I've had to say goodbye to my Periplaneta colony as they were too "roachy" for the apartment I was going to be staying at. So they are now running free again.

However I think I maybe able to keep some exotic species since I'm in a state that allows it.

So hopefully soon.

Babies galore.

Well it looks like the americana colony is a total loss, I will still wait until the new year, maybe some will hatch.

In happier news the Australian roaches are finally experiencing a baby boom, I have lots of nymphs.

Cute babies everywhere.

Picking up the pieces.

The Periplaneta americana colony is a total loss, but hopefully the ooth are more resilient, I used said room mates strainer to sit throughout the substrate to gather the other, I'm sure some slipped through but no biggie.

Here is all that's left, I've counted around 28 or so, with one that had already hatched. I've placed them on moist paper towels rather than substrate to make it easier to catch the nymphs if they hatch and I need to move, or ship them. Hopefully these are still viable.

Disaster.

Well while I was gone a right bastard of a room mate moved my roach colonies outside, and they got hit by direct sun and the Periplaneta americana colony is destroyed. I will attempt to salvage the ooths, but I'm not hopeful. And considering I was trying to breed a giant strain, the individuals lost were irreplaceable, and I'm unable to get more.

The giant one is on the right, but the other two were still larger than many other Periplaneta adults I've seen. The Surinames have been wiped out as well.

The Australian roaches are thankfully ok, I will do a more detailed check for casualties later but initial inspection seems promising.

Love, hurricanes and babies...

Well interesting things are occurring, along with Hurricane Irma, moving and not much to report until now. We finally have progress. I've been able to witness mating and brooding behavior of my roaches, and finally after waiting more than a month I have the first babies/nymphs.

It's not often a roach keeper will see mating since roaches often only mate once, unless the male was infertile.

Egg laying roaches like Periplaneta often carry around their ooths until they find a suitable location, if they can't they will either simply drop them, or more dedicated females will painstakingly bury and disguise them. The next series of photos will show a female Periplaneta americana disguising her ooth, by gluing grains of sand to it, and then trying to hide it.

These are in order, as you can see she buried her ooth quite deeply, after disguising it as a lump of sand, and then covering the site with objects she found.

And now for the ooth.

These were found some time before July 16, at incubating at 80 to 90 degrees one finally hatched on September 7th. Such high temps are generally unnecessary, with 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit being adequate for most roaches, along with a moist substrate. Periplaneta are not a fussy species.

Two remain unhatched, but I'm sure they will hatch soon. And finally here are the sadly blurry pics of the newly hatched Periplaneta australasiae. There were around six or so.

Now all this is going on with Hurricane Irma barrelling down on my location, so I will be evacuating along with these guys, so I may be gone for awhile, the roaches can handle dog food and water rations with no issue for a few weeks. Well I'm out.

The great white roach.

I figured I would briefly cover this, I have seen numerous people fooled into thinking they have a rare albino invertebrate, however this white color is due to recent shedding and not genetic factors, while there are naturally white roaches they do not count as being albino, and the "albino" will return to normal coloration within a day or so as the exoskeleton hardens.

So if you see this don't be fooled, you managed to catch your roach right after it's shed and you sadly don't have an albino.

Updates, and feeding the buggers.

First of all updates, several of the Australian roaches have matured and are starting to lay eggs, kind of bitter sweet since the clock is ticking, and find replacements is not feasible anymore.

Dog food and orange slices make a great staple roach diet.

These are teneral roaches, they have just recently molted.

Now on to the main topic. Feeding your roaches. You will find that feeding your roach colony to be one of the easiest things to accomplish. A high quality dog or cat food will work as the main diet. Then make sure to supplement the diet with fruit and vegetables to ensure that your roaches will breed readily. I've found citrus fruits tend to be especially liked and work well for inducing breeding and egg laying. While withholding said fruits and vegetables will slow it down or stop it completely.

I will note that if your roaches are feeders for something else, that it may be advised to do further research on your specific animals diet, and choose your roaches diet accordingly. For example feeding reptile or fish pellets in place of dog food, for roaches destined for reptiles or fish. I've also heard claims that animals that eat roaches fed on dog or cat food cause gout in their reptiles. I will admit I have not seriously looked into those claims and it is my OPINION that the gout was likely caused by simply not feeding a variety of things and instead relying on a single feeder insect for their reptiles needs.

Using and raising roaches for the express purposes of feeding other animals is beyond the purview of this blog but I felt it pertinent to mention a possible although in my opinion, an easily avoided risk, of using roaches as a SOLE feeding source.

A note on Periplaneta as feeders, Periplaneta do make excellent feeders for many animals, however they do have one serious drawback, they can be very fast when they are trying to escape a predator, and as a result the chances of escape are increased when moving them from one enclosure to another. If you are using Periplaneta as feeders, do any capture of them outdoors, or in a room where if they escape the can easily be caught, or killed, before they can hide. Now as I have stated previously Periplaneta have some difficulties in infesting homes outside ba tropical climate, and even in a tropical climate find houses not to their liking, but in my opinion, why take chances?

I don't feel like listing a huge list of what fruits roaches can eat, but generally you will find out what your roaches prefer through offering different types of fruit. Mine prefer oranges, peaches, nectarines, kiwis, and watermelon, and they dislike banana, strawberries, Raspberries, blackberries. As for veggies, bell pepper seems to be a hit, but in short if it's safe for feeding to parrots, or vegetarian reptiles it's safe for roaches as well.

That chunk of kiwi is too much for a colony of that size, but since I change fruit out every 24 hours it's no issue. They don't need a lot. Generally changing fresh food every 24 to 48 hours is perfect for preventing mold and smell, as an added bonus it also helps reduce pest infestation, since that's not enough time for fruit or phorid flies to complete their metamorphosis, but enough time for them to lay eggs on it. ;)

Next time, we may discuss breeding, as of now I have some ooth cooking, but they have yet to hatch.

Catching the buggers.

Once you located prime spots, the next part begins, catching them. Fast reflexes and a butterfly net are most useful in catching your wild roaches.

Here is an Australian roach in the wild. As you can see it's eating a piece of dog food, using bait such as dog food also helps increase your chances in finding roaches, and sometimes they are so preoccupied with eating, that they may ignore you, giving you increased time to grab or net them.

Here's another Australian roach that was caught, using shelters that can also be used to corner them is also a good tactic. Roaches that are "on their game" are very fast and agile. Once you catch them you will need to contain them in the container you brought with you.

Handling roaches can be tricky, you will want to restrain the majority of the body, never grab a roach by the legs firmly or for an "extended" period, as they can shed them in an escape attempt. Small nymphs can regenerate lost legs, but adults cannot. However a roach can live just fine with five legs.

You generally want to sandwich the roach between your thumb and index finger, the American roaches being held for photography purposes, normally they are held in the way I described.

Once you catch your roaches, you can add them to the enclosure. You will find that they adjust rapidly to a life of luxury, vs the wild. I've seen freshly caught roaches feeding on the food in the cage in less than a minute after being released. You will see them put on a lot of weight within hours. The transformation is even more drastic if you manage to find a roach that has been lost indoors for a time.

Next time we will go over food and feeding.

First official post, let's get rolling.

It's time to get down to business and finally reveal the purpose of the blog. The the purpose of this blog is to spread the joys of keeping Periplaneta species, an often maligned roach species that actually needs some special accommodations in order to become a problem. Furthermore containing this genus is easy as far as roaches go, others being able to climb or squeeze through anything. And if they escape odds are high that even the adults will eventually perish in the house, unless you leave an open source of water and food available. Those people in tropical states will need to be more careful, but even in Florida, I've found that Periplaneta often were in very poor condition after a few days after wandering in from outside.

However if you want to enjoy these roaches as well, you will need a sturdy container, as I doubt you will find joy in having Periplaneta loose in the house.

A container such as this is perfect, even better if it has a screw on lid or held cheese balls. We will get to why shortly.

Next you will need to clean out the container, unless it was purchased empty.

I've found using a hose and dumping it out in the yard helps speed up the process, however there is nothing wrong with doing it indoors. Be sure to dry the sides, however do not scrub vigorously as we will want the oils from the cheese balls to act as a temporary barrier. However make sure the walls look clean.

Once it's cleaned it's time for the fun parts, finding decorations, or catching the roaches. Now if your purchasing your roaches it is wise to purchase your decorations to avoid the slightest possibility of infecting your roaches with some pathogens. However locally caught roaches can have decorations that you find in the wild. Cork bark is a great decoration as it has many holes in it for ooth depositing sites, if your looking for your own decorations make sure that they have many nooks and crannies.

That is a good example of a nice ooth laying site. Other decorations can include rocks, bark pieces, and other natural objects. Choose objects that can provide good hiding places.

These bark pieces offer good hiding places when placed upside down, making a makeshift shelter.

Once you find or buy what you need, the fun part of arranging the cage begins. There are a few things to consider however.

Take this various arrangement, there is one major flaw, one of the decorations is very high, allowing the roaches easier means to bypass the barrier and reach the top. Therefore you will want to rearrange things.

This is much better, the roaches can't reach the top and will be foiled by the barrier as well. The barrier can consist of petroleum jelly, or vegetable oil, canola oil, or olive oil. There are other more serious barriers, such as liquid Teflon, or fluon, but given the nature of these particular containers, especially those with a screw on lid such material is unnecessary. Place the barrier near the top of the container, taking advantage of the containers shape. Roaches will have further difficulties gripping a sloped surface, vs a vertical one. Only use a thin layer of petroleum jelly, as a super thick layer will actually allow smaller roaches to scale it. Be sure to reapply the barrier monthly. If your worried about escapes reapply weekly if you wish.

Another thing to consider is having a large flat piece of bark to serve as a food dish, of course there is nothing wrong with using an actual food dish.

This curved bark serves as the food dish. It is advisable to keep fruit, dry food, and water far apart in the enclosure if it is really humid, to slow down mold growth. Appropriate foods Periplaneta species are dog or cat food and fruits and vegetables. Fish and reptile foods are good alternatives.

Once the cage is ready the fun part begins, adding the roaches, if you purchased them then adding them will accompany little fanfare, however if you live where Periplaneta are common you can catch them yourself, as I did, and the feeling of accomplishment in catching impressive specimens adds to the fun of keeping Periplaneta, or roaches in general.

Your going to want to look for roaches in and around large pieces of bark, or other objects on the ground that provide shelter, it should be noted that Periplaneta don't often hide under objects that are flush with the ground. Night time, and hot and humid nights, with the temperature around 80 degrees Fahrenheit or higher are idea conditions. Also look after after rain showers. Placing bait such as dog food and fruits in likely locations will also increase your odds of finding roaches.

However finding them is only half of the battle, catching them is the second. We will get into that in the next post.

Hopefully you enjoyed reading this, and that it helps you get a good setup for your new Periplaneta.