you forgot an attribute of these guys! they can't bite you!!!
i keep roaches, lobsters, dubias and soon hissers, for my fish, monitor, bearded dragon and rats(they go nuts for them). one thing you lack confidence in with these guys is there innability to climb, they can't do it, and they rarely even try. when it is warm in my house and i need to get rid of some humidity i leave my tub open. they just can't climb anything even semi smooth, so don't ever worry about escapees. get a magnifying glass and look at their feet.
... though substrate isn't needed i like it alot more than i bare bottom. it gives the babys a place to hide where they won't get trampled, they can eat crumbs, and for newly molted roaches to hang out as well as for mothers to give birth. its especially important if you want a high production rate, which at the highest is 30 babies per female, every 45-60 days. but more commonly 30 every 90, and with your set up probably about 30 every 100 or more, i'll tell you why later. the substrate, best is bottom inch of coconut fiber then 4 inches of aspen bedding, also holds humidity. without humidity above 60% or so every roach will die during its next shed. thats also another reason why you don't need to worry about an infestation. unless your house stays above 75 degrees and at leatst 60% humidity, then they will die after there first shed out of the enclosure. aspen also discourages mold and food rot and evenly spreads out the heat, as well as breaks down feces and reduces the need to clean to no more than once a year unless you have a ridiculously oversized colony, which would be in the thousands. so long story short, substrate is better than none.
temperature: there needs to be a gradient! the cold side should be 75 and the hottest point 90-95. do this by only heatinghalf the tub. the best way to achieve this hot spot, which is where the pregnant females gestate, is to take a 1 dozen egg carton rip the top off, put the bottom part face down with the long points down into the substrate, then put the top part over the exposed side making a cave.make a row of these across the heated side of the tub. then stack the big cartons horizontaly along ontop of these. this creates more heat gradients and catches feces so you can pick up the carton and pour the poop away and put the carton back.
the unheated side, 25%-50% of the enclosure(i use 25%), is then used for feeding. water crystals are not needed. roaches are bad at drinking and prefer to get it from there food. fish flakes are a great food for roaches, but... i have found the most succes with feeding a main diet of table scraps with sweet apples, they hate the bitter, sour, or grainy ones, and always having available orange, banana, and a protein source(dog food, cat food, fish food) i don't water my roaches in any way other than misting them weekly or whatever it takes to keep them at about 70% hunmidity. for some reason oranges increase production by a significant amount but they don't eat a whole lot of it unless deprived of it for a few days. my theory is that with the vitamin c they have a better immune system and can concentrate their efforts on what they do best, put rabbits to shame!
try to feed small amounts daily so nothing rots or gets moldy. tiny white mites are part of a roach colony and will cover any food left for more then a couple days. later when the colony is a few hundred to a thousand strong they will eat half an orange and a whole apple a day along with some protein, assuming theyre in optimum conditions. for the babies make sure to dice some food finely and throw it around. no food dish is neaded.
obviously theyre roaches and as long as they have humidity and above 70 degrees, they will reproduce, but if you optimize their conditions production will skyrocket to where a 18 liter bin like yours can feed about 20 or 30 large nymphs and adult males out a day!!! a bin that size can hold about 2000 roaches inlcuding babies and will produce even more if allowed to get that big. my goal is 2 50 gallon tubs with 10,000 each!!!
also to further increase production only feed out males. adult males obviously have wings and there only needs to be about 1 per 5 females when the colony is in optimum conditions, 1 to 15 in less the ideal conditions. this leaves more space for females and babies and lets the slow fat females eat more easily cause they don't have to fight for it.
to tell the difference between males and females when they are nymphs, look at the last segments on the underside where the anus is. females have one and males have two, grab a few at once to look at so you can compare, once you have the hang of it, it's really easy. that way you don't feed away soon to be mature females.
have any questions on these guys send me a personal message.
if you want a roach that really produces go for the lobster roach. the only thing with them is that they can climb smooth surfaces, but that is easily fixed with a 3" band of potroleum jelly smeared around the top rim of the tub. these guys are crazy!!! i just started a new colony of eac, lobster and dubia, each with thirty mixed sized to start. in 1 month i have about 60 dubia and 500 or so lobster!!! and lobsters are softer bodies so my fish love them.
any questions about these guys? give me a pm!
i can produce picks too if anyone wants them
i hope i was lots of help! i think that if everybody new about these guys they could turn dinner scraps into petfood like i do for free!
they can't climb metal so they won't stay in it. i took plastic liquid measuring cups and drilled as many holes in the bottom as i could fit to seperate sizes, i feed anything over an inch long( about 1/2 inch in width)so i drilled 1/2" holes, thenn shake out the babies and pick out the males from the ones that satyed in the cup. to feed off babies if i have a population boom i just fill the cup and shake out the babies into my enclosures.
) I'll be venturing into more adventorous turf with these guys. Right now, I just reach in, grab 6 or 7 medium sized nymphs and close it back up. They get great food and I keep it pretty warm in there.
