last very long.
As for the roaches, I have never to this day owned a species of roach that can climb vertical glass or plastic - I used to keep mine in plastic fish tanks (with snap on lids) and they could never climb the sides.
Most, if not all burrowing species are poor climbers, and cannot scale hard vertical surfaces. This is why many use them for feeder roaches (as I do).
There are many others that are very good at climbing though, hissers are one such species, as are many pest roaches.
Ive only ever owned burrowing roaches - and Ive owned a few hissing roaches which I never ever saw trying to climb the sides of their tank!
With the radiator on next to my roach tank, the hissers all line up along the wall of the tank nearest the heat like parked cars!
Yeah, have been pricing some stuff up on her site
Had been keeping it on the soil blocks that i got with my gecko and just giving her a spray every day to keep it moist and the humidity up
With the radiator on next to my roach tank, the hissers all line up along the wall of the tank nearest the heat like parked cars!
Haha
I always had spider mats for mine, the ones that sit under the tank.Something I have been wondering recently though - millipedes like the damp, but they also like the tropical climate. eg warmth. How do the millipede owners prevent the soil nearer the bottom of the tank nearest the heat mat from drying out? I used to mist the tank every morning but it doesn't reach the bottom of the tank where the millipede usually burrows.
Millipedes are amazing I was plnning to get one as a pet but ended up with a marine tank instead, which made me think it would be cool to get a large enclosure setup like a damp jungle setup and have a few different types of insect living together in there.