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.

 

[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

 

[Rick]

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

 

[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

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[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!

 

[Andrew]

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

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[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.

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[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)...

 

[yen_saw]

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

 

[Rick]

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

 

[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

 

[Ian]

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

Cheers,

Ian

 

[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.

 

[Rick]

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

 

[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