Air conditioning sucks, heh.

[Valael]

Well, after my roaches came in, I set up an enclosure with two heating pads on each side (It's an 18 gallon plastic bin) of the enclosure (I read somewhere that that's how some people do it.)

And yeah, basicly it barely raised the temp to 74 - 75. Most places suggest around 85 - 88ish.

So I tossed in a heat lamp (Not a basking light, it's an elongated bulb that's designed to heat the air instead of making a basking spot. Also, it was one of the "moon" lights or whatever, the dark blue/purple colored ones to imitate the moon (Like you use for nocturnal lizards)


And yeah, after trying two positions, I got the right temp (I cut a hole into the enclosure and put the light right inside of the tank) (It's right around 84 - 85)


But then, I checked the temp of the cooled side... 69 degrees?! ugh.


So I slapped a large heatting pad onto the bottom (Something like a 12 x 12)


So that's three heating pads and a lamp just for roaches, heh.

All that and I've got a decent temp range: 77 on the "cool" side and 88 on the hot side.


Roachman says he keeps his as dry as possible and he's been keeping them for nearly 50 years. Code doesn't adjust the humidity. Another thread said they can go for a while without moisture (they have a water dish, but yeah, no humidity.)


I certainly hope about 10 - 15% humidity is acceptable, otherwise, I may introduce them to a can of Raid ;P


I've yet to find a way to keep the humidity jacked up AND give a lot of ventilation without making the whole room insanly humid. Which is bad, because they're in a storage room attached to my room (no door seperating them)

 

[Cooper]

I don think that kind of temperature difference is all that relevant to the well-being of the roaches. I mean we are talking about super creatures who out lived the dinosaurs.

 

[chuck]

are you keeping them as pets or as feeders? if theyre feeders you sure are going thru a lot for them. i put mine in a 10 gallon and paid no attention to humidity or heat, and i soon had a huge culture of hissers, lobsters and deatheads.

 

[Valael]

Is it an average tempurature of 65 - 69 degrees in the area you keep them?

 

[chuck]

the temp. would fluctuate a lot. but never dipping below 70

 

[Valael]

I guess after spending $40 on a dozen roaches (Even if I got a dozen free), I want to make damned sure they breed and do it as fast as possible


I kind of plan on using them as a pet and a feeder once they breed enough. They're kind of neat looking (B. craniifer).


I finally ditched the whole substrate deal...what a freaking mess that was.

 

[Buspirone]

You could try sandwiching the heating pads against the sides of the enclosure with styrofoam or celotex. Either of them can be found at a hardware store close to the insulation or sheet rock. it will direct the heat inwards towrd the roaches. The stuff is cheap and can be cut with a razor knife to size and taped in place with good old duct tape.