Finally ordered roaches..Questions

I just sent a check out to Roachman for a dozen B. Craniifer, but he's having a special on them..."Buy a dozen, get a dozen free" So I should have a few roaches coming in next week.

So I want your opinions, I've been reading sites and it seems as though every one has different suggestions.


First, substrate -- Do you use any or not? Why? It seems as though B. Craniifers need quite a bit of humidity, so I was thinking of doing something that was suggested on the Tarantula forums (I can't remember who did it...Arachopunk?) where you cover the bottom in an inch or two of vermiculite and cover that with peat moss. It allows you to POOR water in to it and keep it fairly humid. Similiar to putting rocks on the bottom, and dirt on top.

But I've also been considering no substrate as it seems a lot easier to clean.


Second, Humidity/Ventilation. I haven't been able to find any care sheets specificly for B. Craniifer, but I've been able to find a lot of Hisser care sheets and a few of them suggested "other" species and had B. Craniifer listed -- they also stated that they're cared for in the exact same way. They ALL say they need a lot of humidity. Some of them say they need a lot of ventilation. How important IS the ventilation? Humidity is much easier to keep with less ventilation. And I found one site where the owner used a sheet of plexiglass and completely covered the top. I'm assuming he drilled holes in it so atleast a little air could get in, but he never mentioned doing it or not doing it. Obviously, the roaches don't get much ventilation this way, but from everything he said, they're thriving.


Third, probably last, heating. Most sites suggest heating pads. Some put it under the tank, some put it on the side. What do you do? I was thinking that if I did the above Vermiculite on the bottom, peat on top, it wouldn't get as warm due to deeper substrate. But if I poor water in so that it's sitting on the bottom, the heat from the heating pad would heat the water, increasing evaporation? If I go without substrate, is it possible that it could get TOO hot? I know it's kind of unbearable to touch through the glass, but just because it is for me, doesn't mean it'll be for the roaches. Putting it on the side would probably give off more heat, it seems like a lot of heating pad is "wasted" since they don't climb. (Although, I'm going to try to copy Code's "Roach Motel" if I can ever find cork board...or even peg board)

Are heat lamps too much? I was kind of considering one, but they seem to dry things up quickly....But if someone else uses it successfully, I may give it a try. Exo-Terra has a new bulb out that doesn't create a basking spot, but just heats the air temp. If I could suddenly become 'handy' enough to put this in the lid of their enclosure, it seems like it'd be a good idea...IF the petstore sells them, I thought they did...but I'm not sure.



I guess roaches don't require too much special care, but at $40 a dozen, I don't want things to go bad.


Edit to add: Is it possible to easily sex B. Craniifer? How?

I tried keeping the substrate moist to mantain high humidity and it just created optimum conditions for mites to thrive. I'm keeping my roaches on dry substrate with a constant moisture supply via water gel and fresh foods. The dry substrate also catches feces and dries it out. The layer idea may not work the way you want unless the substrate is very deep because the nymphs will dig down into the substrate to hide and consequently mix up the layers.

I think alot of ventialtion is important once the population grows to provide adequate oxygen and to allow gases from wastes to be exchanged for fresh air.

The roaches will be fine at 80F-85F degrees. I wouldn't use supplemental heating unless the room you are keeping them in will be constantly under 75F. I have a heat lamp that I use when I run the AC at night to sleep and the room goes down to about 72 so the enclosure is at about 80.

I'm not sure about sexing roaches...I read somewhere about counting the segments but I forget which sex has more.

Yeah, my house stays around 70 in every spot I can think of.

The only thing you use as substrate is feces? How often do you have to clean those out? or do you just leave it?


I actually never thought about the mites from humidity thing. Tarantula experience would make me believe that humidity isn't a big deal -- I've never seriously tried to raise humidity, and never had a single molt problem.

I mean...With your previous thread about roaches going without water for three weeks, you'd think they're more than capable of surviving without humidity as long as they have a water dish to drink from. And maybe the occasional misting for them to drink more off the side.

It's just.. I have absolutely no humidity in this house. Maybe 10% at the most. But you seem successful enough..