People with a passion for exotic pets are in continuous search of suitable feeder insects to meet the nutritional demands of their pets. Discoid, Dubia, Red Runner, and Banana roach are among the best feeder roaches with excellent nutritional profiles and low infestation concerns.
Cuban cockroach is also known as Panchlora Nivea, the Banana cockroach or Green Banana cockroach. It is a small flat oval, green to light yellow colored 0.5 to 0.9 inches long roach.
Bana cockroach has flight-capable long wings making it an excellent flyer. It is native to the Tropical and Subtropical forests of Cuba and Carribian but is also found along the coast from Florida to Texas. Low fat to protein and chitin ratio make Banana cockroach an excellent feeder insect.
The good thing about Bana or the Cuban Cockroach is that it lives outdoors and never infests indoors. Therefore, this makes it an ideal feeder roach. Moreover, unlike Discoid roach, which is illegal in many states of the US because of the danger of infestation, the Green Banana roach is totally legal.
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Appearance, and Identification Points of the Cuban Cockroach
As the name suggests, the green Cuban cockroach is quite different from all other roaches. The striking green color and small size of the Cuban cockroach make it confusing because of its similarity to a grasshopper.
Appearance
The Cuban cockroach is an oval-shaped, flat roach with long and thin brown antennas. The adult roaches are light dark green to light yellow with a light yellowish colored head.
Cuban cockroaches have white legs, making them similar to an albino roach. However, Cuban baby cockroaches are light to dark brown, differentiating them from adults.
Size
The Adult Male Banana cockroach measures between 0.5 to 0.6 inches (12 to 15 mm) in length.
The Adult female Cuban cockroach is larger than the male and measures between 0.5 to 0.9 inches (15 to 25mm) in length.
Wings
Cuban cockroaches have two pairs of long flight-capable wings, making them excellent flyers.
Bite
Cuban cockroaches have never been reported to bite humans or animals.
Identification Points
Identifying and differentiating Cuban cockroaches from other roaches is very easy. Here are a few differences,
- Cuban cockroach is the only green cockroach
- The abdomen of cuban roach is white
- They have transparent wings.
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Distribution and Habitat of the Cuban Cockroach
Cuban cockroach is native to tropical and subtropical forests that stretch across the Caribbean, including Cuba. The banana cockroach is also found at the borders of the gulf coast from Florida to Texas.
They are also found in the US in the northern parts, such as Summerville and South Carolina.
Banana Cockroach is a species outdoors and prefers to live in a dark shady green environment with a lot of moisture. They also live inside tree trunks and under banana trees. That’s why they are also named the central Green Banana cockroach.
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Cuban Roach: Diet and Life Cycle
The Cuban cockroach is omnivorous and feeds on anything organic, from plant leaves to rotting fruits and vegetables like other roaches.
However, these roaches love to feed on pulses and proteins diet inside breeding farms. Therefore, these roaches should be fed a well-balanced diet full of essential ingredients from green vegetables to animal matter to yield a maximum breed.
After the female Cuban roach mates, she produces eggs and carries them until they develop entirely inside its abdomen, usually 30 days.
The Cuban baby roaches hatch from the eggs in about 48 days. One female Cuban roach gives birth to about 40 nymphs at a time.
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Cuban Cockroach Vs. Other Feeder Roaches
Cuban cockroach is different from other roaches because of their unique small size, making them ideal for using them as feeder roaches to exotic pets with small mouths and throats, such as bearded dragons.
On the other hand, other feeder roaches such as Discoid or Dubia roaches are usually large and fat that sometimes impose difficulty during swallowing.
One drawback of Cuban cockroaches is their excellent flying capability, making them difficult to confine to containers. Therefore Cuban roaches should always be kept in containers with proper cover.
On the other hand, other feeder roaches cannot fly, making them easy to handle.
Where to Buy Cuban Cockroach?
Cuban roaches are not available for sale on Amazon. However, you can buy them in your local feeder roach shop or online at Cape Code Roaches for 35 USD pair of 25 Cuban roaches.
You can also buy Cuban or the green banana cockroaches at Back Waters Reptiles for 50 USD pair of 100 roaches.
Both of the above sellers will ship live roaches to your doorstep.
Additional Read!
