Hissing Roach Care Guide
Bugs can make great pets! Many are easy to care for, inexpensive, and great for kids. Hissing cockroaches are a great example of an easy pet for beginners.
Habitat:
Hissing roaches like to live together in groups. 2 roaches can live together in a 5 gallon glass tank, and 3 or 4 can live in a 10 gallon tank. If you want to save money or keep lots of roaches, you can make your own enclosure from a large plastic storage bin. If you don’t want any baby roaches, make sure to get all males or all females. Males have two bumps on their heads that look like horns.
A male roach showing off his two “horns”
Male hissing roaches may fight each other if their enclosure is too small. The male roach pictured above is missing parts of his antennae from fights he had in the past. A group of females will usually get along well with no fighting at all.
As a substrate (floor covering) for the enclosure, you can use some orchid bark or coconut fiber. Both can be found at hardware stores, gardening stores, or pet stores.
Hissing roaches climb trees in the wild. As pets, they like to climb things like branches, empty egg cartons, or any other decorations you like.
Like other cockroaches, these bugs can stick to surfaces easily, making them great climbers! They can also slip through small cracks, making it easy for them to escape their enclosure. You’ll want to have a tight lid for your tank. We cover the edges of our roach bins with Vaseline, which prevents them from climbing out.
A very basic setup - a plastic storage tub for 5 roaches with orchid bark and cardboard hiding spots.
These roaches come from the island of Madagascar. They need warm temperatures as well as some humidity (water in the air). They can live comfortably at room temperature as long as it’s above about 70 degrees. They really enjoy having a heat mat under their enclosure, but be careful not to overheat them! We use a heat mat designed for plants which only reaches a maximum of 80 degrees. If you use a heat mat from a pet store, you MUST buy a thermostat and make sure it’s set up properly!
For humidity, use a spray bottle or mister once a day to keep the air moist.
Diet:
Hissing cockroaches are easy to feed! You can give them fruit and vegetable scraps from your kitchen. One important food for them is citrus so they can have a source of vitamin C. Oranges are one of their favorite foods and contain lots of it.
Some people feed their hissing roaches dog food. This works great as an add on to fruits and vegetables, but we don’t think it’s ideal for an everyday diet. We also offer cricket food powder to our hissing roaches, which isn’t as tasty as other foods but offers a lot of nutritional value. As a treat, they can have an insect jelly cup which is available at some pet stores.
Hissing cockroach enjoying a jelly cup
Always offer a shallow water dish or provide some hydra gel. The water provided must be treated with a couple drops of Reptisafe to remove chlorine.
Behavior:
These bugs are usually easy to handle. As their name suggests, these roaches can hiss when they feel threatened. The hiss can be surprisingly loud and startling, but they don’t bite or hurt people. They have spiky legs and stick to skin easily to walk around and climb.
Different roaches have different personalities, but most of them are easy for kids to hold and pet. They are very sturdy and can take a fall without getting hurt. Overall these creatures are gentle and they make great beginner pets for kids who like bugs!
What you’ll need:
5 gallon aquarium tank OR 10 gallon aquarium tank OR plastic storage bin
Where to get: pet store or home goods store
Orchid bark OR coco fiber
Where to get: pet store, hardware store or garden store
Branches, egg cartons, or other decor
Where to get: pet store or collect household items
Spray bottle OR mister
Where to get: dollar store or pet store
Fruits and vegetables (include citrus)
Where to get: grocery store, household leftovers
Plant seedling heat mat OR reptile heat mat with thermostat
Where to get: garden store or pet store
Water dish with Reptisafe OR insect hydra gel
Where to get: pet store
Optional: cricket feed powder, insect jelly cups, dog food
Where to get: pet store
Still wondering whether hissing roaches are the right pet for your family? Meet one at one of our bug parties for kids!
