# Guinea's guide to roaches (lots of pics)



## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

Here is how a detailed guide on how I breed my roaches I have been doing it for over a year now and had lots of help from experienced breeders.
I keep dubia and turkistan roaches and they are both housed together in the same container along with a some tiny buffalo worms which act as a clean up crew.
















Here is what I keep them it is a 150L plastic box from Roys of wroxham. Roaches need it to be very dark so I painted the side of my box with thick paint and i leave a thick towel on top of the box so no light can get in at all.
These roaches can't climb smooth plastic but they do try and climb up the power lead for the heat mat so I taped it taped down also a 2 inch strip of vaseline can be used to stop any trying to climb.
Also I have put some extra air holes in the sides near the top for ventilation which is important for keeping things fresh.









The main part of my roaches diet is chicken mash. Don't let the name confuse you it doesn't contain any chicken its just food for chickens. Its actually a vegetarian diet which is better for roaches as they don't eat a lot of meat in the wild. It may only be 16% protein which isn't so much compared to cat biscuits 35% protein but as its vegetable protein and not meat protein so they will find it easier to digest and eat more of it. It only costs £7 for a 20kg from pet or farm shops and this will last a very long time.









I feed the roaches every day and along with the chicken mash I will give them some fruit like an apple or orange normally just ones that are going out of date and need to be thrown away. 
Plus some veg I normally use carrots and cabbage or lettuce what eva is in the fridge at the time.
Here is todays food.









Then I will peal the apple and chop the carrot, I don't like putting apple or orange peal in there because it doesn't get eaten and builds up in the bottom. 
I add water to the chicken mash to make a thick paste. Then this does three jobs at once it feeds the roaches and gives them a drink which is especially good for the young roaches that need it the most and can't always get what the water they need from the greens. Also it really helps to keep the humidity up which is very important for the turks as they breed faster in higher humidity and Dubs need humidity as well to help them shed.









Here is a up close photo of my colony before I put the food in. As you can see I leave a big open area in my tub for food.









Here is a couple of photos of the food in there as you can see big pile it is.

















Now here is a photo taken an hour after I put the food in. There was actually more of them on the food but some made a run for cover when I opened the box and took the pic.

















I think the dubia roaches breed best kept between 80-85f or 27-29c. Any cooler than 80f and they wont be growing very fast or doing a lot of breeding. Any hotter than 90f and you can make females infertile and actually slow down breeding.
I keep mine at 85f using a habistat thermostat and heat the tub with a large 60w heat mat which you should be able to see in the pic goes round the inside wall of the tub. I put the heat mat on the inside because it doesn't work very well on the outside of the box and I keep it on the inside wall to keep it clean and stop any build up of rubbish on the mat.

























As you can see for my colony I use eggs trays and I keep them upright so when the roaches poo it falls to the ground and doesn't build up. I pin the egg trays together in pairs back to back so that you get a nice gap between them. I buy these from ebay here is a link 20 x Greys Egg Trays Holds 30 Eggs on eBay (end time 11-Aug-10 21:32:17 BST)









I clean them out around every 2 months this is the hard bit but it needs doing. It normally takes me around 4 hours as I search through all the stuff left in the bottom for roaches and the turks egg sacks as I don't like wasting any thing. 
After two months time the buffalo worms will be high in number but I just throw all the worms away and just let a few of the beetles make it in to the new colony.

I think I covered every thing if not oh well :lol2:

Here is one final pic of the box how it is kept in the corner of my room all neat and tidy :whistling2:










Oh and thanks to Blactica for info on Dubs and gemstone for info on Turks

GuineA :2thumb:


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## Juzza12 (Jun 12, 2008)

Great guide. Do you spray or up humidty in any other way? Have you ever noticed the dubias eating the turk's egg cases? 

I've just got turks and am after dubias, didn't think of mixing these before but this has got me thinking to keep them together myself.


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## Alon93 (Jul 5, 2010)

Great post, I keep my dubia's at 95F but they don't seem to breed fast, I'll take your advice and lower it, thanks!


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

Juzza12 said:


> Great guide. Do you spray or up humidty in any other way? Have you ever noticed the dubias eating the turk's egg cases?
> 
> I've just got turks and am after dubias, didn't think of mixing these before but this has got me thinking to keep them together myself.


The wet chicken mash and fruit and veg creates more than enough humidity so I never add anything else to make it more humid. When it gets to humid with water dripping down the sides I will get some tissue and wipe it dry.

I don't think the dubs eat the turks eggs at all because I added 200 turks to my already established dub colony a few months ago and now there are 1000s so I don't think there has been any eating of egg cases. Also when I clean the roaches out there is always lots of egg cases in the bottom.

They work really well together : victory:


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

I forgot to add that I keep the adult dubs at roughly a ratio of 10/1 females/males. 
Then the adults Turks I keep at a ratio of roughly 5/1 females/males


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## Krista (Jul 18, 2009)

Hi,

This is a very good guide and answered my questions.
I was going to post.....:blush: Just got to get the roaches now.

Jingle Bells.


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## Blaptica (Jun 26, 2008)

*Aikea guinea*

Thanks Ginny for the name check. I didn't start to deliberately culture turks with the dubia roaches, a few got in and if anything they seemed to do better with the dubs than in there own dedicated culture. I sent Ginny some turks when I sent the dubs because they fell into the tubs with the dubs and I couldn't see the point of taking them out. There were only very few but clearly they are thriving with you Ginny. There are masses now. 

Re humidity. There is something here people don't realize going on I think. If you start with a box with say 20 holes in the lid and you add 20 adult roaches to start with, then humidity will be quite low. Once you have 200 in the same box all urinating and sweating away they humidity is likely to be very different. I think that is often why cultures seem to start slowly then suddenly explode !

RE Buffalo worms. They are like a miniture stout mealworm. Latin name _Alphitobius diaperinus. _When you have high humidity mites can be a problem, and the buffalo beetles take care of those. The beetles are around 1/3 the size of normal mealworm beetle. They are great with roaches but should not be kept if you want to breed regular mealworms, crickets or locusts.


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

Thanks for clearing that up about the buffalo worms : victory:


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## Charles_Tuna (Sep 15, 2008)

Great write up, hopefully some tips I can use on my Turks, Dubias and Hissers :O)


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## schumi (Oct 22, 2009)

great thread mate:2thumb: great info.
ive just finished my roach rub and rather than having the stat probe and heatmat wires coming through the top of the rub like youve done which they can climb up and out of. so what ive done is drilled 2 small holes in the rub.
one hole the size of the heatmat wire and another hole the size of the stat probe in one side of the rub about half way down and threaded the heatmat wire and probe through the holes and then aqua sealed the holes just to make sure there are no gaps.it works perfect
no wires to climb up = no escapees :2thumb:


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## tang soo do (May 8, 2010)

Imginy, i'm battling with locust breeding at the moment but want to start a small roach colony. Great guide you have put up. Do you keep the heat on 24 hours?


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

schumi said:


> great thread mate:2thumb: great info.
> ive just finished my roach rub and rather than having the stat probe and heatmat wires coming through the top of the rub like youve done which they can climb up and out of. so what ive done is drilled 2 small holes in the rub.
> one hole the size of the heatmat wire and another hole the size of the stat probe in one side of the rub about half way down and threaded the heatmat wire and probe through the holes and then aqua sealed the holes just to make sure there are no gaps.it works perfect
> no wires to climb up = no escapees :2thumb:


Great idea I think I will do that my self tonight. Them climbing up heat mat wire is really getting to me, I have tried taping it down and tried vaseline and nothing seems to work 100%. But I am sure your idea would thanks for the tip. :notworthy:



tang soo do said:


> Imginy, i'm battling with locust breeding at the moment but want to start a small roach colony. Great guide you have put up. Do you keep the heat on 24 hours?


Yes 24 hours a day with the same temperature. : victory:


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## schumi (Oct 22, 2009)

imginy said:


> Great idea I think I will do that my self tonight. Them climbing up heat mat wire is really getting to me, I have tried taping it down and tried vaseline and nothing seems to work 100%. But I am sure your idea would thanks for the tip. :notworthy:


your welcome Mate and thanks for your thread Great info:2thumb:
my tip works 100% my wife would totally lose it if there were any escapees


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## tang soo do (May 8, 2010)

imginy said:


> Great idea I think I will do that my self tonight. Them climbing up heat mat wire is really getting to me, I have tried taping it down and tried vaseline and nothing seems to work 100%. But I am sure your idea would thanks for the tip.


 
I use a stuffing gland which you tighten up on the cable. You might just be able to see it where the cable goes out on my pic










You can get them from B&Q or cheaper at an electrical wholesaler.
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9290728&fh_view_size=10&fh_location=//catalog01/en_GB&fh_search=stuffing+gland&fh_eds=ß&fh_refview=search&ts=1281603596260&isSearch=true


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## schumi (Oct 22, 2009)

tang soo do said:


> I use a stuffing gland which you tighten up on the cable. You might just be able to see it where the cable goes out on my pic
> 
> image
> 
> You can get them from B&Q or cheaper at an electrical wholesaler.


Wheres your cold end gonna be in the rub as that heat cable runs the length of your rub you need a cold end or side


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## tang soo do (May 8, 2010)

schumi said:


> Wheres your cold end gonna be in the rub as that heat cable runs the length of your rub you need a cold end or side


Cheers Schumi, that was my prototype which fried :blush: my first batch of eggs (locusts). Have now removed half of the heating cable on the mark 2 version but thanks for the advise :2thumb:


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

Brilliant guide :2thumb:


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## McQuillanX2 (Oct 29, 2009)

good guide , why have u got meal worms with them ?
u can see them on pic 11 , 12 , 13 ,14


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

McQuillanX2 said:


> good guide , why have u got meal worms with them ?
> u can see them on pic 11 , 12 , 13 ,14


They will eat any mites and keep every thing clean, by the way they are lesser mealworms not regular ones : victory:


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

May help me decide whether to replace my turks with dubia. Might just keep both together!


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

mrhoyo said:


> May help me decide whether to replace my turks with dubia. Might just keep both together!


Yes the dubs live very well in the turks conditions :2thumb:

You could just try putting 10 adult females and 5 adult males in and see how they get on but try and get young adult females (6 months) the older one don't have half as many babies :2thumb: 

You may will probably find the males die off first but there is always people selling them cheap if they need replacing. Its better to start with less males as less males means less fighting and more breeding :2thumb:


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