Hissing cockroaches as pets

Female hissing cockroach.

What? A cockroach for a pet? People are actually keeping roaches as pets. There is even a company creativing “living jewelry,” live cockroach pins covered in expensive crystals.

Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) are gaining in popularity. The price for a roach ranges from 25 cents to $3.00, depending on size and sex. It’s really easy to sex the adults. The males have two pointy structures on their heads and the females have two slight indentations. There are some other differences, but those are easy to see.

Be careful if you get a pair, they reproduce rather quickly and you’ll have a boatload of roaches before you know it. Many people use them as food for lizards and other insectivores, but there are some kids who just love them as pets. Keep in mind that this species of cockroach is able to climb glass, making them excellent excape artists! I use petroleum jelly to keep them in their cage. If you smear the petroleum jelly in a continuous line around the top of the cage, it will keep them contained. They will not walk through it and that will keep them in its cage. It is a mess to clean. If you have only one adult roach, you can just have a tightly fitting lid. If you have a breeding colony, it’s really important to keep the smaller roaches from escaping. They do not do well in the mid-atlantic climate during winter and there isn’t a problem with them colonizing, but no one wants roaches loose in their home!

They are called hissing cockroaches for a reason. When they are threatened, they create a hissing sound by forcing air through small holes in their bodies. It’s impressive to hear, especially if you have a tank full of them. When picking up a hissing cockroach, some will hiss. It all depends on how often they are handled. If they don’t feel threatened, they won’t usually hiss. A gentle tap on the roach’s body might cause it to hiss. Sometimes just walking into the room where they are kept will get them going.

A bed of dry cereal is a good substrate for hissing cockroaches. Bran works really well. Oatmeal is also a good choice. The trick is to keep it very dry. They can also eat vegetable scraps, but be careful how much you use, it can get moldy and that’s really bad for the roaches. Occasionally, it is good to give them protein. Dry dog food is a good protein option. They do need some moisture. There is a product available called cricket water. It is a gelatin like substance that can be used in a small dish (plastic mayonnaise or peanut butter jar lids work well). If cricket water is not available, a wet cotton ball or wad of paper towel can be used. You have to be careful with that though. The cotton balls can grow moldy and possibly harbor bacteria, paper toweling dries out quickly.

Male hissing cockroach sitting on a piece of cork bark.

Hissing cockroaches need hiding places. You can use toilet paper or paper towel tubes, cork bark, paper egg cartons, or other cardboard. Cork bark provides the most natural looking hiding area, but just about anything works. A friend of mine bought me a paper shredder last year and it was packed with thick pieces of recycled cardboard that I used as hides for my roaches. I told my friend that he actually gave me two gifts!

As cockroaches grow, they must shed their exoskeleton. It molts off and you are left with a pure white and soft cockroach. As the new exoskeleton hardens, it gets darker in color. Novices often think the white roaches are “albinos,” but those albinos quickly disappear in about a day. I do not recommend handling them when they are white as they are much more fragile and vulnerable at that time.

Hissing cockroaches have live births. They also have eggs. It’s a really interesting process. The female releases a long ivory colored stick-like line of eggs out of her body. While it is still attached, the male fertilizes the eggs. The female absorbs the eggs back into her body and later has live babies. The babies are about 3/8” in length and the adults can get to be about 2-3” long. They one of the largest, but not the largest, species of cockroach.

If you decide on a cockroach as a pet, keep in mind that you cannot use any insect repellents or killers near your cockroach cage.