Somebody must have misidentified this species and it has been traded around as the deaths head ever since. As with other Blaberus spp. Click here for Blaberus sp. This species is becoming commonly kept in the hobby and makes a great addition to any roach collection. The females have very short wingcases and are spotted in red-brown, black, and buff.
Females can be quite colorful.
Fortunately this species is unable to climb glass in either the adult or nymph stages. The Lobster cockroach is commonly kept in the U.S. but usually just as a food source for arachnids and lizards due to their ease of rearing and palatability. The body of this roach is soft enough for almost all predators, there is a high meat to shell ratio, they do not seem to be able to hide as well as many other roaches, and finally, they do not have the impressive defensive smell of many roaches. Although able to climb glass this species is easily contained by using a greasy substance such as petroleum jelly around the top edge of the container. The above method only works with minimal success with some of the other glass climbers.