substrate?

[KyuZo]

Hi,
I was wondering if you can give me some inputs on substrates.

I can either do pine shavings, which i did in the past and had no problem with. some of my roaches actually ate some, like the hissers and the lobster roaches. The only problem with pine shaving is that they are white and the roaches' frass are very visible and this make the tank looks dirty.

the other option is coconut fiber

or mixture of pine shavings, peat moss, rotten woods, and dead leaves

one more thing that i forgot to mention is that this substrate is for B. giganteous, possibly rhino roaches, possibly G. obolonagata roaches, and B. rothi roaches.

please tell me why you would choose one over the other. it is fine if you don't have a reason either.

 

[KyuZo]

anyone? don't be too shy to speak up people.

 

[Choobaine]

My partner has a pretty big roach colony, I'm not sure what's under the leaves but he keeps them on blackberry leaves. After they started living on blackberry leaves they all turned yellow. I'll get a photograph for you. It ain't a colour morph (because they changed at the same time and all at different ages) but the main point is they are healthy and gorgeous and I'm sure leaves would be good for all species? But that's more a question over advice!

 

[RoachGirlRen]

If you're doing B. giganteus, use coconut fiber or soil. The nymphs need to burrow to feel secure. You could add things like peat, rotting wood, and dead leaves to the mix, but I really reccomend against pine. I don't know HOW it worked for you, but soft wood shavings are not reccomended for invertebrates at all. Pine and Cedar both contain natural insecticides in their oils. If you want ot use wood chips of some sort, go with aspen, cypress, etc. and even then research it as some can cause pH fluctuations.