Orange Head Cockroach

Common Name – Orange Head Cockroach

Scientific Name – Eublaberus Posticus

Distribution Area – South America

Natural History

Orange Head Cockroaches are medium sized, winged cockroaches that are among the easiest cockroach species to maintain and breed. They're relatively common, inexpensive, and very interesting additions to any invert collection. These roaches, as well as many other species, make great food items for reptiles, large tarantulas, and large centipedes. Orange Head Cockroaches have a relatively soft exoskeleton, and like many other roach species, they do possess wings. Orange Head cockroaches are hearty insects and do not really require any special handling, just remember that they are living creatures and need normal, common sense care.

Size and Longevity

Orange Head Cockroaches generally live 1 to 2 years once adulthood is reached. They can obtain sizes up to 2 inches with good care.

Housing

There are many options when it comes to housing cockroaches. You can keep them in an EXTRA LARGE CRITTER KEEPER, 10-gallon glass tanks, or rubber storage tubs with ventilation holes. A 5 gallon bucket (with a ventilated lid) will work as well. If using a tub or bucket, be sure to cover your ventilation holes with a fine metal mesh to prevent escapes or pest insects from entering.

Be creative, and pick something that works best for you. Always be sure to provide adequate ground space to allow room food and water dishes, while still allowing of plenty of standing room for the cockroaches.

Heating and Lighting

With cockroaches, no special lighting is needed. Any ambient room lighting will be sufficient. Maintain moderate temperatures between 70 to 90 degrees F for cockroaches of all sizes. When breeding, keep temperatures a bit warmer, between 80 to 90 degrees F.

Substrate and Furnishing

There are a couple of options available for bedding. ORCHID BARK and COCO SOFT (a coconut fiber product) are two of the most popular and economical choices. Cockroaches need lots of climbing areas and places to get away from each other. The best way to accomplish this is by stacking egg crate in the cage either vertically or horizontally. You can use CORK FLATS, and CORK ROUNDS in the same manner, creating a more a more natural looking habitat.

Here’s another good tip to keep in mind; it is hard to collect cockroaches off of big pieces of egg crate to feed to your animals. Try providing a few used paper towel tubes and/or toilet paper rolls in which the cockroaches will hide. These are much easier to shake cockroaches out of and into any transport container you wish to use. Water and Humidity – Cockroaches typically do poorly when humidity levels are too low. You need keep them in a relatively humid environment, as they are from the Caribbean, which is a tropical rainforest. Mist the cage with water every other day to keep humidity levels up. If you live in a dry climate it is recommended that you mist your cage once a day.

Nutrition

Orange Head Roaches have more carnivorous tendencies than other species of roach, and have a tendency to bite and chew the wings of conspecifics. This problem can easily be addressed by paying attention to diet and moisture requirements. Wing chewing does not affect the breeding potential of the colony and is mainly a cosmetic concern. Orange Head Cockroaches need a diet high in protein with greens being offer 2 to 3 times a week. They are very opportunistic feeders and will eat anything you feed them. As with all feeder animals, the nutritional value of roaches come from what they eat, so whatever you feed them goes directly into the animal preying on the roach. With that in mind, you will want to feed the cockroaches a food source that is very nutritious. This process is known as “gut loading”. A good way to gut load your feeder insects is with pre made gut loads such as NATURE ZONE TOTAL BITES, which are a vitamin supplement, food and water source all in one.

Orange Head cockroaches can be fed a variety of high protein diets including commercial cockroach diets and other high protein canned and dry foods like those designed for monitors, tegus, and bearded dragons . Fresh fruits and vegetables should be offered as well. Do not feed head lettuce, stick with romaine and other leafy greens, as they are more nutritious. Carrots seem to be a universal favorite, but oranges, apple, bananas, tomatoes, celery, squash, peas and pea pods, and others can be fed as well. Remove uneaten food after a few days to avoid spoilage.

Don’t use things like fish flakes or dog food and cat food; it wasn’t designed to end up in your reptiles, and these foods can cause your animal more harm than good in the long run.

Breeding

Adult Cockroaches will breed quickly if provided with the proper conditions. To induce breeding in Orange Head cockroaches, keep the cage between 80 to 90 degrees F day and night. As a general rule breeding will occur with no special effort on the part of the keeper. Eggs are normally laid in an ootheca or egg case. Females carry the ootheca (egg case) internally and incubate the egg case for about 30 days, after which time up 40 young will be born. The parents and offspring will typically remain in close physical contact for extended periods of time. Nymphs, or baby roaches, are about 3/16 of an inch when born, and will reach adult size in 3 to 4 months.