# Cockroach Farming



## Will2

THIS THREAD MAY NOT APPEAL TO PEOPLE WITH A FINE SENSE OF FOOD BIASES. IF you are a picky eater do not read this thread and kindly leave this page now.

Ok, so as a follow up to the Cannibalism thread I thought I'd throw another would you and under what conditions thread

Cockroaches!!!









Apparently they have more protein content than meat. with something like 65g of protein per 100g serving. Also a high source of fat, which is high energy at like 30g of fat per 100g. plus or minus.

each adult cockroach can also have up to 150 babies. Lifespan of about 5 years.

Anyone consider roach farming? You know growing roaches as an edible insect to keep them in a safe healthy environment to remove disease and bacterial threats.

So if you ran out of food would you resort to eating roaches to survive?

Would you eat a house pet before a cockroach?

For the cannibals, roaches before humans or humans before roaches?

Roaches have been part of various indigenous diets for a long time, and not just the cannibal ones. But insects have been a no go for European diets for a long time, but they have slowly been regaining a place in global diets as a delicacy made by a small group of budding chefs.

Apparently they eat like everything so would likely be easier to grow than a more traditional food source such as rabits, especially in an urban enviornment.


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## csi-tech

I imagine I could fry and eat just about anything. It may be a little tough wrangling them from pasture to pasture or get their tiny little heads in the head catches but where there's a Will, there's a way. If I were starving I'm sure I'd be thankful for a crunchy handful of them.


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## Denton

Will, thank you for the last option idea.

Last option.


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## Medic33

the average person already eats a few a year and they don't even know it.
insects are used as a food source everywere except the USA but I bet it will catch on someday just like lobster and crab legs.


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## BuckB

So does anybody have any recipes for Roach ratitoui?


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## SittingElf

I have spent a lot of time in Thailand. One of my favorite countries!

One night, sitting in a bar in Pattaya drinking Heineken, I noticed one of the street vendors walking by selling here products. I stopped her to take these pictures of the epicurean delights! Yumm!

































No... I did NOT partake!!:68:


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## A Watchman

Will, get back to the school studies huh? Break time is over.


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## Slippy

Will, 

Have you ever had a date? I'm talking about a real date with a real girl?


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## NotTooProudToHide

Like Denton said, it would be one of my last options but I guess you do what you gotta do.


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## Mad Trapper

I don't have a population of roaches , in house, but I think plenty of ants in the woodpiles I would take over roaches anyday.

P.S. earthworms are good too


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## Camel923

I though this might be a post about welfare supports of muslims, their multiple wives and children. I would have to be quite hungry to indulge in this or rats and so forth. I think I could forage edible plants that would be more palatable.


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## A Watchman

Slippy said:


> Will,
> 
> Have you ever had a date? I'm talking about a real date with a real girl?


Just to be clear on your inquiry Slip....I assume you are not counting $25 hookers and blow up dolls?


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## ffparamedic

Well not to turn the PF into a dating site or anything but I have to think that Will and that other assclown that can shoot flies at 2 miles and has pretty much singlehandedly saved the US from sure destruction would make a fantastic couple.


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## MI.oldguy

The only roaches I used to harvest were in my ashtray.....that was a very long time ago.............


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## jro1

Anyone remeber that guy a few years back that wanted to start farming cats?..an alternative to Rabbit farming! Lmao


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## jro1

http://www.prepperforums.net/forum/survival-food-procurement/11646-eating-cats-question.html

Eating cats question

Is there a medicine that you should feed the cat as it grows to keep back
Diseases? <is that spelled right for this application?*

Please don't get upset over this question I may need to know this someday.
They look easy to raise.

Last edited by budgetprepp-n; 11-03-2014 at*09:55 PM.


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## MI.oldguy

jro1 said:


> http://www.prepperforums.net/forum/survival-food-procurement/11646-eating-cats-question.html
> 
> Eating cats question
> 
> Is there a medicine that you should feed the cat as it grows to keep back
> Diseases? <is that spelled right for this application?*
> 
> Please don't get upset over this question I may need to know this someday.
> They look easy to raise.
> 
> Last edited by budgetprepp-n; 11-03-2014 at*09:55 PM.


Ask any chinese food restaurant?.


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## jro1

MI.oldguy said:


> Ask any chinese food restaurant?.


Is budget preppn still around the forum?


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## MI.oldguy

jro1 said:


> Is budget preppn still around the forum?


I think so.


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## Denton

Strange thing of it is, the notion of eating crickets doesn't bother me but the notion of chowing down on roaches does.


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## AquaHull

MI.oldguy said:


> Ask any chinese food restaurant?.


Or any Amerasian gal


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## cdell

I'd eat my pets before roaches. They would be a last option unless someone convinced me they tasted good. 

I'm sure the UN will have us eating them instead of beef soon enough.


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## 8301

The local goats eat the cockroaches and the cows just stomp on them. I guess I'd be forced to eat the cows and goats.


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## SecretPrepper

What was the name of the movie where they were on a train and the people in the back were eating protein jelly like bars? The bars turned out to be roaches.


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## Mad Trapper

Wait a minute!!!!

I see gold in all those section 8 housing projects kitchens.


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## A Watchman

Denton said:


> Strange thing of it is, the notion of eating crickets doesn't bother me but the notion of chowing down on roaches does.


Or grasshoppers. Never roaches.


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## Auntie

Crickets = yes
Ants = yes
Grasshoppers = yes
Roaches = HELL NO


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## Chipper

Ain't going to happen.


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## txmarine6531

If I was hungry enough, maybe. People do eat $hit eaters all the time (crab, lobster, crawfish, pork, ect).


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## A Watchman

OK Will, a serious homework assignment for you since you enjoy research ..... but only if you are game. 

Most people did not favor your roach meal idea, but entertained other insects in a SHTF no other food scenario. Skipping the roaches, how about digging up some realistic recipes for eating other critters?

Could be interesting huh?


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## Mad Trapper




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## Slippy

txmarine6531 said:


> ...crawfish...


I will sho' 'nuff eat some damn crawfish! Purge 'em just right and you can get the shit out of them. (Hot Mud Bugs and a Cold Beer!...Damn I miss my beer drinking days...)


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## gambit

I just wa say so many things but my brain is melted with all the house stuff.
trouble with bugs are that hey are very tiny and it will take a huge amount to feel satisfied regardless healthy it is you stay hungry .
now some bugs of the roach family are toxic but in the legs and head so now you need to trim that off , not sure which ones are toxic .
i would liked allot of the post but I am to tired to reread ,


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## A Watchman

Gambit .....I personally want to thank you.


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## Arklatex

Hell no I ain't eating no damn roach unless it's the last thing on earth before I starve to death! Can't remember exactly which species but lots of folks are allergic to them, anyways. They nasty critters.


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## Smitty901

My experiences in many place around this world have given my the chance to eat many things. Some I wish I did not know what they were.
My personality type fit right in and allowed me jump right in. You bet if it came down to being hungry I already know I would eat what I had to.
However prepping should allow me the option not to.


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## Medic33

Arklatex said:


> Hell no I ain't eating no damn roach unless it's the last thing on earth before I starve to death! Can't remember exactly which species but lots of folks are allergic to them, anyways. *They nasty critters*.


so is chicken but I bet you tear that up like it was no tomorrow.
got to cook it and if you eat any canned foods you have eaten roach guaranteed.


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## AquaHull




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## Kauboy

If I had a fire to roast the bastards, yes, I'd eat them.
They creep me out, and we always associate them with the grossest stuff, but when I've got nothing and my belly is rumbling... crunch crunch.

If starving children in Africa can make and eat mud cookies made from the dirt floors of their houses, I can roast up and eat a bug.

Don't want to sleep tonight? Head on over here for some alternatives: Girl Meets Bug


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## gambit

mango worms are eaten allot in south east asia .
roaches also eat things humens don't and they do carry what they eat found why some are toxic.
chopping the legs off is the pointless part seeing that's where most the meat itself is the ,body can hold the most nasty stuff / toxics so just cant grab any roaches . 
now how many roaches can people catch? if you live in the ghetto like I have you can get allot only if you leave the sticky paper out but and then now you have glue in the food and north American roach is very fast.
you be better off getting earth worms, grow larger and much easier , but not as many can be grown like roaches.
be better off when its warm say about 60 degrees look for a stream put 2 pop or soda what ever you call them make a minnow catcher , minnows have a good side of protein but calories are lacking but more filling then roaches unless you get the ones from Africa , India or Asia then you have some big ones to dine on but you have to raise then and that's not easy said as done. American roaches are only easy to raise due to the amount of food and water around them.
but for sh*ts and giggles here youse all go for the good old days of movies


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## TacticalCanuck

gambit said:


> mango worms are eaten allot in south east asia .
> roaches also eat things humens don't and they do carry what they eat found why some are toxic.
> chopping the legs off is the pointless part seeing that's where most the meat itself is the ,body can hold the most nasty stuff / toxics so just cant grab any roaches .
> now how many roaches can people catch? if you live in the ghetto like I have you can get allot only if you leave the sticky paper out but and then now you have glue in the food and north American roach is very fast.
> you be better off getting earth worms, grow larger and much easier , but not as many can be grown like roaches.
> be better off when its warm say about 60 degrees look for a stream put 2 pop or soda what ever you call them make a minnow catcher , minnows have a good side of protein but calories are lacking but more filling then roaches unless you get the ones from Africa , India or Asia then you have some big ones to dine on but you have to raise then and that's not easy said as done. American roaches are only easy to raise due to the amount of food and water around them.
> but for sh*ts and giggles here youse all go for the good old days of movies


One of the best movies ever.

"You cheat dr. Jones!"

I guess if it came down to it cooked roach or other bugs keep me alive? I would eat em. Kinda like this whole being alive thing.


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## gambit

I guess if it came down to it cooked roach or other bugs keep me alive? I would eat em. Kinda like this whole being alive thing.[/QUOTE said:


> I would eat anything when it comes to life and death , I believe in the higher power I just don't want to met the higher power just yet and when I do I hope I am on Him/Her/ All/Everything good side :smug:
> 
> but forgot to mention when it comes to protein these bugs have the best protein and much easier to raise , Mopane caterpillars , Chapulines (grasshoppers) , Witchetty grub , Termites , African palm weevil , Stink bugs , Mealworms , they can be farmed with less issues then a roach have more protein and some off them don't need to have parts removed. unlike the American roach like I said they have toxins in the head and the body and the legs have some and the legs is the only real part of them that has any protein.
> to get them with out toxins they need to raise them on nothing but what you give them then you still need to remove the legs because the body itself still hold allot of SH*T that will make you Ill if you eat to much and again 1/4 cup of pure roach meat font fill you up and you still be hungry .
> and if I recall mealworms are the easiest to farm and post to taste much what you feed it just with a creamy center


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## Urbanprepper666

I actually have a Roach colony currently but not for personal consumption. We culture these little guys to feed our massive gecko collection that we keep and breed for a hobby. they are fed a high protein and calcium diet, in theory I guess one could survive quite some time on them along with the mealworms we also culture. culturing these is very simple. the dubia roaches are none infesting species their tropical require special conditions such as high heat and med humidity to produce offspring and safely molt their skin. I keep them in ten gallon glass tanks you can also use plastic storage bins. place card board or cardboard egg cartons in the enclosure. a heat pad or heat bulb would due just fine for maintaining temps. and for food I feed mine chicken feed crush chicken feed high in protein and crushed hard boiled egg shells for calcium. I mix in a little wheat bran for a filler because its very cost effective. 1 male will service up to 10-15 females each female lays 15-30 babies every 30 days for approximately a year. most colonies start 20 males 60 females 150 mixed nymphs and allow to establish for 6 months and begin to feed to reptiles or your self lol I hear people use them in stir fry.


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## Slippy

Pictures!!!!



Urbanprepper666 said:


> I actually have a Roach colony currently but not for personal consumption. We culture these little guys to feed our massive gecko collection that we keep and breed for a hobby. they are fed a high protein and calcium diet, in theory I guess one could survive quite some time on them along with the mealworms we also culture. culturing these is very simple. the dubia roaches are none infesting species their tropical require special conditions such as high heat and med humidity to produce offspring and safely molt their skin. I keep them in ten gallon glass tanks you can also use plastic storage bins. place card board or cardboard egg cartons in the enclosure. a heat pad or heat bulb would due just fine for maintaining temps. and for food I feed mine chicken feed crush chicken feed high in protein and crushed hard boiled egg shells for calcium. I mix in a little wheat bran for a filler because its very cost effective. 1 male will service up to 10-15 females each female lays 15-30 babies every 30 days for approximately a year. most colonies start 20 males 60 females 150 mixed nymphs and allow to establish for 6 months and begin to feed to reptiles or your self lol I hear people use them in stir fry.


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## Will2

Here is more so what I was thinking if outside foods are unavailable.






NY apparently has two breeds, another news report






Like raising most foodcrops the foodstock would likely be the issue, if they would eat grass or something else that is readily available in North America that humans don't utilize.

Roaches themselves can be used as foodstock for reptiles.






Here is an another english example of insect farming





The last one is big, as he got like half a million or more in five months, from just 50.

This is how to you can start a colony







> Cockroaches are omnivorous scavengers and will consume any organic food source available to them.


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## A Watchman

Yuck ....... but thanks anyway Will. Good info ...... maybe.


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## Targetshooter

There are to many other things you can eat way before I would eat a cockroach .


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## BuckB

Targetshooter said:


> There are to many other things you can eat way before I would eat a cockroach .


This is true. But if Will is eating cockroaches, that leaves more of those other things for us. Bon appetit (that's French Canadian right there) Will!


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## Will2

I sort of chuckle inside at all the picky eaters. It is funny to see people write - oh I will survive but only if there is a good menu, essentially.

It shows a frailty in peoples actual will to survive, the thing often stated as the #1 key to survival.

Kudos to those who would eat farmed cockroaches.



gambit said:


> but forgot to mention when it comes to protein these bugs have the best protein and much easier to raise , Mopane caterpillars , Chapulines (grasshoppers) , Witchetty grub , Termites , African palm weevil , Stink bugs , Mealworms , they can be farmed with less issues then a roach


What are these bugs reproduction rate though. Its not just how much the bugs provide but how often it is harvestable, how long it takes to raise them to maturity, and how much feed they need, and what feed source they can utilize.

You know if you don't plan on going outside how are you going to source feedstock from the resources you have available.

For instance the mopani diet:


> feeds chiefly on the mopane tree, it is not limited to this diet, and can feed on many other trees that are indigenous to the same regions as that tree





> tree in the legume family (Fabaceae), that grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, 200 to 1,150 metres (660 to 3,770 ft) in elevation, in the far northern parts of southern Africa. The tree only occurs in Africa and is the only species in genus Colophospermum.





> Because of the seasonal nature of the occurrence of these edible caterpillars, they are not a year-round food source


cockroach on the otherhand will eat "any" organic matter, it is not a picky eater. It also has an approximately 150x reproduction rate monthly. That is each female can provide another 150 cockroaches every month. Less males are required than females. In a sense you could manage females to meet your reproductive needs. Say you need 150 cockroaches per day or 4500 per month then you need atleast 30 breeding females.

I have serious doubts about your knowledge of the ease of raising these things, if you are saying the logistics of raising mopani are less burdensome. Since you basically need to source leaves from a limited number of trees to feed them, which just won't be possible everywhere nor a possibility to do indoors unless you are also growing those trees.

Mopani doesn't appear viable at all.

Roaches can even eat paper.











Things like Termites and mealworm seem the most viable of the ones you mention but I think perhaps termites is the only good option of them if you also have wood supply for them. Mealworm diet may be too restrictive. Termites could be a good supplement to roach.
I'd be far more concerned about having them in a wood framed house though. The cool thing about mealworm though is that in fact it may have an available food source after other materials are gone


> In 2015, it was discovered that mealworms are capable of degrading polystyrene into usable organic matter at a rate of about .35-.40 milligrams per day. Additionally, no difference was found between mealworms fed only Styrofoam and mealworms fed conventional foods, during the one month duration of the experiment. The mechanism behind this is currently unknown, and no attempts to commercialize this discovery have been made.











What is most surpising is that meal worms create a link between oil and caloric intakes for humans, allowing oil to be converted to food. This deserves its own thread though 




Bear in mind roach could also be used as feed for other food stocks, if you don't have other food available after a SHTF. Not sure i chickens will eat roach but if you want eggs, what are they eating etc..

Bear in mind this thread is about roach farming, not solely human consumption of cockroaches.


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## Denton

Will, you are beginning to bug me.

Get it? _Bug_ me?

:21:

Yes, start a mealworm thread. Much better than roaches.


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## paraquack

Glad I read everything. I was wondering how you hooked the cockroaches up to the plow.


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## Grinch

Will you know this is a really good idea I mean if you have the stomach for it they're relatively low cost and low maintenance. But I've eaten possum and ***** before and you know I think I'd rather either preferably a **** ( 4 legs ) than a possum but you know just the thought of eating cockroaches I honestly think I'd eat the neighbor's first. A little salt & pepper or anything really can " breakup " the taste of nearly any meat. However what would bother me is the crunching. Now this is just me personally, I mean then again if SHTF I'd rather eat my neighbors than my own personal dogs. But if I resort to eating my dogs or cockroaches it probably will be in vein because if it's gotten that bad in the bunker to where I have to eat my dogs I think it's time for it all to end because what quality of life is that ?


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## OctopusPrime

The thought of biting into a roaches puss filled body....:armata_PDT_32:..Apparently you must take the wings, legs, and head and well as the gut sack out before you cook this treat.

Damn you for making me watch how to clean a roach before cooking it....my stomach hurts 

I hate you all for keeping this thread alive and forcing me to ponder my future banquet of deep fried pustules of disease.


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## Grim Reality

Like many other strange food from the Orient, I have surmised that such items as Cockroaches, Chicken Feet and
Fish Heads are evidence of a class of people who have already been starved for lengthy periods. 

If all you have available is a chicken head...someone else got the rest of the chicken. You on the other hand have
nothing else...so into the fryer it goes. After people have done this for a while it becomes the norm and they think
very little about it. But give anyone who eats nothing but such cast-offs a good sample of real meat and I am
doubtful they would turn it down.

Decades, or perhaps even hundreds of years of living on very little is how such "delicasies" came about. IMHO.

Grim

it's also a testament of what people will do when they get REALLY hungry.


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## Will2

Grinch said:


> Will you know this is a really good idea I mean if you have the stomach for it they're relatively low cost and low maintenance. But I've eaten possum and ***** before and you know I think I'd rather either preferably a **** ( 4 legs ) than a possum but you know just the thought of eating cockroaches I honestly think I'd eat the neighbor's first. A little salt & pepper or anything really can " breakup " the taste of nearly any meat. However what would bother me is the crunching. Now this is just me personally, I mean then again if SHTF I'd rather eat my neighbors than my own personal dogs. But if I resort to eating my dogs or cockroaches it probably will be in vein because if it's gotten that bad in the bunker to where I have to eat my dogs I think it's time for it all to end because what quality of life is that ?


regarding crunch?

mill? pulverize them into a paste? reconstitute it?

none the less. I think that these are as promising as a feedstock for hens, or other animals.

The difference between roach and animals is that animals are a finite resource, roach are replenishable.

You know the Aztecs did use dog as a food source, dogs have been used as meat so has wolf. But their reproduction rate is not as high as roaches.

Just to reiterate, this thread was started about "Roach Farming" not humans eating roaches exclusively. It is definitely one aspect of roach farming to be looked at though.


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