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My Favorite Roach (and other feeders) Bin


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After trying many types of plastic bins to house roach colonies, I have found the bin that is perfect for my 13 colonies. I thought it might be helpful to pass the information on, as well as a few pointers on customizing the lid for ventilation.

As I began to acquire climbing and flying roaches, the need for a secure lid became apparent. No regular plastic box tops sealed to keep flying adults and climbing nymphs in the box…a real problem I needed to solve. Zip Lock makes clear plastic containers that have a sealing lid, with a foam gasket, so I bought some. The problem with the Zip Lock box is the top is not flat, so cutting a large ventilation hole in the top became too difficult. I found that the Sterilite Gasket Box containers with the same sealing style lid with a foam gasket, has a flat top, and they have 4 clips to secure the lid-no escapees, finally!

Sterilite makes a 20-quart Gasket Box that I use for small colonies, and a 54- quart Gasket Box for my larger colonies. Sterilite also makes a larger Gasket Box with the sealing lid with the gasket, but it would not fit my rack system.

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Cutting the lid ventilation hole

A razor knife is not a good choice; the plastic is tough and hard, too much pressure and the plastic cracks. The best cutting tool is the Roto Zip, using the cutting disc, not the toothed blade. Cut the hole to take up most of the lid; if you want to hold more humidity, just cover part of the screen with a towel. With too small a hole, you may get excessive moisture in the box, this will lead to problems in most roaches.

RotoZip.jpg

How do I screen the ventilation hole?

First I tried hot-gluing the fine screen on to a wood frame, and then hot-gluing the frame around the hole. Although it worked for a while, the flex of the lid as I took it off and on popped the glue loose. So I built a matching wood frame and placed it on the underside of the lid, and bolted the 2 pieces of wood together with 4 bolt-nut combinations. To eliminate the gnats and fruit flies access, I sandwiched a sheer piece of material above the screen; gnats and fruit flies were gone in 2 weeks, as they had no food source.

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If you are looking to contain your feeders, the Sterilite Gasket Box will do it!

CHEERS!

Nick Barta

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Awesome. I use the same setup but use a 2.5" hole saw for holes, sand the area around the holes and glue my screen in. So far nothing has gotten out except Oxyhaloa Deusta (tiny little guys). This setup seems to work very well. I do like the tool you use to cut big, square holes for added ventilation, that's very handy.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

These are rather affordable at Target, in-person. Trying to do what I normally lazily do is look it up online, like on amazon or ebay, a lot of people will factor in shipping into the price so it'll be $20-$30 a pop shipped, and that gets crazy. Plus ebay seems to be big on the 4 and 6-packs, which, I don't need to spend $100 on roach bins. I just don't. Got two 20 quart and two 50 quart bins today for $33 with a $5 off coupon. I can tell you the coupon code you need to text if you plan to use it soon (no idea when that expires, but I saw the flyer for the coupon IN one of the 50 quart bins on the shelf).

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Does anyone else here have a problem with this bin having a strong smell to it?

I bought the bin for my snails but I noticed before I used it that when the lid is on it has a strong smell. When the lid is off it's fine. I decided to use it for future roaches instead and cut a hole like pictured in the first post. I'm hoping with that ventilation it won't smell.

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Does anyone else here have a problem with this bin having a strong smell to it?

I bought the bin for my snails but I noticed before I used it that when the lid is on it has a strong smell. When the lid is off it's fine. I decided to use it for future roaches instead and cut a hole like pictured in the first post. I'm hoping with that ventilation it won't smell.

I've found with these bins, side ventilation is crucial to prevent smell and allow adequate ventilation. Use a 2"-2.5" hole saw to drill 1-4 holes total, it will greatly reduce smell.

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  • 4 months later...

Just went out and got two of the 20 qt ones. I just ordered red runners and little kenyans. I wanted something more secure then the normal sterilite 1925 bins I'm using for dubia and blaberus. Thanks for the sharing.

Question.
I bought aluminum screen mesh for windows at the hardware store, is there something finer because I could imagine small climbing nymphs walking right through the stuff. What sheer material did you layer the screen with?

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This is a great creation! I am looking at making the same type of set up, with ventilation on the top. Some type of polypropylene mesh screening, it looks like...not sure. I ended up with fiber glass window screen when I went to the hardware store...not sure if it will work well but it should keep nymphs from escaping.. I was looking for more of a mesh material (or whatever it is) from above, so I'm wondering what was used as well!

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