I had to do an "emergency" rehouse on Sunday night. I discovered that the newly hatched nymphs could climb to the top of the enclosure and I hope that none were able to escape. I did put out a few roach traps just in case.

The whole procedure took me about 4 hours and it was a hassle moving the nymphs( approximately 200) and the unhatched egg cases (61). I don't know if any of the egg cases will still hatch, because I didn't take any care moving them. I just dropped them into a 50ml glass bottle and counted them on a plate, before dropping them into the enclosure next to the newly placed egg cases.

The New Enclosure:


460mm(L)X220mm(W)X239MM(H) Glass Enclosure

Inside enclosure:



1. Water bowl tub filled with fish tank rocks to prevent the nymphs from drowning
2. Tub for dog food (Montego Classic) with side drilled hole for nymphs
3. Tub for supplement food (Fruit, Veg, Etc) with side drilled hole for nymphs
4. Tub for fish food (Same pellets I feed my Malawi fish) with side drilled hole for nymphs

Note that the temp is still above 27 deg C at early morning hours in the larger enclosure.

I decided to split the food to determine what they prefer.

@Garfield

I would skip the substrate. The only roaches I have a substrate for is my cave roaches "Blaberus fusca", but they are a different story all together

My B.lateralis has NO substrate. I stack egg flats "back-to-front, back-to-front" till they are unable to move!
For feeding I might have a lower section in the middle. To add feeding and water bowls. Please see the attached photo's


Blaptica Dubia - I place food mix at the bottom as the nymphs like to hide while they are small. This is not the case with Gromphadorhina portentosa (Madagascan Hisser) and my Blatta lateralis.




This is the ideal food and water bowls for the roaches, especially for those that can't climb smooth surfaces.

Neither Hisser's, Dubai's or Turkish roach will eat the nymphs.
If you want to hatch the nymphs for feeding slings, all you have to do is down scale, and remove all the egg cases from the main colony into a smaller setup. That's it

Hope this helps, I have been at it for years.

Will add all of Pink Pythons products to the site later, as I know the owners and I will be able to buy it for next to nothing and to help you all stock up.
Will just have to take my camera along

Thanx for the advice iclazion.

I will definitely consider removing the substrate, its more of a pain in the neck that anything else... especially when looking for the egg cases. The only reason I used it until now was to ensure high humidity in the enclosure. Is humidity a concern when it comes to hatching the egg cases and keeping the roaches happy?

I will also have to get a better idea for closing of the top of the enclosure. It is a mission to glad wrap the top every time you want to add water or food.

What enclosures do you use? And where do you get the egg flats from?

I presume that the food and water bowl are the Pink Python products that you referred to, and it would be nice to see what products they have available.

If moisture is a personal problem to you then I would suggest you get some "flower crystal I think that is what it is called" they sell them at florist shops, and they come in a small packet and in different colours. Blue, green, red, orange, black and clear etc. These "flower crystals" are the same thing as "water gel". My crickets loved the green coloured variety.

Super absorbent gel used for feeding insects, also used in soils, flower vase arrangement, used in diapers etc. Is called sodium polyacrylate [monomer: -CH2-CH(CO2Na)- ] polymerizing a mixture of sodium acrylate and acrylic acid.

Place the "flower crystal" beads in a 2L bottle and add water and leave it for 24 hours. Once done pour off the water and you will have nice big round gel balls, the size of a marble or even bigger. I would also suggest you pour it out through a colander strainer and give it a shake to remove any excess water. Now go look for an old cricket tub with holes in it. I would suggest the crickets for Africa type. and pour all the water balls into the tub. I would elevate this somehow to make sure the nymphs would not get to it. This is for moisture sake alone. If you see the water gel balls decreasing in size just take the tub as is and dunk it into a bowl of water till they once again absorb enough moisture.

Here are some photo's to explain

Water gel crystals sold in packets.



Water gel crystals after absorbing water, note the size compared to the bead/crystal before hydrating


Colander, a flour sieve or sifter could also be used.

As mentioned before most florists will have "flower gel crystals available" just tel them you want to decorate your vase :blink:

So that is one option. My personal option for adding more humidity "not that I need it" is using a Big ass water bowl from "pink python" sold as a water bowl for snakes " I wash my "pool filter sand, through a home made sieve hot glued onto a big diameter PVC Pipe with a handle, to make sure it's clean. The pool filter sand is available at any hardware stores, you could even buy a small bag of sand used in fish tanks. This serves 2 purposes. 1) Add's humidity 2) My nymphs may drink as soon as they are born

I use: 94LT ENVELOP BOX R229.95 "containers with hot glued 304, 50mesh stainless steel mesh from Meshcape






Here is the info from where I got the containers
Plasticland Centurion
Megastore
Centurion Lifestyle Centre
cnr Old JHB & Lendchen Ext
Telephone (012) 653 3821
Fax (012) 653 6337

Here is the info from where I got the mesh
www.meshcape.co.za
37 Main Rd, Eastleigh, Edenvale, 1609
PO Box 241, Edenvale, 1610
Tel : 011 609 1120
Email : sales@meshcape.co.za
Gps co-ordinates: 26° 8'12.14"S 28° 9'51.63"E

They also have branches in Cape Town, KZN, PE and Kimberley

Pink Python has a huge range of products currently here is a small list of what they make. Most of these products will be found in any pet shop.
1. Worm Dish Small
2. Calcium Skull Dish
3. Corner Water Bowl, L,M,S
4. African Caracal Skull
5. Baboon skull
6. Human skull
7. Vervet Monkey skull
8. Wood fungus
9. Bondsai Tree Hide. L,M,S
10. Log Hide, L,M,S
11. Spider Cave, L,M,S
12. Spider Hide, L,M,S
13. Termite Hide
14. Tortoise Shell, L,M,S
and the list goes on. I will get a product list from them and take photo's of each product as they come out of the molds, so that I may catalog all their products, and to sell them at near cost prices. Really I am not going to pay R190 for a water and food bowl for my roaches when I can get them for R31

Hope this information helped And remove the substrate why? The Blatta lateralis is known for carrying their food off to eat. 1 flake of oats will start mold Let's not relive my mistakes

Thanx iclazion.

Just for those of you who also had a mental block when it came to buying a large stack of egg flats from the nearest Obaro! I went up to the local bakkery and asked whether they would mind keeping all the egg flats from the eggs they use for backing, and now I'm almost fully stocked in less than a week... For free!

If you can not convince them, then confuse them!