# Mrhoyo's Roach Palace Guide



## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

Everyone seems to be posting about how they keep their roaches so I thought I'd do one too.
I was finding that the roaches were getting a bit stinky in their current mansion (a 50l RUB) and they could reach the mesh on the lid due to its lack of height so I decided to move them from their mansion into a palace.
Before:









This is how I made my new set up, some things may work for others but some may not.

Equipment and materials
One Tub with lid ( I used a 110l Wham Crystal Box )
Mesh/flyscreen ( I used aluminium automotive repair mesh )
Hot Glue Gun
Hot knife/soldering iron/jigsaw
Egg Trays
Heat Mat
Thermostat

Instructions

Examine the lid of the tub you are using and find a suitable point to begin cutting a hole for ventilation. The Crystal box I used had a convenient oval shape in the lid.









Once you have found a suitable location you can begin cutting. If using a saw you will need to drill a hole to fit the blade in.











Cutting the thick plastic can be a problem for hacksaws or snips so, after failing to make much progress, I turned to the soldering iron. This sped up the task considerably and also left a smooth edge on the cut.


















When you have made a hole in the lid you can begin placing your mesh. To keep mine perfectly lined up I used masking tape to hold it down on the corners.

























Because I used aluminium mesh and the lid of my tub was fluted I bent it into the ridges to ensure there were no gaps. I then hot glued the mesh onto the lid, starting on the corners and working my way around. Don't attempt to put the glue down before the mesh as it will set before you're finished. Glue straight over the mesh and spread it evenly across the surface.









When you've finished the glueing you should end up with something like this:









Next you will want to set up your heating while the glue is still drying. I just used a generic heat mat plugged into a Microclimate Ministat and taped to the shelf with aluminium foil tape.









Once the heating is set up it will be time to put some egg trays in. I managed to get about 10 stacked facing each other, it is important to place them this way so that there is a gap between them. It isn't worth glueing them together like some tutorials suggest as it makes it difficult to get the roaches out.









When all the egg trays are in you can put in your food and water gel bowls. I use plastic cat bowls from Wilkinson because they are the perfect size and less than a pound each. If using roaches that can't climb smooth surfaces it may be worth sanding off the shiny coating so they can get a good grip.









Once you have set up the tub with egg trays and bowls you can put your lovely roaches in


















The finished thing should look something like this:



















And if anyone wanted to know what kind of mess roaches leave when it comes to removing them from their tub:


----------



## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

Looking after the roaches is pretty simple, just leave them alone for a while and put in food and water gel whenever it gets empty.
I have my turkistan roaches at about 32c, this will work for dubia and various other species too.
I feed them from three bowls, one filled with water gel, one filled with my personal roach mix and one filled with mixed fruit and veg. I only feed them fresh food a day or two a week as it makes their poo a bit watery and it can smell if any is left uneaten. 

My roach mix:









***Note***
The set up I have described above is useful for most of the commonly available species but if using it with species that can climb smooth surfaces, such as lobster roaches, you may want to put a strip of clear parcel tape around the top couple of inches of the tub to reduce the chances of them climbing up.


----------



## Burpy (Jul 16, 2010)

Hey, good guide!!

I've never seen Turk roaches in the flesh, so have a few Q's.

If your using crystal boxes, does this mean these roaches don't mind light? 

Also I noted that the probe for your mat stat is right on top of your mat. Doesn't this switch off pretty much as soon as it switches on? I can't see how your tub gets warm before the stat switches the mat off :hmm:

Also these guys look way messier than my dubie colony, how often do you need to clean?

Cheers Andy!!


----------



## Juzza12 (Jun 12, 2008)

Good guide. I've found that switching from cat biscuits to chicken mash has really cut down on the stink. 

I have lobsters, parcel tape won't stop them, you need vaseline to act as a barrier.


----------



## swift_wraith (Jan 4, 2009)

Whats in the roach mix?


----------



## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

Burpy said:


> Hey, good guide!!
> 
> I've never seen Turk roaches in the flesh, so have a few Q's.
> 
> ...


I've been keeping them for about 3 months in the 50l RUB just sat in my rack and their numbers have at least tripled so I don't think they mind that much. When the sun goes down they still have plenty of chance to breed. Once a female has been mated she can't get pregnant again for a bit anyway so them only breeding at night isn't a problem.
The new palace is on a different rack that is going to have doors on. This is for a couple of reasons; firstly I want them out of sight so the any visitors aren't freaked (and so the cat stops trying to bop them if he gets in the reptile room). Secondly I want to see if there is any advantage of keeping them in the dark. Whilst having them on a natural daylight cycle isn't affecting their breeding I have a feeling that having darkness 24/7 will encourage them to eat more and therefore grow faster.

The probe was just taped directly to the mat so I could see if the box fit in properly, I now have the probe in some trunking on the mat. This means the probe is measuring the temperature through plastic roughly the same thickness as the tub so the thermostat gets an accurate reading without having the probe in the tub. If I left it taped to the at with the foil tape I would just have to raise the temperature on the thermostat i.e. set the stat to 35c so that it turns off when the probe reaches that temperature. Because the heat has to travel through the plastic to the roaches the tub would be a couple of degrees cooler, hence turning it up to 35c.

The turks aren't really that bad, the mess is more due to my poor housekeeping. I normally vac the tub every couple of weeks but it hasn't been done for about 6. I'm reluctant to clean it too much because a) turks lay eggs and they would get sucked up and b) I've heard that the baby roaches feed on the frass.

An interesting fact about turkistan roaches is that they carry their food. Rather than eating it in the bowl like dubia they prefer to take in under the egg trays which makes the tub look clean until you look from underneath.

I was thinking of putting a few dubia in with them for a bit of variety but I can't find any at the moment that aren't horrifically expensive. Ideally I'd swap a few turks for them if anyone was interested.


Juzza12 said:


> Good guide. I've found that switching from cat biscuits to chicken mash has really cut down on the stink.
> 
> I have lobsters, parcel tape won't stop them, you need vaseline to act as a barrier.


Cat food is super high protein and most of it is from animal sources. The reason it smells more than the chicken mash is basically because when it gets passed through you are left with partially digested meat as opposed to grains with the chicken mash. You only need to give the bag a sniff to know that cat food smells more!

Have you tried the lobsters with the parcel tape? I've heard many people have success with it and I thought it was a cleaner method than using vaseline. I've only had lobsters once and didn't have them long enough to test it myself. 


swift_wraith said:


> Whats in the roach mix?


Top secret!
Only kidding, it is basically one part dry ferret food to five parts chicken (layers) pellets. The ferret food can be pretty pungent if fed exclusively and is also a lot more expensive than the chicken stuff. They're both pretty similar in nutritional value, the ferret food just provides a bit of a protein boost and supplies a small amount of animal matter. I thought that it may be beneficial seeing as the roaches are omnivorous and the chicken pellets are only 16% protein.


----------



## Burpy (Jul 16, 2010)

mrhoyo said:


> I was thinking of putting a few dubia in with them for a bit of variety but I can't find any at the moment that aren't horrifically expensive. Ideally I'd swap a few turks for them if anyone was interested.


There are a few sellers in the classified section that are doing some very good deals at the moment (Nicolacraig especially as she is selling males and females seperatly, so you can get the ration right from the get go). Although with your setup at the moment I wouldn't bother. The dubia really won't move in the daylight and will just hide. This will seriously reduce baby production. Perhaps when you get them in the dark, then get some. 

Also dubies only like mid humidity 50 - 65%. Do the turks do well under these conditions? The temps are about right.

I know there are a few people on here that keep them together, but I don't know if they do equally as well with both types in a doubled up setup, and to be honest, I would wonder if they would say if there was a problem with one type or the other doing it this way. 

How fast are these guys anyhoo? My BD is well lazy and I don't know if he'd be bothered if he has to go chasing them all the time! Also, does it make seperating them hard (babies / adults), or do you even bother with these?

Sorry for all the Q's. Don't know if there is anyone local who would let me look at their setup!


----------



## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

They really aren't that fast, much easier to catch than a cricket because they don't jump. I haven't bothered checking the humidity for them, they're doing fine with whatever they have. Have a look at the nyworms sheet for them, i'm basically using that.
I may add a bit more ventilation for them, this new tub has steamed up a little bit.
I'll have a look on classifieds when I'm a bit less skint, don't really want another roach set up so they'll be going in with the Turks.


----------



## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

Thought I'd answer the questions I missed last night:


Burpy said:


> ... with your setup at the moment I wouldn't bother. The dubia really won't move in the daylight and will just hide. This will seriously reduce baby production.
> Why would it? Are you telling me that the roaches won't be having it off in the 12hrs or so of darkness they have? I could understand your comment if they were constantly kept in the light but they aren't. I'm pretty sure they won't be mating 24/7.
> Does it make seperating them hard (babies / adults), or do you even bother with these?
> I haven't even tried to separate them, I see no reason to. I'm not selling them in set sizes so it would just be a lot of hard work. They could be separated in this way, just like dubia if I wanted to.
> ...


I think I've fixed the bit of condensation I had, basically I forgot to factor in the height of the tub so I've added another mesh vent on the food side.


----------



## Gentoo (Jul 6, 2010)

Nice guide, very detailed, found it really useful
I have an 80L tub but it has on the base four raised edges around the sides and also one in the middle. Will it still heat my tub? If not can I put the mat on the side? and if so where should I place it.


----------



## Burpy (Jul 16, 2010)

Haha!! Yes I'm sure the dubia would be 'having it off' as you so delicatly say in twelve hours. But for the other twelve, ie the daylight hours' they will just hide.

So that means no feeding, no getting water etc = no growing, slow egg production etc. Plus the females will not want to go out to dry their egg sacks, something mine do right at the vents. These are a slow growing species at the best of times. You start halving their active period and it's barely going to be worth keeping them. 

It's not just about having it off :Na_Na_Na_Na:


----------



## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

Yeah I know, I mentioned it earlier in the thread. I'm going to put the doors on soon, just need to find the time.
I've found that they love nectarines!


----------



## Burpy (Jul 16, 2010)

mrhoyo said:


> I've found that they love nectarines!


Yeah, mine love oranges, nectarines, clementimes all that kinda stuff. I've read in alot of care sheets that giving them citrus fruits encourages breeding. Don't know if thats true, but they love em anyhoo, so they get them!!


----------



## Stelios (Aug 28, 2009)

No parcel tape is definitely no good for lobsters, vasaline strip is what you need with these.
:no1:


----------



## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)

Burpy said:


> Haha!! Yes I'm sure the dubia would be 'having it off' as you so delicatly say in twelve hours. But for the other twelve, ie the daylight hours' they will just hide.
> 
> So that means no feeding, no getting water etc = no growing, slow egg production etc. Plus the females will not want to go out to dry their egg sacks, something mine do right at the vents. These are a slow growing species at the best of times. You start halving their active period and it's barely going to be worth keeping them.
> 
> It's not just about having it off :Na_Na_Na_Na:


I have 15,000+ Dubias in my main colony and I sell a fair amount, I've always used a heatlamp over them.

They are more than happy to feed, breed and air their ooths while the light is on.


----------



## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

> > Haha!! Yes I'm sure the dubia would be 'having it off' as you so delicatly say in twelve hours. But for the other twelve, ie the daylight hours' they
> 
> 
> I have 15,000+ Dubias in my main colony and I sell a fair amount, I've always used a heatlamp over them.
> ...


Fed my Turks some veg yesterday lunch and it was gone by teatime so they must be ok in the light. Either that or I've tamed them, they don't even run away now!
I've decided I won't be putting dubia in as a friend if mine noted the carnivorous nature of Turks. It would be expensive Turk food by the sound of it.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk


----------



## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

Just a note;

I now use these diet mixtures for all my feeders and I've found them to work really well so far. They don't smell either! :2thumb:


----------

