# Caring for lobster roaches



## Rick

I ordered some lobster roaches today. First time I will be keeping roaches. How are they best cared for? Thanks.


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## Andrew

Stick em in a big tub with a bunch of egg cartons. Replace the water crystals as they run out(nymphs will drown if you have a dish of liquid water in there). They love greens and the special "Roach Chow" food. They will eat pretty much anything though.

Eventually all of their will make a thick substrate in the bottom, and thats when you know you need to clean the cage...lol. :wink:

Feeding the roaches to your critters is best done via tweasers or with special feeding tongs.

Thats about all you need to know. How many are you getting?

Good luck with them!

Thanks,

Andrew


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## Rick

Thanks andrew. I ordered 100 of them. What about breeding? Do they smell? My crickets start smelling after a couple months.


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## Andrew

They should get to breeding right away. Each female will give live birth to 30+ babies every month, and the babies grow up quick. At any given time I can observe newly molted roaches in the colony, and I very often see females with a load of babies next to them, or with an ootheca sticking out of their abdomen.

My colony smells pretty bad, but only when you take off the lid(there isnt a whole lot of ventilation in it).

Feel free to ask any more questions.

Thanks,

Andrew


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## Ian

I had a load of these, and still have a fair few left. I kept them in large tubs full of soil, and they would burrow their way to the bottom. I kept them at around 25C, and few them all sorts, cabbage, bread, fish food. After a few weeks, it was just teaming with little babies. So, I dont know much abou them at all, but it looks like the conditions were okay :Wink:

Cheers,

Ian


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## chun

they are the hardist little things ever. My lobster roaches colony is still going strong after atleast 8 months of neglect with no food and water. I've still got LOADS of them. i will start feeding them when i get something i can feed the roaches to.


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## Macano

I've only had my colony for about a month, and yeah they do have a certain stench. I also give them very little ventilation for that reason, it may not be healthy for them but my nose gives me no choice. And watch out when you feed them to your mantids, they STINK to high heaven. I think it's a defense mechanism, but when they are grabbed the stink they emit could kill a person. Just a heads up :? Other than that they pretty much take care of themselves. Definitely put a band of bug stop or vaseline around the top as they climb very well and run hella fast. I've had a few escape during feeding when the mantid missed, and it was quite a horrendous chore to track them down!


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## Andrew

I wouldnt reccommend using a substrate, as it would make cleaning day a disaster. Its hard enough without a substrate. :?

Thanks,

Andrew


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## Rick

I was under the impression that roaches did not smell at all. At least I always heard crickets smelled worse. Guess I won't be keeping these around long.


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## yen_saw

Lobster roaches smell but not too bad compared to crickets. Most mantis species loves them. Here is a link for the lobster raoch care sheet.

http://www.crunchy-critters.com/lobstercare.php

They are very shy creatures and i have never seen one fly before. However, they run very fast and climb glass, so Bugstop to contain them is a must. I have use vegetable oil before and it works well. Also watch out if you feed them too much dog food or cat food cos once a few mites gets into the culture it will virtually explode into thousands within a short period of time. I hate mites :x so i threw away the last lobster roach culture


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## Leah

Our lobsters are nearly odorless. They only smell if there is old food, the container is too humid or they are disturbed and release their defensive smell.

We keep them on about 3" of coco fiber, mulch, peat and soil with egg crates and a dish for dry food/gutload. Sure, cleaning day takes FOREVER to pick all the nymphs out of the soil, but we only have to clean them every 6 mos or so.


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## infinity

on the topic... crickets and roaches etc... what do you do when your colony/ culture gets out of control? (i.e. when the breeding is faster than the feeding to pets)...


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## yen_saw

Buy more pets, kill it, sell it, give it away, ....... :wink:


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## Rick

Where can you buy bugstop? Also, is it ok to keep them without any substrate? I keep crickets on plain dry oatmeal.


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## Andrew

I dont keep mine on substrate, and they do just fine. I use vegetable oil to keep them from climbing out, and so far it hasnt failed me.

Thanks,

Andrew


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## Ian

yeah, vegetable oil is great, and I also use petroleum jelly.

Cheers,

Ian


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## Leah

I hate the oil/lubricants and wouldnt use it again if I was paid to. It drips down over time and is messy, gets all over everything (like your sleeves) etc.

I love bug stop/teflon paint, however, and use it on all my reptile cages as well as roach containers. It doesnt smear, drip, smell, isnt messy, lasts a long time, doenst wash off easily, etc. I believe you can buy it at www.blaberus.com, its expensive, but worth every cent.

I dont keep anything under my crickets except a pile of gutload in one corner, and really, they have nearly no odor as well (cleaned weekly) and usually contain about 4,000 individuals at any given time. You certainly can keep roaches w/o a substrate, but they smell a lot worse.


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## Rick

Leah, do you keep the coconut fiber dry in the roach container?


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## Andrew

> It drips down over time and is messy, gets all over everything (like your sleeves) etc.


It doesnt do that with me. :? I guess it depends on what type of container you are using, and how you apply it.

Thanks,

Andrew


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## yen_saw

I have tried a few methods (including bugstop). The only drawback for vegetable oil is you have to reapply after 1-2 months compare to BUgstop which last a very long time. If the vegetable oil will drip into the cage it is not harmful to lobster roach even when the roaches consumed it. And you can wipe the vegetable oil off and reuse the container for something else whereas the bugstop paint is hard to get rid off, especially when your culture exploded and you decide to change a bigger container, you have to buy more bugstop to apply on the bigger cage too.

Rick, you can try to use only egg crates as "substrate" and see how it goes. I like clean cage so i clean it once a month. Cleaning the cage is never easy even without substrtate, so it is worse with coconut fiber or peat and most likely you will end up throwing some lobster roach nymphs away. But they reproduce quickly so there is never a problem losing a few if your wife/GF/mother can tolerate it :wink: All the best to your lobster roach culture.


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## Leah

> Leah, do you keep the coconut fiber dry in the roach container?


Nope, slightly moist, we spray them down every night, they really enjoy a good misting.

Teflon paint comes off with soap, water and a scrub brush...


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## Rick

Thanks for the help everyone but I have just been informed I cannot keep them.


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## Ian

lmao, the wife?


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## Rick

> lmao, the wife?


How did you guess? I have tried to reason with her but with no luck. She thinks they carry disease and are nasty. :?


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## Ian

I have a father, who is into herps and insects, and he also has a wife, lol. Although, she dont know we both got roaches. Quite funny, he said to her, what were you to do if you found out me and Ian were keeping roaches. She said, id throw every dam one of them out, but I know you are not keeping them, as I havent seen any signs of them. At which point my dad was in the process of feeding about 40 to some of our chams :wink:

Cheers,

Ian


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