CockroachSniffer69
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- May 8, 2023
- Messages
- 3
Just a fun post here to get general information that you cannot find easily on the internet, mostly through your own personal experiences. I’ve been in the insect keeping mostly cockroaches (more specifically cockroaches like Madagascan hissing cockroaches/Dubia roaches) for the past 2 years. This post is mainly to gather as much hard-to-find cockroach husbandry for those keeping these wonderful insects! Give me your infinite wisdom cockroach fanatics!
I’ll start with a little of what I know as an example for the type of information I seek for this post. This is meant to be a fun way to collaborate information in one place since the internet is a huge maze of information. Personal experience appreciated but not required for what works for you in keeping your colonies.
1. The oldest hissing cockroach lived to be 7 years and 10 months old! (Courtesy of OpenAi’s info)
2. Female dubia cockroaches can reproduce up to once per month!
3. Most cockroaches carry their eggs inside of them in what is known as an ootheca; giving live birth!
Now for care tips.
Dubia cockroaches:
Temperatures should be kept between 70-75F for slower breeding or 80-85F for faster breeding.
Frass (roach poop) should be cleaned once every month.
Dermestid beetles help to manage frass and clean up deceased cockroaches which could stagnate a colony without them.
Make sure their food is properly moist as they get all of their hydration from vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes etc.
Protein is necessary for this species (I use Armada 16% egg laying chicken feed)
Hissing cockroaches:
Temperatures between 65-70F for breeding once per year or between 75-90F for breeding once every 70 days.
A self sustaining colony can be managed with a bioactive setup containing springtails, isopods and a moist substrate with a false bottom.
Isopods/springtails replace the dermestid beetles in the hissing cockroach colony as a cleanup crew.
They eat the same things as dubia roaches eat (mostly carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash and the occasional orange as well as their protein source being the same Armada chicken feed).
I’ll start with a little of what I know as an example for the type of information I seek for this post. This is meant to be a fun way to collaborate information in one place since the internet is a huge maze of information. Personal experience appreciated but not required for what works for you in keeping your colonies.
1. The oldest hissing cockroach lived to be 7 years and 10 months old! (Courtesy of OpenAi’s info)
2. Female dubia cockroaches can reproduce up to once per month!
3. Most cockroaches carry their eggs inside of them in what is known as an ootheca; giving live birth!
Now for care tips.
Dubia cockroaches:
Temperatures should be kept between 70-75F for slower breeding or 80-85F for faster breeding.
Frass (roach poop) should be cleaned once every month.
Dermestid beetles help to manage frass and clean up deceased cockroaches which could stagnate a colony without them.
Make sure their food is properly moist as they get all of their hydration from vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes etc.
Protein is necessary for this species (I use Armada 16% egg laying chicken feed)
Hissing cockroaches:
Temperatures between 65-70F for breeding once per year or between 75-90F for breeding once every 70 days.
A self sustaining colony can be managed with a bioactive setup containing springtails, isopods and a moist substrate with a false bottom.
Isopods/springtails replace the dermestid beetles in the hissing cockroach colony as a cleanup crew.
They eat the same things as dubia roaches eat (mostly carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash and the occasional orange as well as their protein source being the same Armada chicken feed).
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Despite mine kept dying in the ee substrate so I had to remove it . Lost about 20-30 as doa but had no luck with-getting any customer service help. I ended up just feeding them to my spiders before going bad.