Coco chips for burrowing nymphs

hundefrau

hundefrau

Third Instar
Hi guys :)

So I am planning on setting up new boxes for my roaches. The old boxes need cleaning! My mother bought me some of those blocks that make substrate when put in water. They are coco fibre/chips blocks and I used one of them experimentally.

Now I am unsure if the coco fibre is suited for my smaller Archimandrita nymphs (some not molted at all, meaning they are tiny). They need to be able to hide away in the substrate to be happy roaches, I read. 

Would you guys recommend coco fibre for little burrowing nymphs? I intended to mix the coco fibre with bark substrate that I also used in the old boxes :o

Thank you in advance :)

 
Coconut fiber as in the soft, small-particled material, is one of the best base substrates around for roaches and I would definitely recommend it. :) Although, if what you have is the hard, chunky material that we refer to as "coconut husk", "coconut coir", or "course coconut fiber" here in the U.S, I wouldn't recommend it as a base substrate, but instead as just a component with something softer. 

 
Thank you for your reply :)

The coconut fibre substrate is more small-particled than chunky and pretty soft, so I think my mother got the right thing by accident!

I was worried that the coco fibre is too soft and without enough space for the little nymphs to squeeze through :o  But I guess the mixed-in bark substrate takes care of that.

 
hundefrau said:
Thank you for your reply :)

The coconut fibre substrate is more small-particled than chunky and pretty soft, so I think my mother got the right thing by accident!

I was worried that the coco fibre is too soft and without enough space for the little nymphs to squeeze through :o  But I guess the mixed-in bark substrate takes care of that.
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No problem. :)  

Yea, looks like that's what happened, since that definitely sounds like coconut fiber!

Nah, all of the burrowing roach in the hobby can make their way through it with ease, but yeah, some added aeration with a bit of chunkier material is pretty much always beneficial. :)  

 
I have my domino roaches (burrowing nymphs) in a substrate that's about 50/50 coco chunks to fiber, with a handful of leaves mixed in. They seem to be doing well so far. I've also learned that burying magnolia leaves about half an inch under the substrate will retain a pocket of moisture underneath, if that's useful to you. 

 
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