Climbing Surfaces for Large, Arboreal Roaches?

[All About Arthropods]

Hey everyone! 

I've curious, what does everyone use for climbing surfaces in their large, arboreal roach (A.tessellata, B.colosseus, B.giganteus, etc.) enclosures? I've only ever found a few pieces of bark out in the field that were large and sturdy enough to use for them, but none since. Cork bark is painfully expensive, especially for multiple pieces/large sizes. Have any of you found a cheap and readily available alternative? 

Interested to hear from you! 🙂

[Hisserdude]

I know some people have used pieces of plywood as climbing surfaces for various large Blaberids in the past.

[All About Arthropods]

12 minutes ago, Hisserdude said:

I know some people have used pieces of plywood as climbing surfaces for various large Blaberids in the past.

That has seemed like a tantalizing option to me for a while now, but I've never been quite sure how to tell what's been treated with harmful chemicals and what hasn't. Researching it now has unfortunately brought up a new question - whether the phenolic resin used in normal plywood is even safe for humans to be regularly handling. 😩

[WarrenB]

I have some beech bark for my tesselata, but I can relate. It was collected from a forest park with a planted area of young, healthy trees. There wasn't too much of it lying about.

I've started keeping my posticus with cut and scored plastic pipe, seen here:

But I hazard a guess it's not exactly the aesthetics you're aiming for.