heating a roach colony

[Mystymantis]

 I have some Turkistan roaches that I want to breed for food for my mantises.  But I know they won't breed unless they have a very warm habitat. What is a good safe, as in not a fire hazard, efficient and cheap way to heat roaches?  Right now they are in a large plastic critter keeper cage with coconut fiber as substrate. I have a small heating mat but have not used it yet as I don't think it will provide nearly enough heat. The brand is All Living Things mini heating mat (it was the only one they had at the time and it fits under the cage).  But I am not quite comfortable with using a heat mat on a plastic container. Do roaches need to be in glass containers to heat them easily? I have read that most people keep them in large plastic tubs and such but don't know how they heat them.

Any suggestions or ways on how to set up roach colonies and successfully breed them?

 

[BringontheBugs]

Plastic containers are the cheapest, easiest, and likely best type of enclosure to keep roaches in(the vast majority of my 18 species are kept in these types of enclosures). I know some keepers use heat cables as a method of heating their enclosures, while some also use a heatlamps with a red bulb(roaches hate bright light). I personally think those would be the two best methods.

It varies a bit by species, but for the turkistans, all that's needed is a moist substrate(coconut fiber is great), some hides in the form of egg crates or pieces of bark(cork bark included), temps ideally around 80 degrees, and a diet that includes fruit.  

 

[CosbyArt]

@Mystymantis Take a look at our sister forum, Allpet Roaches Forum, as only roach keepers there is plenty of help there. Here is one of the housing topics, and one about heating options. If you search around you'll find many more topics as well.