macbrush Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 I guess it is because of their slow breeding, making them one of the most expensive pet roaches around, hence an impression of difficult to keep. After keeping them for 4 months, I have to say something to equalize for them. They must be the cleanest and one of the most hardy species I have kept. Their dietary requirement is really simple, dried leaves, and grass/hay, occasionally some oat meal and tortoise food as treats is all they needed. I use some finely crushed gum leaves to simulate them to feed (works very well), but I don't think they really need it, at least very small amount is good enough. Temperature requirement is really simple too, they feed and stay active ranging from 18C to 34C from my experience. They're not skittish after they've reach about 3cm long (smaller ones are always skittish, that's true for all species anyway). Because of their dietary, although you still get some mites, or springtails here and there, but it will never be a infestation, there simple is not enough nutrients for mites to thrive. They don't care if they can burrow, make tunnels or not, so they really don't need a naturalistic setup. Not to mention that no unexplainable mortality so far, which happened often to other roaches I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daddy roach Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 sounds like you are having a great experience keeping them..they are definitely on my 'to get' list for the future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbrush Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 By all means get them. They're not only very easy to keep, I also found them to be the true pet cockroach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Clausen Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Sounds like you are off to a great start! Are you able to import them from Australia to Hong Kong, or did you pick them up from another breeder somewhere in the world? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbrush Posted November 24, 2011 Author Share Posted November 24, 2011 I got them directly from Australia, it is quite easy to import insects into Hong Kong, as long as they're not endangered species, or classified as pests, all you need to pass custom is any kind of official export documents. Yeah, it was certainly a slow but great start. Another thing that really surprised me is how much they eat every day! I gave them half bowl of dried grass mixed with finely crushed gum leaves every day, sometimes also with tortoise food or oat meal, they could finish everything within a few hours. They're more like fish I keep than other cockroaches, they will dart a bit when I open their bin, but will very quickly realized it is feeding time and will readily feed as soon as I throw food at them, and you can see their excitement by watching them pushing each others and dragging food around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozymandias Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 They're more like fish I keep than other cockroaches, they will dart a bit when I open their bin, but will very quickly realized it is feeding time and will readily feed as soon as I throw food at them, and you can see their excitement by watching them pushing each others and dragging food around. i think if you are able to you need to take a video of this, so wish thay weren't so expensive over here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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