Hey Christopher,

Before I begin - I do not believe there is any kind of major nutritional advantage to raising the roaches one way or another. These guys prove to be fruitful enough for most keepers and will thrive in a variety of conditions. What's best? That depends on who you talk to... the temperature increase from 88 to say 95 degrees may increase speed of growth, but lower fitness. Its a trade off, and unless you actually develop and experiment to test the variables there is absolutely no way to be certain how much a few degrees affects them. A difference in a nymph or two being produced each month is very insignificant for our purposes.

From a Roach Keeper standpoint - their ideal temperature range is probably between 82-86 degrees F. This is the average temperature in their niche, and they would have evolved to thrive optimally in this range (hypothetically). It would be interesting to keep a few colonies at different temperatures while keeping all other factors in control to see what results in optimal reproduction... but again, the difference in raising them a few degrees differently is likely insignificant.

Nymphs are pretty small, but not as small as say, pinhead crickets. I would say they average a little under 1/8" in length at birth.