American Cockroach Care?

A

Absolute Nausea

Ootheca
Howdy y'all! I'll be obtaining some American Cockroaches soon for something, and I was wondering how to care for them? I've heard they are difficult to take care of, so I just wanted some tips and tricks on caring for them! 

 
Periplaneta americana are pretty dang easy, just keep them humid, warm, and give them plenty of hides and surface area. They can be prone to eating their ooths if they don't have enough moisture or protein, but if both those conditions are met they are pretty easy to breed. :)

 
Hey there! The main thing to focus on for American Roaches is making sure their enclosure doesn't get too dry. Desiccation seems to be their number one killer in captivity. Other than that, you'll want to make sure that you're keeping them in a secure container (like a Sterilite Gasket Container or something similar) since adults and larger nymphs can climb well. Hides can be provided in the form of bark, egg crates, etc. They aren't picky about food; the average roach diet of dog/cat/fish food, fruits, and vegetables works fine for them. Temps should ideally be kept within the low 70s to mid 80s, but they can handle a few degrees less or more.

 
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Tleilaxu said:
Nope, I enjoy them as pets, quite cheeky little roaches, and accomplished hunters too.
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But those spawns of hell fly 😖 I've gotten so many fly to my face and into my food that they're in my blacklist 👎 and they've been breeding in my dubia/lobster bins reducing the dubia/lobster numbers they're just a pest to me 😑

 
Absolute Nausea said:
Howdy y'all! I'll be obtaining some American Cockroaches soon for something, and I was wondering how to care for them? I've heard they are difficult to take care of, so I just wanted some tips and tricks on caring for them! 
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I would agree with much of the care requirements stated here. Keep humidity in their enclosure and provide them with enough food and they'll be fine. I also agree that P. americana are notorious for nibbling on each other and ooths if they don't get enough food or water so be careful of that. Do you know if you're getting a color variant (White Eye, Black, or Venom)? I have found that while they're the same exact roaches, my different variants do behave differently (Slightly anyway). My White eyes were really aggressive with each other and the colony kind of failed despite food or water but the other two variants flourished. They could have come to me in poor health though. In any case, here's some tips on these guys that I've noticed from having them:

1. Plenty of hides keep them really happy. P. americana tends to be reclusive and they enjoy hiding. I also find this keeps them from trying to escape or fly off as they have plenty of space to run and hide away.

2. Keep humidity up but not sopping wet.

3. They're fast so be sure to be prepared for that. Seriously, I have maybe one or two other species that move faster but these guys are regular Sonics. It can be startling if you are used to hissers or dubia. 

4. I really recommend gasket bins for keeping them. They are excellent climbers and the nymphs are small. I don't find climb barriers or vaseline work on most roaches. I've seen mine climb right over it like a weird flex lol. The gasket tubs keep humidity and roaches in as well as pests like phorid flies out. I recommend taking a rotary tool like a dremel, cutting a rectangle out of the lid, hot gluing small insect mesh on the underside, then taping paper towel over it on the top side. The paper towel keeps in those small nymphs that can get through the mesh (Only certain species can get past it).

5. They enjoy a  bit more protein in their diet. I'd feed them a higher percentage or fish or dog food compared to other species.

Hopefully some of this helps! These are just things that I've found out during my care of them.

 
Jesus said:
But those spawns of hell fly 😖 I've gotten so many fly to my face and into my food that they're in my blacklist 👎 and they've been breeding in my dubia/lobster bins reducing the dubia/lobster numbers they're just a pest to me 😑
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Sorry they didn't work out for you. Hmm interesting as mine don't fly much at all. Captive populations usually don't fly as often as their wild counterparts. Maybe try providing some more hiding surfaces to discourage them from fleeing the container. Do you know if your culture was wild collected or was wild collected in recent generations? Maybe that's why they're a bit froggy. They are able to climb and fly at all ages so I would really recommend gasket bins for these guys. Otherwise, they'll get into other enclosures. Not a big deal if you keep different species as they can't breed with them, but if you plan on keeping any other Periplaneta genus you would want to keep the species separate to avoid cross breeding. I find lightweight species like this just waltz over climb stopping greases and such. Another substitute is to get a plastic bucket ( Like the blue ones Lowes sells) for Like 3 or 5 bucks with a lid and put them in there after using a knife to cut ventilation holes. That's a cheap alternative to gasket bins as those are really only available at Walmart I find and people scalp the crud outta them online. The lids on those buckets are air tight and you can put screen over the cut holes. I'd also tape paper towel over it on the outside. It'll let oxygen in but keep in humidity and roaches. I have three variants and two of the three have done really well and I haven't had any get out so far. I swear by the gasket tubs for keeping in roaches  but those buckets work too.

 
I’ve actually kept my P. Americana “venom” in a gasket tub with no ventilation at all for the last year and they’ve done great so far. I mostly feed them apples and dry chow (oats,yeast,wheat germ)

I give them cork standing up for surface area because it doesn’t mold I tried cardboard but the humidity made it collapse and they ate it

 
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All this is encouraging. The venom morph is the first potential pest species I've considered keeping, and I wondered if I was entirely wise. Especially after searching through a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth on another board...

TheInv4sion said:
I’ve actually kept my P. Americana “venom” in a gasket tub with no ventilation at all for the last year and they’ve done great so far.
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What, completely airtight? Blimey.

 
WarrenB said:
All this is encouraging. The venom morph is the first potential pest species I've considered keeping, and I wondered if I was entirely wise. Especially after searching through a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth on another board...

What, completely airtight? Blimey.
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Yeah no airholes at all and a bunch of cork to climb and hide in

 
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