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The Blaptica dubia originates from Argentina but also French Guyana, Brazil. It is about 4 cm. long and 2 cm. across, the female is more bulky than the male and lacks the wings. This species is unable to climb glass in either the adult or nymph stages.
Any container with smooth horizontal surfaces and a secure lid can become a roach cage. Anything from critter keepers, glass tanks, or plastic storage containers. As the roaches deficates, you will notice a build-up of black particles at the bottom of their cage. The cage will need to be cleaned every 3-6 months.
| Substrate | Options Advantages | Disadvantages |
| No Substrate | - Easy to collect roaches - Easier to clean cage |
- Roaches can't hide - Hard to keep humidity up - Need to clean cage more often |
| Aspen/Pine Bedding ** Do NOT use cedar! ** |
- Easy to keep humidity up - Lets roaches hide - Need to clean cage less often |
- Cage cleaning difficult - Seperating roach from bedding is difficult |
| Grain/Feed Bedding | - Food always available - May provide hiding places depending on substrate depth |
- Can harbor mites - Hard to keep humidity up - Can mold |
I recommend no substrate. Blaptica dubia will make there own substrate of wast material (molts, droppings, etc) If you suspect mites might be present, place substrate in freezer for a few hours to a day.
Using aspen bedding, you end up cleaning the cage once every 3-6 months. More often if you have alot of roaches in smaller containers. You will know it is time to clean their cage when you see a dense deposit of fecal matter when you look at the bottom of their cage. Don't layer the substrate too thick so it will be easier for you to do cage cleanings. When throwing out used bedding, place bag of old bedding in the freezer for a day to kill any possible escape roaches that you may have missed before discarding. This minimizes the chance you release roaches into the enviornment.
Accessories : Roaches like to hide in the dark, so dark hiding places must be provided. The best way to do this is by placing egg flats in vertical layers in their cage. If you are using egg flats that held eggs, make sure it does not have broken egg matter on it. If you don't have access to egg flats, try checking with restraunts or order them unused online.
Temperature : The Orange Spotted Roach and Discoid Roach both like hot temperatures. A hot zone and cooler zone should be provided by keeping the heat source (heat lamp or heat tape) on one side of the cage only. The hot side of the cage should be 30 degrees. The cooler end can be around 25 degrees. If temperatures are lower, their growth and reproduction will be slower.
I now just use an additional heater in the room where they are kept, keeping temperature around 25 degrees. This also seem to work pretty well.
Humidity : I am not sure on the exact humidity number these roaches require, but having their cage dry may not be recommended, nor having their cage drenched in water. Too much ventilation will let the humidity escape.
Again here i just provide the cage with a water dish with some rocks in it, so the nymphs don't drown. I use no additional sources to control humidity.
Roaches can be fed a combination of some of these items: ground dog food (no cat food), cricket food, oat bran, wheat germ, baby cereal, fruits, vegetables, etc. Feed twice a week only what they can eat during that time. Food should be placed in shallow dishes that even baby non-climbing roaches can get in and out of.
The roaches will get all their water from the food and do not really need a drinking bowl. Although a bowl can be use to keep up humidity (and maybe occasionally for drinking)
Roaches take months to go from newborn baby to adult. The non-climbing roaches listed on this page are all livebearing. A female roach can give birth to about 20-30 baby roaches at a time. Roaches seem to breed better in larger colonies, so if you only have a dozen roaches, it may take a few months for number of roaches to increase. It will take even longer if you only have a pair of roaches. So if you want alot of roaches as quickly as possible, buy 30-50+ adults to start your colony. The initial cost of setting a colony up is well worth it if you are patient.
A colony of tropical cockroaches will quickly establish a functioning "society" based on a dominance hierarchy. The largest adult males will each claim a small territory inside the cage and defend it from other adult males. These territories usually center around a prominent spot such as a stone, a log or a small hill, and the largest and most dominant male will get the best territory. Although the roaches may leave their territories from time to time for food, each adult male in the colony will know which territories are occupied.
Any mature female that enters a male’s territory will be approached for mating. Mature males that enter another male’s territory will be challenged by the resident. Dominant males will often "stilt" or stand on tiptoe to make themselves look bigger, and will also flutter their wings while facing the intruder. Less dominant males will crouch as a submissive gesture before slinking away. If the interloper decides to challenge the territory-holder rather than retreat, a pushing and shoving match follows, until one roach gives up and gives a submission display.
The male roach produces a small packet of sperm enclosed in a hard case, which he places into the female’s body. Once mated, the physical presence of the sperm packet causes the female to reject all other males -- females that have a small glass bead placed experimentally in their body instead of a sperm packet will also reject all attempts at mating. Anywhere from a few days to a few weeks after mating, the female cockroach produces an egg case, known as the ootheca. The American cockroach drops its ootheca in a protected spot, where it develops and hatches on its own. Most tropical species carry the ootheca around with them until it hatches. When first formed, the ootheca protrudes from the female’s abdomen; once it has hardened, it is withdrawn into a chamber at the tip of the abdomen known as the brood pouch, where it is retained until the eggs are ready to hatch. In the hissing cockroach, the females retain the ootheca inside their abdomen for about 60 days until they hatch, emerging as 15-20 live young (a bit less than half an inch long). Most females will produce two or three broods a year. In overcrowded conditions, or if there is not enough food available, the ootheca will be ejected from the brood chamber before it matures, which will kill all the eggs inside it.
Most tropical cockroaches have a lifespan of between two and three years, although some hissing roaches have reportedly lived up to five years. It is not unusual for a single female cockroach to produce several hundred nymphs during her reproductive life.