Thread: Roaches

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Originally Posted by GDfreak

Ooo! Get real ones! We had some real hissing roaches in a tank at six flags in the haunted house. I f you ate one you got to go to the haunted house free and got to go to the front of the line on all the rides! no joke!

Keep in mind that the Hissing Roaches are able to climb smooth surfaces, so when I was breeding these I always had to make sure the tank lid was sealed with duct tape to prevent them from getting out. The palmetto bug wasn't able to climb smooth surfaces so I was able to easily breed these in plastic tanks and not worry about them getting out. The hissing roaches are slower moving and easier to catch if you wanted to handle them. Both species adults are about 1 1/2" - 2" in size. If you want big, try to get a hold of the Blaberus giganteus, similar to the palmetto's (can't climb smooth surfaces) but the adults are 3"-4" in size.

The Pod

wow, those look great! my daughter is obssessed with roaches after seeing the movie Wallee...i went out and bought her a toy roach at the dollar store LOL

Do either of the bugs you breed bite? Or do anything to harm you? We had talked at a local convention about having a "photo-op" with some hissing cockroaches, but didn't know how safe they are to handle.

Originally Posted by crazybob

Do either of the bugs you breed bite? Or do anything to harm you? We had talked at a local convention about having a "photo-op" with some hissing cockroaches, but didn't know how safe they are to handle.

Technically anything with a mouth could bite, but I've never heard of anyone being bitten by a roach. Would be more concerned of them carrying diseases but if you buy them from a pet store and keep them in clean cages you shouldn't have to worry about that. And as GDfreak pointed out, they are edible. The hissing roaches are great for people to handle or do a photo op with as they are very slow moving and you can place them on a persons shirt and they will basically just sit there. Other roach species are quick and don't care to sit still long in an open exposed area, so you might have a problem if someone freaks out and knocks the bug off them onto the floor and it quickly disappears under something. I think the hissing sound they make when being picked up or touched scares people more than the bug themselves.

The Pod

How hard/cost effective are they to breed as opposed to buy a bunch of them if i'm planning to use MANY year after year?

Originally Posted by crazybob

How hard/cost effective are they to breed as opposed to buy a bunch of them if i'm planning to use MANY year after year?

Breeding them is easy, I used 5 gal fish tanks (with home made screen lids that I could seal well with duct take). Place a couple empty egg cartons, some dry cat food and half a potato or orange for food/water and store in a room temp dark place. Every other week I'd clean the tank by setting up a new tank with new egg cartons and transfer the roaches to the new tank and wash out the old one for the next cleaning. Just make sure you have the tank lids sealed so they can't get out, the adults are big, but the babies are approx 1/4" in size and very flat. Start with two (male and female of course) and you should have a couple hundred in a year. Here's some additional information on breeding them., or if you just want to purchase them from a breeder see here.

The Pod