Marble cockroaches (Nauphoeta cinerea): description, conditions at home

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Some can not only watch, but even hear about cockroaches, while others, on the contrary, are ready to breed them at home. In nature, there are about two and a half thousand of these insects.

Many of them are pests, but not marble cockroaches. They are food crops for snakes, spiders, toads, hedgehogs and other animals.

Who is he

This insect has several names. He is also called the ashen cockroach, naufet. He comes from tropical countries. They spread throughout the world due to their unpretentiousness, vitality. They are not afraid of low temperatures, dry air and poor quality food. Many insecticides also cannot harm these insects.

Marble cockroaches are almost no different from their relatives. Their length is about three centimeters. Females are slightly larger than males. There are wings, but they cannot fly. They are not afraid of hunger. They will live for several days without food. You don't have to look for special food either. Naufet is omnivorous. They live for about ten months.

Ashy cockroach is not a beautiful exotic insect, but, as food, it is rich in proteins and other nutrients that are necessary for the life of larger animals.

Naufeta refers to:

• type - arthropods;
• class - insects;
• detachment - cockroaches;
• seeing – Nauphoeta cinerea.

About nutrition

Let's talk about how an insect eats. As mentioned above, ash cockroaches are happy to eat everything that they get on the road: cheese, bread, vegetables, fruits. In the wild, they eat smaller insects. At home, marbled cockroaches are raised to feed other animals, which means they must have nutritional value.

The owners feed them:

• Protein products: dry food for fish and cats, eggs, low-fat cottage cheese, bloodworms, leftover meat dishes.
• Groats, feed, bran.
• Baked goods.
• Cabbage, lettuce, beets.
• Apples and pears.
• Flowers and herbs.

You can not give insects bananas, tomatoes, nuts, lard, cheese. Carbohydrate and protein foods should not be mixed. For these purposes, you will need two feeders. Feed is renewed after three or four days.

If you do not adhere to these rules, the naufets may die prematurely. No matter how omnivorous they are, there are foods that will harm them.

Insect house

It is called an insectarium forcockroaches. True, many say that it is not necessary to spend money on its purchase. For these purposes, a plastic container is perfect. It can be easily purchased at a hardware store. Remember, the wall must be high, at least thirty centimeters. A lid is not required, insects will not scatter. Although they have wings, they cannot fly and rise up. They were given wings to glide from above.

For reliability, the walls of the house on the inside can be smeared with thick Vaseline. Vaseline oil can not be used, it will spread along the walls. The strip should be about four centimeters wide from the top of the container. Insects will not be able to overcome this barrier. This protection is updated once every two months. Before applying a new layer, the old one must be removed using a paper towel or cloth. The Vaseline strip must be clean and free from dust and dirt.

Features of care

In order for marble cockroaches not to die prematurely, several rules must be followed.

• Don't forget to keep an eye on the ratio of females and males in the group.
• Feed the males first.
• Remove adults to another container at least once a month. They are the main colony. Small cockroaches should be kept separately. If everything is done according to the rules, then after a while you will need not one, but several containers. Every age and size has its own territory.
• Colonies should be renewed once a year. Canadd individuals from another colony to the main family. If the family is not updated, fertility will decrease, the young will be weak.

Breeding

It's not difficult to deal with marble cockroaches. Their content is to create optimal conditions. As mentioned above, an insectarium is required. It must have ventilation holes, with a diameter of not more than two millimeters. Another good option is to close the container with a dense mesh. Sawdust is placed at the bottom. Planting density - per square decimeter, no more than a hundred pieces of individuals. The house should be in a warm, but not very lit room. The air temperature ranges from twenty-five to thirty degrees, the humidity is sixty percent and a little higher. When the temperature drops, the insects will become lethargic, the reproduction rate will decrease.

In the container where the insect will live, a shelter should be built. For these purposes, small boxes, egg trays are suitable. They are placed on top of each other. The cockroach will have somewhere to hide.

As you can see, Nauphoeta cinerea is easy to keep. Now let's talk about getting offspring.

Insect breeding

In order for cockroaches to breed, it is necessary to leave at least two males for three females. They are deposited in a separate container. Create optimal conditions for reproduction.

The way to reproduce offspring is parthenogenesis. One mating of a male with a female is enough. Marble cockroaches are viviparous species. For,so that the female pays attention to the male, he emits a specific smell. The reproduction of cockroaches is very fast. But, if you do not renew the colony at least once a year, the population may degenerate.

After fertilization, the female carries the eggs in a kind of capsule called edema and is located in the abdomen of the insect. Sometimes the swelling is pulled out to aerate the eggs. Offspring appear in a period of two to four weeks. About thirty larvae immediately appear on the light. Small cockroaches are kept in the same way as adults. At two months they move into this category. During this period, the young growth sheds the old shell several times.

There are two ways to control the reproduction of naufets:

• dropping;
• reducing the temperature of the contents.

Marble cockroaches are those insects that can be beneficial.