Speckled Feeder Roaches

Brian, has been working hard in the insect breeding division to come up with the perfect feeder roach for your insectivorous herp

The Herp Shop decided to diverge from cricket breeding to Speckled Feeder Roach (Nauphoeta cinerea.) breeding. Following over 6 months of fine-tuning the production and grading methods, numbers are now available to be able to supply these on a regular basis.

*** Now back in stock ***

Fluon ADI

Speckled Feeder Roaches do like walking up plastic & glass. To control any problem of escaping over open containers we have a product that can be painted on around the inside of the upper section of any holding container. This product really works and is far preferable to alternatives. A single container of this paint will last the average user a life time. (The breeding tubs, featured in the pictures below, use a line of this paint to help contain the SFR's)

$30.00 per 250ml bottle

Give the Speckled Feeder Roaches a go. Talk to others that have used them and you won't look back. We can supply the quantities you need in the sizes you require.

What is the SPECKLED FEEDER ROACH ?

Nauphoeta cinerea

This large roach, growing to almost 30mm in length, has been used as a reptile/amphibian food item for several years in Australia.

One common name is the Lobster Cockroach but as another species carries this same common name with a different scientific name, it is perhaps wise to avoid confusion and not refer to N. cinerea as the Lobster Cockroach. Other common names used are the Madeira, Cinereous, Tampa, Speckled and finally 'Woodie". As the Australian common name, "Woodie" is inaccurate and we have decided to adopt one of the other accepted names "Speckled" and add a slight slant to it. The "Speckled Feeder Roach" which will probably be abbreviated to "Feeder Roach". We will all know what we are talking about.

This species has a world-wide distribution and was originally named Blatta cinerea in 1789 from specimens taken in Mauritius and was not given its present name Nauphoeta cinerea until 1922.

It is a tropical domiciliary cockroach of the New and Old Worlds, occurring in Cuba, Hispaniola, Mexico, Brazil and the Galapagos Islands. In the East, it is widely distributed in the Philippines, Sumatra and Singapore and occurs in Australia, New Caledonia and the Hawaiian Islands. The East African records extend from Egypt through the Sudan to eastern Tanganyika (now Tanzania), the Transvaal and Natal. It also occurs in Madagascar and Mauritius. Studies indicate that its native home is East Africa. Movement to other countries would have been no doubt by trading vessels and galleons as early as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Colonies were identified in Florida, U.S.A in 1952 and were found established in an area of Tampa where there were mills producing animal feeds. Hence the common name Tampa Cockroach.

It was first recorded in Australia in 1918 where it is regarded as a 'semi-domestic' species, as it is found in out-houses and stores rather than in dwellings.

Biology:

This is a false ovoviviparous species in which the oothecae contain 26 - 40 eggs. The nymphs hatch as the female extrudes the ootheca from the brood sac; they shed their embryonic membrane as they hatch and eat both it and the ootheca. Newly hatched nymphs crawl beneath the female, even under her wings, and remain there for about an hour after hatching. In the laboratory the number of nymphs hatching from oothecae increases from an average of 20 from the first egg case to about 30 from the third and decreases thereafter. Female nymphs take longer to mature than males.

Biology of Nauphoeta cinerea based on Laboratory Data (Averages) at 30°C:

(i) in isolation:
males (7 moults)
females (8 moults)

(ii) in groups:
males
females