Is wood chip as a substrate, fine for Madagascar hissing cockroaches?

[bxzel]

I bought 3 adult madagascar hissing cockroaches for only 1.25$ ! Its so cheap because i live in asia (Philippines).

So my question is,is this good for their substrate or bedding? =

TIA

 

[Aurelia]

I use oatmeal as bedding, it's also their food.

 

[Camden]

I'm sure the wood chips are fine, lots of things are good for their bedding. Coconut fiber, oatmeal, even no substrate is okay.

EDIT- I should mention, that if you use woodchips/shavings you'd need to change the substrate a lot. I'd go with coco fiber.

 

[bxzel]

I bought coco peat,i try to change the wood chip bedding (just to be sure),but i was surprise one of the MHC run so fast and he goes in below the tv set (which cannot be move) i feel kinda sad because he escape.I live in the Philippines we have a tropical climate in here.Is it possible for them to still survive in here.

I am now left with my male and female MHC. (Hope they don't breed)

 

[Bugs In Cyberspace]

I would guess that oatmeal would mold a lot and attract mites. Am I wrong?

I think your escaped hisser could live for a month or so in your house if it isn't too dry. Usually dryness and starvation take their toll pretty quickly on escaped roaches. A wood chip substrate tends to be pretty dry too, so I imagine it was already running a little dry unless you were supplementing it with lots of moist food.

 

[shebeen]

I use an inch or so of completely dry wheat bran in my main hisser tub. The wheat bran makes it easy to separate nymphs from the substrate when it needs to be changed and it won't mold if you keep it dry. The substrate gets changed when it reaches a 60/40 ratio of bran to frass. I use water crystals as a water source along with fruit and veggies. I've been using this setup for 8 months. In that time, I've had 4 broods and no deaths.

 

[MrCrackerpants]

I use an inch or so of completely dry wheat bran in my main hisser tub. The wheat bran makes it easy to separate nymphs from the substrate when it needs to be changed and it won't mold if you keep it dry. The substrate gets changed when it reaches a 60/40 ratio of bran to frass. I use water crystals as a water source along with fruit and veggies. I've been using this setup for 8 months. In that time, I've had 4 broods and no deaths.

What do you keep your water crystals in so they do not moisten your bran?

---------- Post added 05-13-2012 at 02:28 PM ----------

I bought coco peat,i try to change the wood chip bedding (just to be sure),but i was surprise one of the MHC run so fast and he goes in below the tv set (which cannot be move) i feel kinda sad because he escape.I live in the Philippines we have a tropical climate in here.Is it possible for them to still survive in here.

I am now left with my male and female MHC. (Hope they don't breed)

I would place a piece of ripe banana in a small container on its side. He may come out and into the container to eat the banana. I had a male that escaped and I found him 12 weeks later. He was alive.

 

[shebeen]

What do you keep your water crystals in so they do not moisten your bran?

I use a 4oz Glad Mini Round plastic storage container with 1/2 inch holes around the bottom. The lid keeps the crystals from drying up and prevents them from being fouled with frass.