# Turkistan Roaches (UPDATED CARESHEET)



## foggy01.1983 (Mar 26, 2009)

*General information, Care and Breeding about*
*Turkistan Cockroaches (UPDATED)*​
They are easy to breed, grow quickly, wont attack your animal at night if left in the viv, have a high meat to shell ratio (much better than crickets etc) dont jump, dont smell and cant breed and infest your house in the general UK climate if they escape.

I have sold thousands so far for people to feed to Geckos, Bearded dragons, spiders and Preying mantis.










*The enclosure. 
*Mine is a normal aquarium 2.5ft L x 1ft Hx 1.5ft W approx. This is plenty enough for several thousand roaches.

I have taped two ply cardboard around it. This keeps the inside dark and also insulates it. Underneath is a heat mat 11x11. 

Mine is not on a stat but beware during summer you may have to turn the mat OFF because your colony CAN overheat.










Although the adults can not climb the sides the babies when they hatch can climb up the silcon joins.

To stop this I place brown tape over a section on each corner which they cannot climb, like this.









To keep the humidity up and the temperature in I have placed a perspex lid on the tank with some air holes in either end to allow air flow like below.









*Housing
*They require NO substrate. 
There are 2 stacks of egg crates 7 high and seperated with chopped up garden hose. The heat mat is under only one of the stacks of egg crate.

You can see below that the egg crate has the lower section cut off. this enables any waste and eggs or feed to drop down to the bottom. 

All you then need to do every several months is hold the egg crate still and tip the tank on its end then all the waste slides up and you can scoop it out.










*Feeding
*I feed them MAINLY dried cat food or fish food and once a week fresh salad and veg. They DONT like dog food.

I keep dried food and veg seperate on two different lids (makes it easier to clean).

Water dish is topped up with water. I USED to put cotton wool in their bowl like in the pic. I NO LONGER do this, it is not needed and can go smelly.

So far I have had none drown because of not having the cotton wool in there .








Remember you are what you eat. :lol2:


The males have wings (cant fly) and the females dont. The light coloured ones (almost white) have just shed. 

Here is a pic of the final product LOL









To have a successful colony I would say start with AT LEAST 400 roaches and dont feed any off till you start getting a large number of egg cases.

THE EGG CASES NEED HIGH HEAT AND HUMIDITY to hatch. 
If you supply low heat they can take up to 60 days to hatch. Increasing heat reduces this time. If you have low humidity they wont hatch.

I used to remove the eggs from the enclosure. Yet again I NO LONGER do that. I leave the eggs in the main enclosure to hatch. This is fine as long as your temps and humidity are high in the main enclosure.

Each egg case produces around 15 babies. You can feed them exactly the same as the adults and the cat food doesnt need crushing.

The egg cases look like this










I hope this updated version gives some more information,tips, ideas, better pictures and makes keeping them easier.

After all we want to spend our time with our reps not the reps food :lol2:

If you would like roaches or colonys I have plenty for sale, all fed quality foods.
Please see the link in my signature below

Thank You
Steve
: victory:


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

Thank you VERY much, looking forwards to bieng self sufficient :2thumb:


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

the 300+ i bought from you a few months back are going strong from your original advice. ive got literally thousands of babies and who knows how many that have developed into adults. im certainly not going to attempt to count them. ive barely found more than half a dozen dead adults either, they must live for ages (or escape lol, quite a few have). ive not fed any off yet as i still dont think there are enough to sustain.

one thing i will say though is that males can jump/fly, kinda. ive witnessed them flap wings and jump 3-4" gaps, thats as far as they can get. they can also all climb anything even remotely rough, glass is about the only surface they cant, ive witnessed them climb several inches up the plastic walls of a RUB before dropping. i reckon eventually they make it to the top. i used to find dozens of them running around upside down on the mesh at the top every night. i use clingfilm underneath it now, afaik no adults have escaped since, babies still do sometimes. occasionally i find an escapee, not so much lately. i found one that had escaped and headed for the nearest warm and humid area - which happened to be inside the water dragon vivarium lol. it was seconds off being eaten when i spotted it and captured it. it was bigger than the water dragons head, but he was going to eat it anyway! ive found a few running around on the floor and hiding behind stuff as well. mostly they escape and end up on top of their RUB a few days later trying to get back in for the heat, humidity and food haha


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## foggy01.1983 (Mar 26, 2009)

Yes you are quite right the surfaces need to be clean and smooth.
Males cant fly but they can kind of jump and flutter a few inches. 

I would say the best set up is in a aquarium like I have set up. I have lost none to date and the brown tape stops the babies from climbing the silicon joints.

You can pick these small aquariums up for £20 or so brand new and cheaper in the free ads.

Its good to hear that from 300 your are getting a strong colony going. Its quicker and easier to buy quite a few at the beginning but as you have found out if you have time there is no problem 

If you are getting some escape I would look at getting a different enclosure as it shouldnt happen. Either that or place a long strip of brown tape all the way round the upper part of the wall of the RUB. They cannot climb the smooth surface of that as long as you wipe it with a cloth once a fortnight.

I know for a fact if I had any running about in my house my parents would kill me plus I wouldnt fancy any joining me when im cuddled up with my girlfriend in bed LMAO.

All in all if any escaped I'd first have my man hood removed from my gf then hung drawn and quartered by my parents LMAO.

Many thanks for your order anyhow and thanks for the update 

Steve


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## TerrorTortoise (Apr 18, 2009)

thank you I might set up a colony up for my beardie (lets see what my parents say first :lol2 but this guide was very useful thank you. I would like to see this a sticky.


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

foggy01.1983 said:


> Yes you are quite right the surfaces need to be clean and smooth.
> Males cant fly but they can kind of jump and flutter a few inches.
> 
> I would say the best set up is in a aquarium like I have set up. I have lost none to date and the brown tape stops the babies from climbing the silicon joints.
> ...


i added parcel tape the other day after i saw your post on it. babies still occasionally get past (who knows how!!), ive only found 2 though since and they couldnt get past the mesh, they were just running around in the flat recess at the top of the RUB and thats as far as they got. the adults that escaped originally escaped through a gap where i ran the heatmat cables, ive since cut a hole for the cables and siliconed it, and put foam and card around the edge of the lid to clamp the mesh down so there are no gaps anymore. since then ive not found any escapees.

my dad found one in the kitchen one evening running around. he didnt go mad, but he wasnt that happy. if he had found 10 i think id have to relegate them to the garage lol. i eventually will anyway.


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## TerrorTortoise (Apr 18, 2009)

I just found out how expensive they are! i am rethinking of feeding them now.


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## foggy01.1983 (Mar 26, 2009)

leopardtortoise said:


> I just found out how expensive they are! i am rethinking of feeding them now.


If you was to buy crickets it works out about the same price usually £3 for around 50.

Once you have a colony going you will never have to buy live food again and if you own bearded dragons you certainly will notice the drain on money when you have to buy endless amounts of crickets from your local shop :lol2:


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## TerrorTortoise (Apr 18, 2009)

foggy01.1983 said:


> If you was to buy crickets it works out about the same price usually £3 for around 50.
> 
> Once you have a colony going you will never have to buy live food again and if you own bearded dragons you certainly will notice the drain on money when you have to buy endless amounts of crickets from your local shop :lol2:


my local pet shop (Keep in mind I live in the USA) for 3 pounds you can get 72 crickets


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## TerrorTortoise (Apr 18, 2009)

oh and are dubai roaches the same as turkistan?


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## foggy01.1983 (Mar 26, 2009)

leopardtortoise said:


> oh and are dubai roaches the same as turkistan?


 
No they are two different species.

Price wise people dont tend to buy roaches like they do from shopd. All the people I sell them to buy enough to breed so they never have to buy live food again.

Im sure roaches are cheaper where you are any how, or you could go somewhere and catch some (i suspect) :2thumb:


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

i got a 1 metre long aquarium last week for £10.50 off ebay from someone that lived 3 miles down the road. cleaned it up, taped the silicone joins, made up a hardboard top for it covered in clingfilm and sealed to the sides, with the heat mats and the stat probe underneath. so there are no wires at all going into the tank, the only way out is to climb the glass or the parcel tape. and even if they reach the top theyve got to negotiate 4" of clingfilm whilst upside down before they can reach an opening. never gonna happen!!

this is definitely the best way to keep Turkistan Roaches, everything about the aquarium setup is just infinitely better. whilst emptying all my roaches in i had a good chance to gauge the size of the colony though. i did some research on the life cycle of a Turkistan roach and they take from 2-8 weeks for the eggs to hatch, they then take 3-5 months to reach adulthood, and then live a further 6-12 months, breeding for that entire period. given that my first egg cases hatched out probably 2 months ago now it shouldnt be long before the first batch of hatchling reach adulthood. there are quite a few larger juveniles running around now, and literally thousands of babies.

i think realistically it will take 6 months to form a sustainable colony from just adults and no egg cases. starting out with 300 adults though i reckon by the 6 month mark il have a 5000+ strong colony of adults. they really are prolific breeders, and there are probably several hundred new babies hatching per week. and thats from just 300 adults!! they are going to multiply massively as time goes on. my current tank is easily big enough to house 10-20,000 though.


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## pete-vtr (Sep 16, 2009)

any tips on maintaining high humidity foggy?

im using a plastic RUB. sprayed the inside last night to give it a kick start. there was still a few droplets there this afternoon but not as much as last night. you seem to have very very high humidity.

because you are using glass tank maybe?

thanks mate


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## foggy01.1983 (Mar 26, 2009)

Jim2109 said:


> i got a 1 metre long aquarium last week for £10.50 off ebay from someone that lived 3 miles down the road. cleaned it up, taped the silicone joins, made up a hardboard top for it covered in clingfilm and sealed to the sides, with the heat mats and the stat probe underneath. so there are no wires at all going into the tank, the only way out is to climb the glass or the parcel tape. and even if they reach the top theyve got to negotiate 4" of clingfilm whilst upside down before they can reach an opening. never gonna happen!!
> 
> this is definitely the best way to keep Turkistan Roaches, everything about the aquarium setup is just infinitely better. whilst emptying all my roaches in i had a good chance to gauge the size of the colony though. i did some research on the life cycle of a Turkistan roach and they take from 2-8 weeks for the eggs to hatch, they then take 3-5 months to reach adulthood, and then live a further 6-12 months, breeding for that entire period. given that my first egg cases hatched out probably 2 months ago now it shouldnt be long before the first batch of hatchling reach adulthood. there are quite a few larger juveniles running around now, and literally thousands of babies.
> 
> i think realistically it will take 6 months to form a sustainable colony from just adults and no egg cases. starting out with 300 adults though i reckon by the 6 month mark il have a 5000+ strong colony of adults. they really are prolific breeders, and there are probably several hundred new babies hatching per week. and thats from just 300 adults!! they are going to multiply massively as time goes on. my current tank is easily big enough to house 10-20,000 though.


 
That set up sounds ideal. I personaly prefer using a fish tank as its more secure, easy to clean and you can see inside it.

Your also quite right if you only get a few hundred you can start a colony but it takes a while to get established. As long as you give it time then you will have no problems.

Obviously the more roaches you buy the quicker the colony gets established.



pete-vtr said:


> any tips on maintaining high humidity foggy?
> 
> im using a plastic RUB. sprayed the inside last night to give it a kick start. there was still a few droplets there this afternoon but not as much as last night. you seem to have very very high humidity.
> 
> ...


The humitdity in mine is quite high. By using a fish tank it does help. I dont spray mine at all because the amount of roaches in it respiring creates very high humidity.

You will probably find the same once your colony get s established.

If your humidity is gettting too low then you could always tape off some of the air vents.


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## Grond (Jun 17, 2008)

Great thread Steve!

How big are the adults?

Wondering if these would be OK for my Male yemen chameleon!

Breeding crickets is a pain in the butt and other than the yemen, I am totally food self sufficient!


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## foggy01.1983 (Mar 26, 2009)

Grond said:


> Great thread Steve!
> 
> How big are the adults?
> 
> ...


 
Hi buddy most the ones I have are towards adult size or adults at the moment.

I dont know how a yemen would get on with them as they feed in branches dont they?, and as far as im aware the roaches spend most their time on the ground.

Im also not to sure if the roaches would be to quick for them.

I would try asking in the lizard section see what they say before buying, or if you want to cover postage costs which is about £1.50 ill send some out for you.

Chat to you later buddy 
Steve


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## Grond (Jun 17, 2008)

foggy01.1983 said:


> Hi buddy most the ones I have are towards adult size or adults at the moment.
> 
> I dont know how a yemen would get on with them as they feed in branches dont they?, and as far as im aware the roaches spend most their time on the ground.
> 
> ...


I was just wondering roughly what an adult measured, or whether they would be too big!

It's hard to tell accurately from the pics!

I suppose you could always just feed part growns!

I'll post in the lizard section out of interest and see if anyone else feeds them.

I reckon the cham could nail anything speed wise. I entertain myself by putting flies in which he takes mid air!

He eats most of his crix off the floor so that shouldn't be a problem.

Cheers

Phil


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

adults are about 20-25mm long, about 12mm wide, and 8-10mm thick. females probably have more meat to them than males, males look the same size but their bodies are smaller and their wings just make them appear bigger than they are.

i should think an adult chameleon would easily be able to physically eat one. whether they would eat them or not is another story, im not sure on the feeding habits of chams. my 6 month old water dragons can comfortably eat an adult now though. they arent that big.


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## Krazzzy (Oct 13, 2009)

Im in the US and breed thousands of these every month. I breed for me and a few friends. Here we house them in large plastic tub. Not even the babies can climb the plastic. Other then the plastic over glass all other care is the same. By the way I get $10 for 100.


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## foggy01.1983 (Mar 26, 2009)

All sold out now


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## Grond (Jun 17, 2008)

foggy01.1983 said:


> All sold out now


These are great!

Nice size, and for the record, my Yemen loves them! :2thumb:


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

They sound great, and I'm definitely thinking of setting a colony up for my expanding 'brood'- but I do question the idea that they are all you are ever going to need. Reptiles and amphibians need variety just like any other animal- partly from a nutritional point of view, and partly from sheer boredom. I can't be the only keeper who's noticed that my animals, fed the same prey month after month, start to lose interest? And get much more enthusiastic with a change once in a while? Just a thought...


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## foggy01.1983 (Mar 26, 2009)

Ron Magpie said:


> They sound great, and I'm definitely thinking of setting a colony up for my expanding 'brood'- but I do question the idea that they are all you are ever going to need. Reptiles and amphibians need variety just like any other animal- partly from a nutritional point of view, and partly from sheer boredom. I can't be the only keeper who's noticed that my animals, fed the same prey month after month, start to lose interest? And get much more enthusiastic with a change once in a while? Just a thought...


When i say they are all that you will ever need i mean the main substantial part of thier normal diet. 
I find because the reptile has to work to get roaches they enjoy them even more.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

foggy01.1983 said:


> When i say they are all that you will ever need i mean the main substantial part of thier normal diet.
> I find because the reptile has to work to get roaches they enjoy them even more.


Ok, fair enough.


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## Duq (Apr 14, 2009)

Just curious on the temperature and humidty Requirements you need too breed these?


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