Roach housing

[guapoalto049]

What does everyone use to house and/or feed their roaches?

I use a large tupperware container with a lid, which contains around 300 mixed size lobsters. The top 3" is coated with vaseline since they are good climbers. I'm currently using vertical egg crates and slabs of cardboard for extra surface area.

Every few days I put in a styrofoam plate full of goodies: Ol' Roy soft+moist dog food over a bed of instant potato flakes, garnished with strawberries, spinach, and any other fruit or veggie I have. The entire dish is soaked in water.

 

[patrickfraser]

I have dubias, so climbing isn't an issue. I do keep it covered to retain heat and humidity. I use the egg crates and they also really like paper towel and toilet paper tubes. Sometimes they fill them solid. It's amazing to shake them out and see how many were in it. I add various "goodies" as available. Always available is crushed dog food in a dish, corn pops sprinkled around, and a fresh orange (instead of water crystals). I hear oranges help with reproduction. I'll throw in tomato "ends", banana peel, lettuce, carrots, and just about any other fruit or veggie scraps. I just need to make sure that there is not too much moisture or the grain mites will show up. If there's an outbreak, I remove all fresh (moisture producing) items, turn up the heat, and leave the tub uncovered for a while. This will usually do the trick. If it is bad, it's time for a bin cleaning. It's a balancing act really. It is nice to have so many different sizes of feeders at all times. I look at the mantis to be fed and find a suitable size depending on the size of their abdomen. All in all, my experience with dubias is a good one.

 

[lancaster1313]

For climbing species that have small young, I use containers that seal well, like pet food containers, modified for ventilation with metal screen and cloth for the tiny species.

Non climbers stay in sterilite containers that are also modified for ventilation.

They all get fish food, oats, cereals, fresh fruits and veggies, occasional misting, and no water crystals.

They love fish flakes as treats, but flakes are hard to remove if any are uneaten so they are only occasional. Pond sticks are the staple.

 

[Psychobunny]

I also have dubias and keep them in a 40 gal terrarium.

If you want them to breed, they must have at least 85F.

Just put a UTH under half of the encloser (they need a temp gradient, cool side, warm side).

At about 90F, and with a few adults, they will breed like crazy. You will see more every time

you look in on them!! LOL

They are way easier to breed then cricks, and they dont stink!!!

They also like ground up dry cat food!!

 

[hibiscusmile]

I make a mix of ground items for mine, heat is never above 72F unless it is summer, and I always have babies, so they breed anyways, sterilite bins are my container of choice for them too. would not soak their food, they do not need all that water and u will have more mites then roaches soon!

 

[guapoalto049]

Thanks for the input everyone, good stuff! This is as much for me as everyone else, not many topics covering this.

Rebecca, how do you water your roaches? I feel that my way is a free and easy way for watering, but I surely don't want to introduce mites!

 

[patrickfraser]

I don't think it is an issue of introducing the mites, but rather an issue of controlling them. They are presumably there in minimal numbers, but with the "proper" conditions can explode exponentially. You just don't want too much moisture.

 

[minard734]

Should one use hot glue to attach screen? My cuz uses some roaches as feeders but he keeps Florida woods roaches as pets. How does one add ventilation? Can they chew thru the glue?? Or even the metal screen??? Yikes...

 

[Psychobunny]

I make a mix of ground items for mine, heat is never above 72F unless it is summer, and I always have babies, so they breed anyways, sterilite bins are my container of choice for them too. would not soak their food, they do not need all that water and u will have more mites then roaches soon!

Wow!! I have been keeping dubia for years and this has never happened for me!!

I keep my feeder tubs in my basement where it's about 70 in the summer, and down in the low 60's in the winter.

I have to also put a UTH for my cricks in the winter otherwise I will have a very high mortality rate!!

But I have never ever had dubias mate at temps like yours. That would be great if they would!

When I first started keeping them, they really creeped me out too, but now I am used to handling them.

They didnt breed at all until a finally got the bright idea of sticking a UTH under their tub.

Then, a few weeks later, there were so many babies I didnt know what to do with them all!!!

 

[lancaster1313]

Should one use hot glue to attach screen? My cuz uses some roaches as feeders but he keeps Florida woods roaches as pets. How does one add ventilation? Can they chew thru the glue?? Or even the metal screen??? Yikes...

I use hot glue to attach metal screen to my roaches' containers and I haven't had any chew through, so far. I posted how I modify containers in a thread on the roachforum not too long ago. Here is a link to the thread if you want to view it.

http://www.roachforum.com/index.php?showtopic=3567