How to farm cockroaches

[wandering_cham]

I am currently feeding my cham crickets (store bought) and Surinam cock roaches (wild). Yes I know what your first thought is, are their pesticides in the collection area, no, I am strongly against using them. And two, parasites, yes and no, in studies they have been know to harbor a parasite that effects poultry. I've done my research to ensure that i have a healthy cham. My question is how do you guys farm cock roaches, what is the most sucessful method you've tried.

 

[Longhorn1234]

I've kept surinams for a while now and all I do is keep them in coco fiber. Mist the enclosure every 2 days and throw some vegetables in there at least once a week. You might not even have to mist them that often, if at all if you're offering vegetables but since I'm misting my other colonies then why not. Honestly, surinams are the easiest/hardiest roach I've kept. In the summer my closet gets to around 85-90°F so they breed like crazy. Last winter I left my colony in the outside closet and it dropped to 25°F in the cooler days and absolutely nothing happened to the colony, not even a dent in the population.

 

[wandering_cham]

Thank you so much, it's good to know that surinams are an established food (also i started thinking i was the ony one on the forums using them as food).

 

[wandering_cham]

Also, what type of container are you using to housing them in?

 

[Longhorn1234]

There are some people using them, but surinams are definitely not as popular as dubias.
As for the container, I use a Sterilite gasket bin. Those containers are great for keeping climbing roaches in.