Keeping and Breeding Lobster Roaches (Nauphoeta cinerea)

Some folks use an aquarium, but I've found the best container is a 30 gallon plastic tote, or plastic garbage can. Put an inch of play sand in the bottom, and a 2 inch band of vaseline below the inside rim (this will prevent roaches from crawling out of the bin). You may also use the commercial product called Bug Stop.A stack of cardboard egg cartons, paper towel cores, and similar cardboard objects will give the roaches plenty of hiding places and reduce stress. These cheap, disposeable hiding areas make cleanup a snap, plus, paper towel cores can be picked up, and the roaches inside easily shaken out into a container, to make collecting them for feeding extremely easy and fast. I have found that roaches are somewhat less likely to hide inside the cores than crickets, preferring the egg cartons.

Place a shallow dish of water with a sponge in it, or a dish full of commercial "cricket water" (the non-fortified kind, as the calcium loaded kind will kill the roaches if given long term). If you live in a VERY dry area, observe your colony carefully--if you see molting difficulties occurring, lightly mist the colony once or twice a week. Another dish that the roaches (including nymphs) will be able to get in and out of easily should be placed in the cage to contain food.

Feed the roaches a mixture of whole grain cereal, a small amount of dog or cat food, and fresh dark green leafy vegetables (wash carefully). A bit of carrot, or other veggies may also be well accepted, as will a small amount of fruit. Offer the moist foods seperately from the dry, and remove once a day to prevent mold growth. Mold is a serious threat to the roach colony. Feeding your roaches a nutritious diet at all times ensures that you'll have a high survival rate, and that you won't need to seperately gut-load them before feeding them to your animals. You will find that the roaches are very efficient, and do not eat a great deal, so offer moist foods very sparingly.

Just add the roaches--25 or 50 of them should be plenty, but 100 or 200 would be better to establish your colony quickly. It's best to allow the colony to establish itself and raise a generation in the new container. 5 to 6 months is the best time frame to establish a lobster roach colony before you begin feeding them off. At this point, you should be able to feed a small number of animals from this single colony, without ever purchasing more. Keep an eye on your colony to determine how many roaches you can feed off while still maintaining colony numbers.

These roaches are tropical, and breed best at around 80 degrees Farenheit, though they will do ok at 70. Temperatures lower than this will cause them to cease breeding. They can survivor temperatures barely above freezing, if not left in them too long, so they are quite hardy.

It may be several years before you actually need to clean the cage, which is just as well, because removing all of the roaches to another container is not a particularly easy task. You will find that lobster roaches have virtually no odor at all, so long as you are diligent about removing the moist foods and replacing the water container. Occasionally, remove the egg crates, and dump the droppings collected on the tops of them out to help keep down the mess.

Because these roaches can climb glass, and are rather fast, there are a variety of techniques for feeding them to herps: Among them are freezing, beheading, and scalding. What I have found to be the absolute best method is to take a pair of sharp scissors, grasp the roach by its wings (if an adult), and carefully trim all 3 legs on one side of its body, removing the feet. The roach can still run, with little reduction in speed, but it CANNOT climb glass. This works extremely well, and still allows the herps to get exercise by chasing the insects. © Eclipse Exotics, 2004. Distribute, copy, print, and pass on as you wish. :)