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Hello all! I'm a new roach owner - I have 4 Madagascar hissers, two adults and two juveniles. I've had them about 3 weeks now, and they never eat a noticeable amount of food before I change it out. I've been going through posts on here and am feeling a bit better about that, as it seems fairly common? I give them lettuce, carrots, grapes, and cat/dog food pellets. The vegetables wilt pretty rapidly, so I was giving them new food every night at first but they don't touch it. It almost seems like one of them hasn't eaten at all - that or he is very good at being in the same exact spot every time I look for them. I am also wondering how everyone monitors moisture level? I got a hygrometer to measure the percent humidity, and through some research it seems like I should try to have their tank at 60% humidity at a minimum. So usually I've been doing a daily routine of misting the tank, soaking their peat moss until it's lightly saturated and then putting it back, and filling their water dish. With all this, the hygrometer would read only about 50% at the most (we have cold and dry winters here) so now I am also keeping a humidifier running right next to their tank. With this I can get the humidity up to 80%. Is this too much moisture/over-doing it? A long first post - but I want my new little pets to be happy and am so excited to be an invertebrate owner!

long time, no post! anyway, today i heard that roaches wont eat cucumbers which has been a little surprising to me. ive had four hissers in the past, making a grand total of six g.portentosa roaches under my care. i also had some dubia roaches 'gifted' to me with the best intentions which turned into a colony i had for several months until i had to sell the entire colony. not the most experience by far (although im hoping to keep working towards more advanced husbandry with more 'difficult' roaches over time) but i wouldve never thought they didnt like cucumbers since all mine ate them. since mine are pets, i like to feed them whatever is being used in my own cooking/snacking. its fun for me to personify them and sitting on my bed eating 3/4 of an apple while the boys lose their minds over the 1/4 piece i gave them just makes me feel really happy. the roaches get a 'big' fresh food item and i occassionally throw in some of the 'good' scraps before i toss the rest out back if its something they usually like. i eat a ton of cucumbers and they always get at least a little piece. my other four hissers werent really crazy about them but as all my fellow roach enthusiasts know, they will eat them anyway lol. the dubia colony complex or almost completely devoured everything i put in there. my two hissers ive had since october, velveteen and corduroy, are obsessed at this point. i put down an orange slice and a cucumber slice, they fight over who is standing in the cucumber. i went away for a four day trip leaving them a cucumber slice before i left, and when i got back it was completely gone from the little plastic cup. my brother, who was supposed to mist them and check the heating pad, of course didnt so he swears he didnt take it out. these two definitely eat more than any of my others did (if you dont count the dube's colony as a whole) is it just the skins? when i was searching around everything kept mentioning skins as an american/german roach repellent but i cant tell if they are referring to exclusively the skins or not. is it like oranges where theyll eat up to the peel and then stop? (i peel the cucumbers anyway bc i like the skin lol) clearly all my roaches are/were fine with them so its not really going to stop me but it was really interesting!

What happens if I stop giving my roaches vegetables and only feed them oats/dog food? would they still survive and breed?

the cutest thing happened a few minutes ago. i was holding one of my hissers, chestnut and he was just sitting on my thumb hanging out, as hes known to do. i thought it would be funny to pick up a fish flake with tweezers and show it to him, since i always hold up their fruit before i feed it to them (just so they know what's on the menu ) and his antennae went crazy! he reached over and had his two front legs on the blunt tip makeup tweezers and then other legs were still holding onto my thumb and HE ACTUALLY ATE THE FISH FLAKE RIGHT OFF THE TWEEZERS i wish i was able to take a video but he was stretched between my two hands and i didnt want to drop him but it was sooooo funny! every night i take their enclosures off my shelf and let my cats watch them walk around in their tanks for a little bit. i give them salmon cat treats while they sit and watch this way they know not to jump on the shelf (it works! they wait patiently to watch the roaches, its like theyre watching tv) and i think the cats might have told him to eat the fish treats i will have to try it again tomorrow to see if i can get a picture!

Hello friends, Cockroaches love sweet... I feed all of my colonies very often with homemade sweet croquette... and I really recommend it ? I try all the time with new ingredients, but the base of my recipe is: -Chicken feed // Cat food (I pass the cat food through the blender to get a powder ?) -Pollen -Soy Milk in powder -Honey (...A lot, but not enough to make the texture 'sticky') -Eggs (with the honey works very well as a binder) Mix it all while you cook over low heat until you get the texture you want. But be careful!!! Sticky texture is very dangerous for tiny cockroaches. Then I use to use an ice mold to prepare the portions and then keep it in the fridge (...let them reach room temperature before offering to your roaches ? ) I use to add something different every time to the mixture... like powder milk, dry grapes (or other dry fruits), meat (already cooked without seasoning)... etc. Tasty!! ?

My Cotinis beetle seems to be lacking in appetite. In the past few days it would lick fruits if they were on its mouth, but soon walked right past. Today I managed to get it to lick fig pulp for about 10-20 min eventually. At first it performed the usual walk-away routine, but after giving some water (accepted but not eagerly) and exposure to sunlight (flower beetles become more active in presence of heat and light) it stayed on the fruit. As the beetles can usually seem to feed for hours at a time, this may not be enough. I later gave it some other sugary liquids, which it also licked for a while, but right now it seems to have fallen asleep on the dining table after being moved indoors. Do you think that being kept in a rather gloomy (but not pitch-black) environment would be the culprit of this problem by causing the diurnal insect to become lethargic?

So I recently found out that cockroaches have neurotoxins that are released when eaten and it has caused people to die from asphyxiation. I am curious as to why reptiles and other invertebrates can eat them with no ill effects? Do they not eat enough in one sitting, or do the toxins not effect them? Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated.