Cockroach

Cockroaches are interesting, primitive insects. One of the commonly bred species is the Chinese Cockroach, which is a gigantic beast. They are not at all difficult to breed as long as they live in an atmosphere so humid that it is nearly saturated, and as long as the temperature does not drop below 20°C (68°F). The best container in which to breed cockroaches is either an old aquarium or a glass sweet jar, depending on the quantities you require. You will need to make a high rise tower block and the easiest way to do this is to insert a length of stout wire into the center a square 1.25 cm (1/2 in) thick wood, whose dimensions are slightly smaller than those of the container, so for example if your container measures 25 cm (10 in) along each side, cut the wood2.5 cm (1 in) shorter. The idea is that cockroaches should be able to move freely between the edge of the wood and the glass wall of the tank.

The floor of the tank should be covered with 1 cm (2/5 in) of sawdust and the square of wood stood on this. Cut the wire on the same level as the top of the tank and then cut several pieces of4 mm (IA in) plywood to the same size as your original piece of wood and drill a hole in the centre of all of them to take the wire.Drop into the wire a bead with square top and bottom, or several washers or a short length of garden cane as a spacer and slide apiece of plywood down to sit on it.

You should now have a square of plywood sitting on a spacer of some sort which should be about 1 cm (2/sin) high. Add another spacer and another piece of plywood and continue like this until the top piece of ply is about 2.5 cm (1 in) below the top of the tank when the bottom piece of wood is resting on the layer of sawdust. It is quite a good idea to add a dab of glue to each spacer and piece of plywood to keep the structure solid, and finally bend the top of the wire to form a loop. This is your cockroaches' tower block. Stand it on the sawdust and put some bits of food here and there between the floors. Almost any vegetable matter will do, like porridge, biscuits, flour or cabbage leaves -cockroaches will eat anything, even meat, but if you use that you might end up with a nasty smell. Spray the inside of the tank to provide the necessary humidity, introduce a handful of cockroaches and put on a lid that lets in just a little air .Cockroaches like to be in the dark so an excellent place for them is an airing cupboard. Before long you ought to have huge numbers of insects; provided you keep it damp and warm, and continue to add food as necessary, your cockroach culture should last for ages.

The best way to harvest them is to carry the whole thing into the bathroom and stand it in the bath. You should keep a spare plug for this operation which is not attached to a chain. The whole point about this exercise is that cockroaches move very fast and escape easily, so you have to increase the odds in your favor when you want to harvest them. Take the lid off the culture, lift the tower block by the loop at the top and lay it on its side next to the tank. Tap it sharply two or three times on the bottom of the bath to dislodge the insects and return it to its place. Replace the lid and, making sure there are no cockroaches on the outside of the tank, lift it onto the floor. You may find it helps to have a crumpled sheet of newspaper on the bottom of the bath so that the insects can hide. It is now fairly simple to pick them up one at a time and put them into a small container to take to your animal room as they cannot climb the sides of the bath as efficiently as they could a rougher surface; but do not fool yourself that they cannot climb at all; given time some of them definitely will and however careful you are the odd escape is inevitable.