# Culturing Lobster Roaches (and other roaches)



## KingCam (Aug 30, 2012)

Keeping & Breeding Lobster Roaches
A Guide to Basic Roach Husbandry for the Purpose of Perpetual Insectivore Food

I know I don't post much on this forum, but several people in other forums have asked me what conditions I keep my roaches in to make them breed so fast. So I decided to type up a detailed guide, and I thought you all might appreciate it also.  This will be an overview of how I keep my roaches, and what works for me.  If you do it differently I'm not saying you're wrong, or that my way is better, this is just my own personal preference.  Feel free to leave comments with helpful hints or tips that I may have left out.  I'm sure there are probably already guides like this here that are probably better than mine, but it can't hurt to throw my 2 cents in the well, right? 

First, let me list a few reasons why roaches are superior to crickets & meal worms.
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• Feeder roaches are easy to keep since they accept a wide range of foods
• They thrive on high protein diets, making them lower in fat and higher in protein than crickets. 
• Once established, they breed readily with no special trays for egg laying, etc, making them easily cultured at home. 
• They have a much higher meat-to-shell ratio (meaning they are more nutritious and easier to digest) than crickets or meal worms.
• Roaches are quiet, they don't drive you insane with their constant chirping. 
• Roaches don't jump all over the place, making them easier to contain. 
• Roaches are long lived & hardy with a lifespan of a year or more. Unlike crickets which are very fragile and short lived. 
• Roaches don't smell nearly as bad as crickets and don't need their cages cleaned as often. 
• Roaches don't bite & will not attack a weak animal like crickets will.*

Although this guide will be focused on the keeping of Lobster Roaches, Nauphoeta cinerea, it will apply to nearly every other species of feeder roach you may encounter. (Including Guyana Orange Spotted Roaches, Blaptica dubia & Red runners, Blatta lateralis)

Let's get right into it, shall we?

*Housing*

The perfect container to use is one of those solid-colored 18 gallon storage totes you can pick up at wally world for ~$6.  The taller/deeper the better.  







You can use a clear tote if you want, but realize the light will disturb your roach colony and will certainly slow breeding & production rates.

If you have to use a clear plastic or glass tub/tank you should attempt to darken it as much as possible by wrapping the outside with dark paper, or even aluminum foil.  Roaches like the dark.

Lobster roaches are accomplished climbers, and can easily scale vertical glass or plastic surfaces.  The most practical way to keep them in their tub is to use a foam brush to apply a thin ~4 inch strip of Vaseline around the top edge of the tote or aquarium.  The roaches cannot climb over the Vaseline barrier.

Though adults have wings, they cannot fly.  Some individuals will sort of “hop” and then “flutter” to the ground from a higher position if you are bothering them, but rest assured, they cannot fly up & out of a tub or tank.

Throw some cardboard egg cartons in there for the roaches to hide in, or alternatively you can use empty paper towel & toilet paper rolls.  Anything cardboard really.  

If you stack the cartons or tubes vertically all of the roach poop will drop to the bottom.  I take egg cartons, and I tear them in half down the middle (so they are only half as long, like a 6-egg holder instead of 12), then I set them torn side down so the roach poo can fall out the bottom.

I don't keep a lid on my tub because I like to have plenty of ventilation.  It is probably smart to put a lid on your tub if you have pets or children that roam the house freely.  No one wants a roach covered dog walking around the place, right? XD  **shudder**

*Substrate*

Don't use any!  Many people use substrate because it supposedly boosts production speeds, that may well be true, but I've never found it necessary.  Adding substrate will just make it more difficult to clean the tub when the time comes because it will be nearly impossible to separate your smallest baby roaches from the soiled substrate.  Just go bare bottom, once you have roaches in the thousands they will create their own substrate with droppings & shed skins. Unless you are breeding a species like Surinam roaches, you do not need substrate.

*Lighting*

None!!  Roaches hate hate hate the light!  The darker you keep them, the faster they will breed.

*Heating*

This one is important.  Without heat your roaches will not reproduce, or will reproduce very slowly.  Keep your roaches at 90F.  90F is perfect for pretty much all species of feeder (tropical) roaches.  You can keep your roaches at a minimum of 70F and still see some reproduction, anything under 70F and they will pretty much stop completely.

You can accomplish this in many ways.  My favorite is a ceramic heat emitter hanging directly over the tub.  The heat emitter keeps it close to 100F at the top of the tub, and about 80F at the bottom.  This gives a perfect heat gradient for the roaches to live in.

You can also use heat cable or under tank heaters.  When using heat cable & under tank heaters you want to go low wattage.  High wattage heating elements could melt your plastic tub or even start a fire!  I feel it is safest to use a ceramic heat emitter above the tub.

If you live in a warm climate you can keep your roach colony in the garage during the summer and save on electricity!

*Humidity*

Humidity is important to roaches.  Without enough humidity the roaches will not be able to properly shed their old skins and will die during molts.  If you see a lot of dead roaches in your colony that died during molt it is safe to assume you're keeping your colony too dry.

Keep your relative humidity between 40% and 60%.  When humidity levels stay above 60% you are at risk for mold grown.  Amazingly, as much as roaches can live through, mold is one of their weaknesses.  If you get the right strain of mold growing in your culture it could wipe out your entire roach population.

Since your tub is full of cardboard it will retain moisture somewhat well if you just give it a good misting about once a day.

*Water*

There are a few ways your roaches can get their water.  By far the best way is to use water crystals.  Don't buy cricket water at the pet store, and certainly don't get anything that is calcium fortified or anything like that.  Get on ebay, do a search for “dry water crystals.”  You should find people selling them a pound at a time for MUCH cheaper than you will ever find it at the pet stores.  If you buy 1lb of dry water crystals it'll probably last you at least 3 years, if not longer.  After you have the dry water crystals, just add 1tbsp to a gallon of dechlorinated water and wait for them to hydrate.  You want to hydrate your crystals before putting them in your roach colony.  If just set a bowl of water in their colony and add crystals to it many of your roaches will drown before the water has turned into gel crystals.

Some people suggest using wet clothes, sponges, or paper towels to water their roaches.  Do not do this, these items will just grow bacteria and get nasty very quickly.  You also don't want to use straight water because your roaches will die.  If you don't want to spend money on water crystals just mist your colony twice a day and make sure there's always a piece of apple in there for them eat/drink from.

*Food*

Your roaches crave & need food that is high in protein.  A high quality cat food or dog food will work just fine.  You can go out and buy expensive roach chow if you have some extra cash to spend.  You want to have dry high protein food available at all time to your roaches.  You can just throw it in a corner if you want, but I find the tub stays cleaner when I keep the food in a bowl.

Many people grind the dog or cat food up before putting it in with the roaches.  This step is completely and totally unnecessary.  The roaches will eat it either way.

Along with food you should offer your roaches fresh fruits and vegetables at least twice a week. Organic of course is best. I would put your fruits & veggies in a separate bowl from the dry food.  Any produce the roaches don't eat over night should be removed to prevent mold & fruit flies.  Broccoli, carrots, apples, kale, and oranges are all favored by lobster roaches.

Just remember, whatever you feed your roaches will end up in your pets' tummies.  So feed your roaches healthy wholesome foods!

PS. Fresh oranges are like roach Viagra.  Feed your roaches plenty of orange to boost reproduction!

*Lifecycle *

Lobster roaches mature at around 3 to 4 months old (depending on temperature). Females carry young for approx. a month and give live birth to between 30 and 40 babies nearly every month! The young are tiny, coming in at about 3/16 of an inch.  They grow quickly, providing you with a constant source of feeders of all sizes!  As adults they are about 1.25 inches long, and can live up to a year (as opposed to crickets, which only live a month or two).

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Now the fun part, PHOTOS!!























































[video=youtube;k67iP1r8eDw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k67iP1r8eDw[/video]

[video=youtube;PMbWjvUINaw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMbWjvUINaw[/video]

Reactions: Like 1


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## Travis K (Aug 30, 2012)

Glad you like them.  They are one of the easiest roaches to culture, but one of the hardest to keep contained.  One of the things I hated most about this species is that if I used them for feeders I had to babysit them once I added them to tanks due to their ability to escape most of my enclosures.  If we could find a mutant of this species that couldn't climb glass and get non-climbing strain these would be EPIC feeders.  I guess every species has it's downfall.


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## KingCam (Aug 30, 2012)

Travis K said:


> Glad you like them.  They are one of the easiest roaches to culture, but one of the hardest to keep contained.  One of the things I hated most about this species is that if I used them for feeders I had to babysit them once I added them to tanks due to their ability to escape most of my enclosures.  If we could find a mutant of this species that couldn't climb glass and get non-climbing strain these would be EPIC feeders.  I guess every species has it's downfall.


 Yeah, you do have to baby sit them in the animals tanks, that's for sure.  That's why I have just taken to feeding all of my animals individually with feeding tongs.  After I started tong feeding I fell in love with it for two main reasons: 1) I can closely monitor which animals are eating and how much and 2) all of my animals now beg at the fronts of their tanks when I walk in the room 

Cannot thank you enough for sending me that starter culture last year (or was it 2010?).  I cannot believe how freaking fast they reproduce!!!


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## Travis K (Aug 30, 2012)

KingCam said:


> Cannot thank you enough for sending me that starter culture last year (or was it 2010?).  I cannot believe how freaking fast they reproduce!!!


I sent the rest to TX and now I am lobster roach free!  I might try Blatta lateralis again, but will have to figure out a way to keep the smell down.  I am a little OCD with smells.  B. lateralis are the most cricket like roach that I am aware of, not quite as prolific as Naupheta cinerea but they can't climb.  Like I said there is no 'perfect' feeder.


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## KingCam (Aug 30, 2012)

Travis K said:


> I sent the rest to TX and now I am lobster roach free!  I might try Blatta lateralis again, but will have to figure out a way to keep the smell down.  I am a little OCD with smells.  B. lateralis are the most cricket like roach that I am aware of, not quite as prolific as Naupheta cinerea but they can't climb.  Like I said there is no 'perfect' feeder.


Ever since you sent me the lobster roaches I have become a roach culturing addict.  My biggest colony easily & by far is my lobster roaches, coming in second is my Dubia colony.  I now also have small starter cultures of Blatta lateralis, Surinam Roaches, P. femapterus, Madagascar Hissers, Pallid Roaches, and Blaberus Hybrids.

If you ever get sentimental about wanting your lobsters back, lemme know & I'll ship em to ya XD  They are still purely "your" bloodline.  I haven't introduced individuals from any other populations.


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## cacoseraph (Sep 1, 2012)

i just head pinch lobs, fire and forget.  if you overfeed your predators you will have an annoying rate of lobs rotting in cages, requiring resubbing, but if you feed a good amount then the only real problems you will have is with roaches dying and rotting in the cages of critters that are premolt... and if you get good at pinching and don't keep your cages too wet even those cases won't always require resubbing


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## RobynTRR (Sep 1, 2012)

I love the lobsters, we bred and fed them for years. Very popular with lizards. Great to see all this care info in one spot. 

We use our Bug Stop barrier product for containment, it doesn't attract debris like vaseline does. 

Thanks again for the thread!


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## KingCam (Sep 3, 2012)

RobynTRR said:


> We use our Bug Stop barrier product for containment, it doesn't attract debris like vaseline does.


I have heard of bug stop barrier before, but I've never been able to find anyone selling it. Where do you find it?



Sent from my Epic 4G using Tapatalk 2


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## Brachypelmo (Jun 12, 2013)

KingCam said:


> I have heard of bug stop barrier before, but I've never been able to find anyone selling it. Where do you find it?
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my Epic 4G using Tapatalk 2



I found this but have never used it or read any reviews?  

http://aaronpauling.com/catalog/dry-goods/super-slick-roach-barrier


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## Akai (Jun 15, 2013)

I've been thinking about raising a Blatta lateralis colony for my slings but I've been aprehensive about the smell and I hear they are prolific breeders.  I don't want to get over run.  What kind of smell are we talking about?  If it's anything like a cricket colony I'm probably going to pass.  lol


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