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You've certainly piqued my interest. I had been trying to reduce styrofoam waste by melting it down in a jar of d-limonene, though this method sounds more up my alley. But mealworms give me hay fever and my last parcel full of packing peanuts were the biodegradable starch kind. Curse these environmentally aware internet sellers!

Here are some photos of this under-appreciated Parcoblatta! Nymphs: Adult female:

Substrate seems to be mainly a difference of pets vs feeders. Standard feeder containers make maximum use of vertical space with egg crates to pack a lot of roaches into a bin. That's the only function of egg crates. Zero substrate, is very easy to clean the dry frass, dead, and molts while not spending much time on the maintenance. I think of this as how people feed insectivores with the least amount of space and effort spent. Extra moisture in a bin with only paper, frass, roaches, and food can quickly lead to bacteria, fungus, pest insects, etc. On the other hand naturalistic containers with substrate, bark, leaves, branches, etc are perfectly fine. You're just replicating nature. There are hundreds of pictures of similar setups in the forum here. It's how tons more people including myself have kept reptiles for years also. The big difference is that the feeder bin i described previously isn't bio active. A little extra moisture (for short periods) in a naturalistic bin is perfectly fine when roaches are low density, and in balance. If someone thinks dirt and moisture are what kill cockroaches, there isn't much point arguing with them lol.

Good guess but sadly no

Two males have matured, so now I have adults of both sexes!