Pet recommendations

[Jesus]

I want to have some pet roaches in the near future because all I got is feeders besides my hissers can you guys recommend me the cheapest & best low maintenance roaches? if I can keep them in plastic bins it'd be better because glass tanks are harder to clean but I'm ok with glass tanks as well

 

[Hisserdude]

Blaberus or Hemiblabera make great low maintenance pets, and are pretty big and hardy. They are also usually pretty cheap. BTW you can keep any roach species in plastic bins, I keep almost all my roaches in food storage type containers from the dollar store. 

 

[Jesus]

Blaberus or Hemiblabera make great low maintenance pets, and are pretty big and hardy. They are also usually pretty cheap. BTW you can keep any roach species in plastic bins, I keep almost all my roaches in food storage type containers from the dollar store. 

Not to be a pain in the butt but can you show me pics of the roaches and your enclosures? dollar store containres are so small though

 

[Matttoadman]

I love my Eublaberus sp. "pantanal". All you need is 3 inches of moist cocofiber and some pieces of bark for the adults to climb on. I have mine in a 18 quart sterlite bin with small holes drilled in the lid. I feed them oats, flake food and super cheap cat food. They never eat enough fruit or veggies to make it worth the mess. They don't eat much. Too much and it molds. Just sprinkle the food on the substrate. The adults are very active. Chasing each other around all evening and night. 

 

[Jesus]

I love my Eublaberus sp. "pantanal". All you need is 3 inches of moist cocofiber and some pieces of bark for the adults to climb on. I have mine in a 18 quart sterlite bin with small holes drilled in the lid. I feed them oats, flake food and super cheap cat food. They never eat enough fruit or veggies to make it worth the mess. They don't eat much. Too much and it molds. Just sprinkle the food on the substrate. The adults are very active. Chasing each other around all evening and night. 

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They look similar to the ghosthead roaches, how do you avoid breeding?

 

[Matttoadman]

What is a ghost head?

 

[Jesus]

What is a ghost head?

Don't know what's the name of it, but there's 1 type of roaches that has white on the head, making it look like a ghost or skull dunno the species but seen pictures online

 

[All About Arthropods]

Don't know what's the name of it, but there's 1 type of roaches that has white on the head, making it look like a ghost or skull dunno the species but seen pictures online

I know what you're talking about, Blaberus craniifer( Death's head roach.)

 

[Hisserdude]

Not to be a pain in the butt but can you show me pics of the roaches and your enclosures? dollar store containres are so small though

I don't have pics of the Blaberus cages but I do have a picture of the Hemiblabera enclosure. The dollar store containers I use are about a gallon big, and work for most of the medium and small sized roaches I've kept, as well as some of the larger ones for a shorter amount of time.

Hemiblabera tenebricosa:

The cage, (leaves have proven to not be 100% necessary but they like them, the cardboard hides are never used so all you need is substrate):

Now there are several Blaberus species to choose from but here's on of my favorites, Blaberus Atropos "Florida":

Another great species is Blaberus sp. "Venezuela" (some individuals have red pronotum markings instead of black!):

 

[Matttoadman]

We should make some care sheet stickies.

 

[Matttoadman]

Here's the inside view of my pantanal bin.

 

[Axolotl]

I love my red runners (B. lateralis). They're small, but super fun to watch. They're highly active, especially if you keep them at a constant 85-90F and give them plenty of little hiding spots. Plus they drop their oothecae which is an interesting process to observe.

I keep mine on coco fiber substrate with terra cotta for climbing and hiding. They have veggies in there now, but they usually just eat chow. Keep the soil moist and spray the enclosure every few days. That's about it. They're very hearty and hard to mess up. 

 

[pannaking22]

Just got a group of red goblin roaches, Paratemnopteryx couloniana, and they're a lot of fun to watch too. Very very active, day or night. They actually remind me a lot of B. lateralis, especially as nymphs. 

 

[Betta132]

I'm lovin' my horseshoe crab roaches, Hemiblabera tenebricosa. They don't come out much, but sticking your hand into a seemingly empty tank and coming out with a half-dollar-sized roach is fairly impressive to guests, and they aren't even fully grown yet. They're also fairly chill, easy to handle, and kinda cute. For roaches.