Roach I.D & set up question

[Lasiodora]

Hello all,
I'm going to try to phase out crickets as feeders and just go with roaches. I have a couple of adult roaches and nymphs and I set them up in a 66QT/63L sterilite sweater box. My goal is to get a colony going.

3 Questions:
Does anyone have a general idea of what roaches these are?

Is my set up appropriate?
I'm using cypress mulch as a substrate (which is safe for reptiles, amphibs, arachnids, and insects). I am going to add more corkbark when I buy some at the next show. For now I am offereng an apple slice for moisture (I am going to buy some of that gel used to give insects water next week. I forget its name.) For food I gave them quaker oats.
I left the deli cup in there so you can get an idea of how big the sweater box is.

How can you sex them?

Thanks for your help,
Mike

 

[Dark Raptor]

Looks like Eublaberus posticus.

Give them more places to hide. And I see some kind od mould on their food... You can add them some proteins, like cat or dog food.

If you want recognize their sex, look here (see part about Blaberus giganteus - don't look at the text ). They sternits are very similar to Blaberus sp.

http://darkraptor.fateback.com/karaczany.html

first photo - female
second - male

 

[Lasiodora]

Thanks Dark raptor.
As I mentioned before, I will add more hides when I buy some at the next show (more reasonable prices there). Corkbark isn't exactly cheap at our petshops.

There is no mold on the apple slice. I just added that a couple of minutes ago. The reflection from the full spectrum light I used for the picture makes it look that way. It's definitely not mold though. Will rodent food work in place of cat or dog food? Also can it be dry dog or cat food?

Thanks again,
Mike

 

[Dark Raptor]

I think this food should be ok.
I use only cat food, cabbage and apples for all my roaches and crickets. Probably it is possible to keep them without substrate, but larvae need it to hide, and it helps to keep high humidity in insectarium.

 

[Lasiodora]

Great thanks again. I see the difference between male and female on your site. Although I couldn't understand anything you wrote there . Who would have thought I'd be keeping roaches. I was pretty afraid of them not too long ago. Out of curiosity, where do these guys come from?
Mike

 

[Dark Raptor]

Heh... my parents afraid of them
They think that they are real invaders like Periplaneta sp., Blatella germanica or Blatta orientalis

Eublaberus can be found in South America (Costa Rica?)

 

[Jakob]

Substrate isn't necessary, but will keep humidity in, but if you use a heatlamp, you will have plenty of humidity from the condensation, plus they will reproduce quicker with higher temps (80s-90s). For hides, eggcrates work the best and a mix of eggcrates and paper towel/toilet paper rolls will work even better. Don't waste your money on cork bark or any other wood.

Good luck!

Jake

 

[JonDaAzn]

I heard somewhere that someone used unmedicated chicken mash (food for chicks?) as food for their cockaroaches, and a water dish should be okay, but many people use this water-gel stuff to give their roaches water, i cant think of the name though

 

[galeogirl]

I always just misted my roach tanks in the evening as a water source. I fed my colony of lobster roaches dry dog food, assorted fruits and vegetables, and some kitchen scraps like baby food and cooked grains. They'd eat it all and I had a very prolific colony. So prolific that I was giving the darn things away because they were reproducing faster than I could feed them off.

They will eat the unmedicated chicken mash, but it can get moldy pretty quickly so it needs to be changed out daily and sifted through for nymphs before you toss it out.

I never gave mine extra heat, just kept them in the spider room, which overall had a warmer temperature than the rest of the house.

 

[james]

roach care

Mine never really cared much for the chicken food. They are much more attracted to fishy smelling products. Cat food, Trout food, Fish flakes, and so on. I usually get a bunch of things, grind them up in the coffee bean grinder and mix them together. I use the water crystals to keep a constant water source, but also mist every day or two. For the smaller or non-winged species I just use egg-crates, and for the larger or winged species I use peat moss and bark, corkboard, or other items for hiding that can handle more water.
James

 

[Israel2004]

I agree with James on the fishy smelling foods. Mine barely touch cat food but trout chow they swarm.

Israel