Greetings AC Family,

Cockroachella: One of the many possible names we could name this brand new natural reconstruction of a jungle habitat and ground scape for my colony of feeder Dubia cockroaches. In this video, we explore what makes cockroaches unique, their important role in the ecosystem, and how understand them allowed us to create a new home of practical value for humans. We also watch why their old home was insufficient and why caring for feeder insects is extremely important.

Recreating a Cockroach’s Natural Habitat

Over the past few months, our quest to improve the quality of life for the millions of ants hailing from the different beloved colonies on this channel saw extravagant and beautiful makeovers to the worlds in which the ant colonies live, breathe, and die.

But there was still one important colony that patiently awaited its turn for a home and lifestyle upgrade, and AC Family, this time, it wasn’t a colony of ants.

No, today, we’re going to be setting up the stage for a very big intrusion.

It’s finally time to upgrade the home of our ants’ livestock, and if this channel has successfully perked your intrigue for insects and the creepy crawlies, well, brace yourselves, ’cause things are about to get encroachingly interesting!

Please subscribe to my channel, and hit the bell icon. Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy!

Now, if you’ve made it this far into the video and you’re totally put off by roaches but haven’t clicked off yet, don’t leave! Let me say this:

If you’ve watched this channel and have found ants surprisingly interesting, I think it’s amazing that you’ve given ants a chance in your hearts, but I assure you, if you stay with us for this exclusive and intimate look at the secret lives of these equally amazing insects, which, just like ants, have gotten such bad reputations among people all around the world, you just might shock yourself by coming to at least appreciate them—or heck, possibly even love them!

OK, I hear you. Let’s not push ourselves now, right?

I completely understand the aversion. I too get squeamish when I see huge roaches running close by.

In Canada, where I grew up most of my life, cockroaches in the home are a homeowner’s worst nightmare!

Roaches have simply become associated with a poorly kept place, being vectors for disease and bacteria.

They are perhaps the world’s most loathed vermin next to rats.

Here in tropical Manila, where I currently live, massive roaches are seen pretty much everywhere, and it’s not uncommon to see a roach the size of a tennis ball running or even flying around!

But the cockroach species that you and I see that infest our human living spaces only make up less than 1% of all cockroach species we’ve ever discovered.

Of the 4,600 different types of cockroaches in existence, only 30 of them are domestic pests.

This means that over 99% of all cockroach species live away from human homes and want nothing to do with sharing your apartment or nibbling on your toothbrush. Just kidding.

So today, the charming colony of cockroaches we will be looking at belongs to this greater majority of roaches that don’t live in human homes—well, not naturally anyway.

These scuttling juggernauts, who live in an enclosure in my home, are known commonly in the pet trade as Dubia roaches, scientifically Blaptica dubia.

These cockroaches are not domestic pests, but instead are native to the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, where they live in colonies along the rainforest floor and play an important role as decomposers of decaying and rotting vegetation.

A group or colony of cockroaches, by the way, is known as an intrusion.

You may have seen a previous video on this channel where I talked about this intrusion of Dubias, but today’s episode is going to be a bit different because I felt, in light of all of these ant habitat upgrades and ant life improvements, the next step was to improve the living space of our roaches.

Yes, they may just be the ants’ food, but see, all the more reason to give the cockroach colony a home upgrade too.

The happier and healthier the ants’ prey is, the better food it is for our ants—kind of like how free-range and grain-fed livestock are better for us humans in terms of nourishment and health.

And since we here at AntsCanada love all living things, why not give the prey animals the best possible paradise of a home they can live in for the days that they are alive, right?

They may as well cross over as happy cockroaches.

Which brings me to their current living conditions.

This intrusion of Dubias has been living in this plastic critter-crawler for years.

Dubias are a very popular prey insect for keepers of reptiles, tarantulas, and other insectivorous pets—not only because of their great nutrient content but also because they are easy to keep and will tolerate some of the most basic living conditions.

We’re taught in prey-insect-keeping that Dubias can survive well in setups kept as dry as possible to minimize mold, maggots, and odor.

Moreover, the cockroaches can live on egg cartons and toilet paper rolls, furnishings that are readily available and easiest to change once they become soiled.

We’re taught that the roaches could be gut-loaded on a steady diet of orange slices for water, perhaps a carrot or other easy-to-obtain water-retaining veggie, and some dry dog kibble for good measure, to gut-load the insects with a few vitamins.

But it wasn’t until recently that I realized, “Hey, why am I settling for the bare minimum for these cockroaches when I could go epic and natural, just like we’ve done for our ants?”

I mean, these roaches are technically, by default, also pets, so if we could upgrade our roaches’ setup and even upgrade their diet to something a bit more varied, I bet the resulting happier and healthier cockroaches will be of greater benefit to the ants, as each cockroach will be more nutrient-rich.

Healthier and happier cockroaches may breed more frequently and more abundantly, producing healthier and more robust offspring, which therefore means more food for the ants.

Now before we get to designing their new epic setup, I wanted to quickly address feeding ethics.

Many of you have expressed concerns that the cockroaches look alive in these videos when fed to my ants.

This is definitely not the case, as I’ve tried that in the past, and it led to a horrific sight!

I personally prefer to freshly pre-kill my roaches before offering them to my ants.

I usually split them with scissors at the neck, or somewhere along the thorax and/or down the abdomen.

The reason the cockroaches still move their legs even after dispatching them is because of the insect nervous system, which is composed of masses of nerve cells called ganglia, which run down the center of the body.

This is why they say that even if you cut the head off a roach, it still survives for a few days.

This may not be entirely true, but without a head, the roaches can still move due to the ganglia, which are still intact.

The reason why I offer freshly pre-killed prey instead of dried insects or already dead insects is because the ants can consume wet insect guts much more easily than dried insect guts.

It also has better nutrients—think of fresh beef versus beef jerky!

Alright, and now to do what we love!

As creators of worlds, it was time to create a proper roach kingdom!

And here lays our empty shell of a field, an empty tank, the venue from which shall spring forth a new world of natural art—the kingdom that will be the new habitat of our Dubia roaches.

I went straight to work.

I had a few goals for this soon-to-be roach home.

I wanted to offer a territory that best duplicated their natural habitat, but also offer a venue for the cockroaches to do what they do best—the role which nature has chosen for them: enablers of decomposition!

You see, people often ask me, why should one want to keep ants?

It’s not like beekeeping, where you have a product like honey that humans could consume.

To that, I say, aside from the inspiration and education ant-keeping brings, I love that ants can in some cases be used for their decomposition capabilities.

Why keep a vermiculture composter when you could use ants to further decompose your discarded food scraps, like these chicken bones?

But even more effective at decomposing organic waste than ants are the amazing cockroaches!

During an environmental studies course I took in college, I did a project on how forest roaches could be used to speed up the decomposition process of organic waste.

They would even eat newspaper soaked in fruit juice!

It turns out forest roaches, like these Dubias, can be just as effective, if not more effective, at breaking down organic trash than worms.

So I wanted this roach terrarium to also be a mini-composter.

Let’s coin the term now—a Blattocomposter, from Blattodea, the order of roaches!

And then, the new roach territories were done!

Behold, the new, soon-to-be home of our Dubia intrusion.

It was an organic playground of soil, driftwood, and leaf cuttings from my tropical houseplants, set to mimic the leaf litter and groundscape of a typical jungle floor.

I wanted there to be various places for the roaches to hide, which the winding driftwood certainly offered.

But also, I wanted to install what I call the Dubian Dome—a darkened rock hide with open chambers and two floors for the roaches to occupy, but one that we could access if we wanted to take a peek inside.

You may notice that the earth towards the back and side forms a slope.

This was perfect because I wanted to form a sort of feeding pit for the cockroaches.

In this section, I wanted to place all the roaches’ food, so that if the roaches wanted to feed, they would need to come out of hiding.

Speaking of which, let’s add a few goodies now before we proceed with the grand release of the Dubias, shall we?

Some fish pellets and slices of apple.

Alright, and finally, it’s time to add the roaches!

Here we go, AC Family!

Releasing the intrusion into these virgin lands!

I carefully shook the cockroaches from the egg cartons.

It was the last time they were going to have to live on some man-made material used to insulate chicken eggs, and instead inhabit a more natural setup—a forest floor!

I carefully shook the cockroaches from the egg cartons.

It was the last time they were going to have to live on some man-made material used to insulate chicken eggs, and instead inhabit a more natural setup—a forest floor!

I dropped in some two to three hundred cockroaches of different sizes into the terrarium.

They instantly scurried about in attempts to find some cover.

They wedged themselves into crevices within the driftwood, and a lot of them, surprisingly, were able to conceal themselves by burrowing into the soil.

I was surprised by this—I never knew these roaches were capable of burrowing, but then again, of course they could!

Soil was what they were meant to live in, not egg cartons!

Some of the roaches immediately began to feed from our goodies. Look at them just munching away at the apple!

What’s neat is, these roaches can acquire all the hydration they need from the food they eat.

I was happy to see that they were settling in nicely.

Although most of the roaches had disappeared into the shadows of their new homeland, I decided to leave them for a bit, to give them a chance to warm up and explore the territories in the dark.

Now, watch what I saw one hour later, flicking on the lights.

Whoa! Roaches were everywhere!

But the sudden illumination of the territories startled our nyctophilic friends.

Nyctophilia is the preference for dark or night, and it seems our roaches are ultimate shadow-lovers.

It was hilarious to see that some of the roaches were not so good at hiding, but still quite neat to know the roaches had begun to explore their new home.

But it was time to see where the bulk of them were hiding.

I looked towards the entrance of the Dubian Dome.

I just knew they had to be in there!

Removing the rock cover, and wow!

There they were—a big community of them huddling in the darkened areas of the rock hide.

It was amazing to see them all snug in there.

Let’s leave them in the dark.

But I knew there were still many more roaches hiding somewhere in these lands, and I had a small inkling as to where.

I peeked behind this wall of driftwood, and voila, we found another big gathering of roaches!

Roaches of different ages huddled together in the comfort of each other’s presence behind this great wall of wood.

It was great and satisfying to see the Dubias in a more natural state like this.

Some of them felt comfortable enough, poking their half-concealed bodies out from below some leaf cover, to continue feasting on our apples.

I loved watching the different ages coming together to feed. Look at how cute that little baby roach is—adorable!

I left the colony to allow them to spend their first night in their new home in peace. Lights off!

By morning, I peeked into the habitat.

The roaches had all retired into their darkened spaces and were out of sight.

And AC Family, check this out!

All the apples and fish pellets were fully consumed.

Checking the Dubian Dome, and yup!

They were in there, enjoying all that cozy darkness and humidity.

Behind the wood wall, more roaches were just snoozing away.

I even noticed this—a female cockroach giving birth to an ootheca.

An ootheca is the term for this egg sac, which this roach is laying now but will afterward be reabsorbed into her body where the babies will further develop until she is ready to give birth to them.

Dubia birth is certainly an interesting thing.

I sat and watched her in amazement take in her ootheca to completion.

Soon, the developed roach nymphs will be ready to hatch, and she’ll be giving birth to up to 40 tiny white roach babies.

And speaking of which, AC Family, I wasn’t prepared to see what I saw next.

A movement on the forest floor caught my eye.

Upon further inspection, I was surprised to discover that it was a nymph caught on its back, seemingly trying to right itself.

Oh. How odd.

Let’s help it out, AC Family.

I used a barbecue skewer to help the little one onto its legs.

It managed to eventually get the right way up, but as it began to walk around, I noticed something wasn’t right.

The nymph had some kind of deformity on the back half of its body, and it caused the nymph to struggle as it crawled around.

It wasn’t long before it ended up once again on its back, flailing its legs helplessly in the air.

I was extremely saddened when I saw this because I knew this newborn, still white from birth, was likely not going to make it.

Its survival depended on its ability to walk around, search for food, defend itself from the big boys of the intrusion, and just generally carry its own within the hustle and bustle of normal cockroach life, but this deformity meant it would not be able to do this.

Sadly, this nymph would not last the day.

It made me wonder if this deformity and birth defect was the result of roach malnutrition or perhaps improper humidity from the old home in the dry and mundane critter-crawler.

I wondered if the mother of this little one was truly healthy during her pregnancy within the old home.

I wondered how many roach babies per batch, born from this intrusion, ended up being born with such lethal, debilitating complications.

It made me feel so bad for housing my roaches in such a bare-bones setup for so long.

I feared I may have been keeping them in an unsuitable prison all these years, forcing them to just get by on orange slices, random carrots, and cheap dog food.

As I watched the little nymph slowly weaken, I made a promise to myself—to never again allow my prey insects to just get by.

From now on, I was committed to providing my roaches, even if they were technically just ant food, with the best, most fruitful life possible before they would go on to provide nourishment to my ant colonies.

I continued to develop this roach habitat into a working Blattocomposter, dumping organic waste like my leftover apple peels and cores, and even last night’s cold french fries, into the feeding pit for the roaches to feed on.

I continued to water this setup to keep the soils moist and to support the growth of essential bacteria, molds, fungi, and springtails to assist in further breaking down the organics I placed inside.

Turning on the lights in the middle of the night, it was assuring to see the roaches doing what they do best—the job nature had intended.

And the very reason they were put here on this Earth.

No, not to merely be prey insects for other animals, nor to nibble on your toothbrush, but rather, to decompose.

This ameliorated lifestyle would go on to benefit my ants in the end.

I wonder if the ants will be able to taste the difference in these roaches from here on in.

Whatever the case, it was an important lesson for me to learn through this entire experience.

In being the main provider of nourishment for the millions of ant lives under my care, I realized how important it was to invest in farming quality food and not simply settle with rearing bulk food at minimal parameters.

Because after all, you are what you eat—and what your food eats.

Alright, AC Family, what do you think? Did this video help you appreciate roaches a little more?

Alright! It’s OK if it didn’t.

But this new roach kingdom needs a name.

Leave your name suggestions for this roach palace in the comments, and I will choose my top 5 favorites for us to vote on in a future video!

But hey, AC Family, listen up—next week I have a very important update on one of my other ant colonies that you won’t want to miss, so hit that SUBSCRIBE button and bell icon now so you don’t miss out on this continuing ant story within our Antiverse.

And hit the LIKE button every single time—including now!

AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here if you would just like to watch extended play footage of our cockroaches having a feast!

You won’t want to miss them munching down!

Before we continue to the AC Question of the Week, I wanted to plug my daily vlogging channel!

That’s daily vlogs of my travels around the world, which often includes lots of nature stuff!

Alright, and now it’s time for the AC Question of the Week!

In last week’s video, which by the way trended at #6 in the US—AC Family, you did that! Thank you!

We asked:

Which was your favorite Ant World created in the video and why?

This question had no real right answer, but congratulations to Hannah Fire, who answered:

“My favorite is the Zen Jardim! The muted pinks contrast appealingly with the dark stems and little ants, and it is very relaxing to look at.”

Congratulations, Hannah Fire! You just won a free AC Outworld 2.0 from our shop!

In this week’s AC Question of the Week, we ask:

What is the term used to describe a preference for dark or night?

Leave your answer in the comments section, and you could win a free eBook handbook from our shop!

Hope you can subscribe to the channel as we upload every Saturday at 8 AM EST.

Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, & SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video to help us keep making more.

It’s ant love forever!