Culturing Lobster Roaches (and other roaches)

[KingCam]

Keeping & Breeding Lobster Roaches
A Guide to Basic Roach Husbandry for the Purpose of Perpetual Insectivore Food


Several people have asked me what conditions I keep my roaches in to make them breed so fast, so I have decided to type up a detailed guide. This will be an overview of how I keep my roaches, and what works for me. If you do it differently I'm not saying you're wrong, or that my way is better, this is just my own personal preference. Feel free to leave comments with helpful hints or tips that I may have left out.


First, let me list a few reasons why roaches are superior to crickets & meal worms.


• Feeder roaches are easy to keep since they accept a wide range of foods
• They thrive on high protein diets, making them lower in fat and higher in protein than crickets.
• Once established, they breed readily with no special trays for egg laying, etc, making them easily cultured at home.
• They have a much higher meat-to-shell ratio (meaning they are more nutritious and easier to digest) than crickets or meal worms.
• Roaches are quiet, they don't drive you insane with their constant chirping.
• Roaches don't jump all over the place, making them easier to contain.
• Roaches are long lived & hardy with a lifespan of a year or more. Unlike crickets which are very fragile and short lived.
• Roaches don't smell nearly as bad as crickets and don't need their cages cleaned as often.
• Roaches don't bite & will not attack a weak animal like crickets will.


Although this guide will be focused on the keeping of Lobster Roaches, Nauphoeta cinerea, it will apply to nearly every other species of feeder roach you may encounter. (Including Guyana Orange Spotted Roaches, Blaptica dubia & Red runners, Blatta lateralis)


Let's get right into it, shall we?


Housing

The perfect container to use is one of those solid-colored 18 gallon storage totes you can pick up at wally world for ~$6. The taller/deeper the better.





You can use a clear tote if you want, but realize the light will disturb your roach colony and will certainly slow breeding & production rates.


If you have to use a clear plastic or glass tub/tank you should attempt to darken it as much as possible by wrapping the outside with dark paper, or even aluminum foil. Roaches like the dark.


Lobster roaches are accomplished climbers, and can easily scale vertical glass or plastic surfaces. The most practical way to keep them in their tub is to use a foam brush to apply a thin ~4 inch strip of Vaseline around the top edge of the tote or aquarium. The roaches cannot climb over the Vaseline barrier.



Though adults have wings, they cannot fly. Some individuals will sort of “hop” and then “flutter” to the ground from a higher position if you are bothering them, but rest assured, they cannot fly up & out of a tub or tank.


Throw some cardboard egg cartons in there for the roaches to hide in, or alternatively you can use empty paper towel & toilet paper rolls. Anything cardboard really.


If you stack the cartons or tubes vertically all of the roach poop will drop to the bottom. I take egg cartons, and I tear them in half down the middle (so they are only half as long, like a 6-egg holder instead of 12), then I set them torn side down so the roach poo can fall out the bottom.


I don't keep a lid on my tub because I like to have plenty of ventilation. It is probably smart to put a lid on your tub if you have pets or children that roam the house freely. No one wants a roach covered dog walking around the place, right? XD **shudder**


Substrate

Don't use any! Many people use substrate because it supposedly boosts production speeds, that may well be true, but I've never found it necessary. Adding substrate will just make it more difficult to clean the tub when the time comes because it will be nearly impossible to separate your smallest baby roaches from the soiled substrate. Just go bare bottom, once you have roaches in the thousands they will create their own substrate with droppings & shed skins. Unless you are breeding a species like Surinam roaches, you do not need substrate.


Lighting

None!! Roaches hate hate hate the light! The darker you keep them, the faster they will breed.



Heating


This one is important. Without heat your roaches will not reproduce, or will reproduce very slowly. Keep your roaches at 90F. 90F is perfect for pretty much all species of feeder (tropical) roaches. You can keep your roaches at a minimum of 70F and still see some reproduction, anything under 70F and they will pretty much stop completely.


You can accomplish this in many ways. My favorite is a ceramic heat emitter hanging directly over the tub. The heat emitter keeps it close to 100F at the top of the tub, and about 80F at the bottom. This gives a perfect heat gradient for the roaches to live in.


You can also use heat cable or under tank heaters. When using heat cable & under tank heaters you want to go low wattage. High wattage heating elements could melt your plastic tub or even start a fire! I feel it is safest to use a ceramic heat emitter above the tub.


If you live in a warm climate you can keep your roach colony in the garage during the summer and save on electricity!


Humidity


Humidity is important to roaches. Without enough humidity the roaches will not be able to properly shed their old skins and will die during molts. If you see a lot of dead roaches in your colony that died during molt it is safe to assume you're keeping your colony too dry.


Keep your relative humidity between 40% and 60%. When humidity levels stay above 60% you are at risk for mold grown. Amazingly, as much as roaches can live through, mold is one of their weaknesses. If you get the right strain of mold growing in your culture it could wipe out your entire roach population.


Since your tub is full of cardboard it will retain moisture somewhat well if you just give it a good misting about once a day.


Water


There are a few ways your roaches can get their water. By far the best way is to use water crystals. Don't buy cricket water at the pet store, and certainly don't get anything that is calcium fortified or anything like that. Get on ebay, do a search for “dry water crystals.” You should find people selling them a pound at a time for MUCH cheaper than you will ever find it at the pet stores. If you buy 1lb of dry water crystals it'll probably last you at least 3 years, if not longer. After you have the dry water crystals, just add 1tbsp to a gallon of dechlorinated water and wait for them to hydrate. You want to hydrate your crystals before putting them in your roach colony. If just set a bowl of water in their colony and add crystals to it many of your roaches will drown before the water has turned into gel crystals.


Some people suggest using wet clothes, sponges, or paper towels to water their roaches. Do not do this, these items will just grow bacteria and get nasty very quickly. You also don't want to use straight water because your roaches will die. If you don't want to spend money on water crystals just mist your colony twice a day and make sure there's always a piece of apple in there for them eat/drink from.


Food


Your roaches crave & need food that is high in protein. A high quality cat food or dog food will work just fine. You can go out and buy expensive roach chow if you have some extra cash to spend. You want to have dry high protein food available at all time to your roaches. You can just throw it in a corner if you want, but I find the tub stays cleaner when I keep the food in a bowl.


Many people grind the dog or cat food up before putting it in with the roaches. This step is completely and totally unnecessary. The roaches will eat it either way.


Along with food you should offer your roaches fresh fruits and vegetables at least twice a week. Organic of course is best. I would put your fruits & veggies in a separate bowl from the dry food. Any produce the roaches don't eat over night should be removed to prevent mold & fruit flies.


Just remember, whatever you feed your roaches will end up in your pets' tummies. So feed your roaches healthy wholesome foods!


Lifecycle


Lobster roaches mature at around 3 to 4 months old (depending on temperature). Females carry young for approx. a month and give live birth to between 30 and 40 babies nearly every month! The young are tiny, coming in at about 3/16 of an inch. They grow quickly, providing you with a constant source of feeders of all sizes! As adults they are about 1.25 inches long, and can live up to a year (as opposed to crickets, which only live a month or two).


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now the fun part, PHOTOS!!

[Pluke]

Nice guide man. That is a lot of roaches.. Do these kind burrow like the Dubia's? I know you said before that Turkistan roaches don't, but what about these?

[KingCam]

Nice guide man. That is a lot of roaches.. Do these kind burrow like the Dubia's? I know you said before that Turkistan roaches don't, but what about these?

These don't really "burrow," but they will tuck in under whatever cover they can find. I find it's best to tong feed the lobster roaches to your animals if they have an enclosure with lots of places for the roaches to hide. This also ensures they won't escape your animals' enclosure and make it into your home.

If you need something that will just run around on the surface Blatta lateralis is definitely the way to go.

[Faith]

"I don't keep a lid on my tub because I like to have plenty of ventilation. It is probably smart to put a lid on your tub if you have pets or children that roam the house freely. No one wants a roach covered dog walking around the place, right? XD **shudder**" - I can see my two year old now xD

"Many people grind the dog or cat food up before putting it in with the roaches. This step is completely and totally necessary. The roaches will eat it either way." - I assume unnecessary (I'm not picking it apart, I know you typed this sucker up pretty fast lol, just making sure I read it right!)

One other question. The first video - what exactly are you showing? I swear I'm not blind, I read the title, but was a bit confused lol.

As stated earlier, awesome guide! I think you have me sold on this

*runs*

[KingCam]

"Many people grind the dog or cat food up before putting it in with the roaches. This step is completely and totally necessary. The roaches will eat it either way." - I assume unnecessary (I'm not picking it apart, I know you typed this sucker up pretty fast lol, just making sure I read it right!)

THANK YOU!!! I did not notice that

Apparently I can't edit it anymore? How annoying.

Can a moderator PLEASE fix that for me? It's kinda an important typo to fix, lol.

[Faith]

No problem! I think it's the mod in me, I proofread so many guides a day @_@ lol.

And how odd that you can't edit it! Hopefully one of them can get that for you

[adinco]

omg the pics gross me out. i don't think i can do it... i hate buying crickets only to have them keep dying on me though. where do you get the roaches you start with? do your frogs eat the adults too?

[KingCam]

omg the pics gross me out. i don't think i can do it... i hate buying crickets only to have them keep dying on me though. where do you get the roaches you start with? do your frogs eat the adults too?

haha, they're nasty little things aren't they? Still not as nasty as cricket in my own opinion, though.

Well I got my first 500 lobster roaches from a friend I met on a different forum. He UPSed them to me. The Dubias.... hmmmm.... I cannot remember who sent me the dubias. I think I may have ordered them from aaronpauling.com I have some hissers, the females sent to me by a friend in Texas, the others sent from a friend on caudata.org. My newest 4 species were sent to me by a friend on caudata.org

Ebay is a great place to get feeder roaches sometimes, also.

Yes, my frogs eats the nymphs and the adult lobster roaches. I also give them nymph dubia roaches sometimes, but the adult dubias are far too big for a grey tree frog to eat.

[Pluke]

My baby tomato frogs love dubia nymphs. They suck them down no problem. Hopefully they grow up to like them because as of right now, my pacmans seem to hate dubia's. I've got them to eat about 10 in the last 3 weeks. I have over a hundred left, lol. I'm just glad that my tomato's like the nymphs. Dubia's remind me of giant roly-poly's aka Isopods. I need to get an animal that will eat the bigger ones I have. The only time my bigger pacman will eat them is if they're freshly molted, that's if I'm lucky.

[KingCam]

Dubias have always reminded me of giant isopods, too :P

[KingCam]

One other question. The first video - what exactly are you showing? I swear I'm not blind, I read the title, but was a bit confused lol.

I just now saw this question, totally missed it the first time I read it. lol sorry

When I clean my colony (once every 6 months) I have two tubs. One is the roach colony and the other is an empty tub. One at a time I take cardboard out of the roach colony, shake the roaches out into the empty tub, discard the old cardboard, and do this until the colony tub only has a layer of frass and stragglers at the bottom. I get as many of the roaches out of the frass as I can, then I dump boiling water into the mostly empty colony tub to kill any babies that remain in the frass. After I am satisfied that everything is dead I dump the frass water on my garden for fertilizer. I put my bag of used up cardboard in my deep freezer to make sure any stow aways are dead before sending to the landfill. I wash the empty colony tub out, put brand new cardboard in, and dump all of the roaches back in. They will not need cleaned again for another 6 months if you are careful to always bowl feed. If fruit juices, etc aren't contained in a bowl they will mix with the roach droppings, the cardboard will get soggy, and your whole colony is going to be a mess in no time.

What you were seeing in the first video was my tub of roaches, waiting to be re-introduced to their clean setup.

[arielgasca420]

I have been unsuccessful at breeding my roaches, however their molts are complete and I have only had one fatality in the last two months. my setup is similar to the one you described, but I wanted to know if the light I am using to create a 90 degree temp is stressing them out. my room is roughly 80 degrees so should I do without the light or get a Ceramic emitter

[JeffreH]

Good info on Lobsters Cam - I actually have a question. Have you ever experimented with using metal sheets or something similar (such as the aluminum roofing material) as decor in the climbing roach bins? I've been tempted to try it after someone recommended it to me for lobsters (his name evades me). Because they are capable of climbing smooth surfaces, the sheeting serves to add more surface area just as the egg flats or tp rolls may do, but it never needs replacing and stays cleaner...apparently.

arielgasca420: what species are you keeping?

I did have to lol a bit... yay for roach guides on FrogForum! ; )
http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...r-roaches.html

[arielgasca420]

I am using Dubia blaptica. I have had them since mid july and I have not seen any nymphs. I thought maybe I had too many males so I feed about 6 of them to my frogs.

[KingCam]

but I wanted to know if the light I am using to create a 90 degree temp is stressing them out. my room is roughly 80 degrees so should I do without the light or get a Ceramic emitter

I would be willing to bet the light is stressing them out. I would definitely switch to a ceramic heat emitter if I were you!

Good info on Lobsters Cam - I actually have a question. Have you ever experimented with using metal sheets or something similar (such as the aluminum roofing material) as decor in the climbing roach bins? I've been tempted to try it after someone recommended it to me for lobsters (his name evades me). Because they are capable of climbing smooth surfaces, the sheeting serves to add more surface area just as the egg flats or tp rolls may do, but it never needs replacing and stays cleaner...apparently.

That's an interesting idea. Never thought to use anything like that before. I saw a guy on youtube using this thing he made out of fiber board that looked pretty permenant. I thought about making one but decided it was just easier to stick with egg cartons.