Marble cockroach: food with the effect of natural stone

What does a marble cockroach look like: photo

Description of the marble cockroach

Name: marble cockroach
Latin: Nauphoeta cinerea

Class: Insects - Insecta
Squad: Cockroaches - Blattodea

	Habitats:	forest floor in the tropics
	Dangerous for:	does not pose a threat
	Attitude towards people:	grown for food

The color of the insect is spotted brown. Body length is about 3 cm. The body is oval, flattened, segmented. Three pairs of legs are covered with spines. Long mustaches are sense organs.

Adults have wings, but cockroaches cannot fly. It is the color of the wings that is ashy, which makes the animal look like a natural stone.

Habitat

The homeland is the northeastern part of Africa, Sudan, Libya, Egypt, Eritrea. But constant contact with people took them to completely different geographical areas. Hiding on ships, they migrated to the tropics.

Now insects live in:

Life cycle

In a female, there are 6 ootheca in a lifetime. The incubation period for ootheca is 36 days. Each ootheca contains about 30 eggs. This variety is called falsely ovoviviparous. Females do not lay ootheca. They push her out of the bag. After leaving the ootheca, individuals feed on their embryonic membrane.

Marble cockroach with offspring.

Males need 72 days to enter the adult stage. During this period they molt 7 times. The life expectancy of males is not more than one year. Females are formed in 85 days and molt 8 times. The life cycle is 344 days.

Facultative parthenogenesis is possible in marbled cockroaches. This is asexual reproduction without the participation of males. This method gives 10% of the total number of offspring. Juveniles produced in this way are weaker and poorly developed.

The chirping of marble cockroaches

Stridulation is a distress signal. The volume level is almost the same as that of an alarm clock. This occurs by friction of the pronotum with the grooves of the forewings.

Males tend to chirp during courtship. Same-sex sexual behavior in insects also appears. Sounds can even make up sentences. The duration varies from 2 to 3 minutes.

Contacts of marble cockroaches with humans

In addition to the natural environment, many people breed this species in captivity. Arthropods are food for tarantulas, praying mantises, small lizards, and various invertebrates.

Cockroaches are often used in laboratory research. Breeding benefits include:

• easy maintenance and breeding;
• life expectancy during the year.

The diet of marble cockroaches and food base

Marble cockroach.

In captivity, they eat apple, carrot, beet, pear, dry cat food, oatmeal, bread. It is forbidden to feed insects with banana, tomatoes, lard. Arthropods have cannibalism. Under natural conditions, cockroaches eat almost everything in their diet.

Under natural conditions, marbled cockroaches are easy prey for many birds. And small monkeys generally arrange a real hunt for them. Marble cockroaches are a real delicacy for them.

At home, these species are grown in order to provide food for predatory pets. They are bred in the insectarium to feed fish, reptiles and spiders.

How to breed marble cockroaches

Although this species is unpretentious, it needs some special care. In the absence of important living conditions, they will become less strong and multiply more slowly. Here are the highlights:

1. The correct parameters of the insectarium, cover, no gaps.
2. Maintain temperature and humidity.
3. Proper ventilation, conditions for reproduction.
4. Maintain cleanliness, change water regularly.
5. For them to start breeding, you need 2 males and 3 females at least.

Conclusion

The marble cockroach is a unique arthropod. The unusual color of an insect with the ability to survive in any conditions and multiply rapidly distinguish it from its relatives. It is also very convenient and profitable to grow it for feeding mammals.