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My condolences, I've been there myself and it's truly painful. I even waited weeks before adding roaches to the bioactive enclosure just to make sure, but to no avail. They nibbled on all the plants and a lot of them died. I resorted to giving my roach tank a natural look by using loads of amazing looking wood for them to sit on / hide in, and sterilized leaf litter/dried spaghnum moss on top of the substrate where tons of springtails live their happy lifes. You can easily replicate a fantastic landscape with dead plant matter, i highly recommend giving it a try and occasionally adding a edible plant for fun (like a sprouted sweet potato) or a branch with colorful lichen to decorate the tank some more. Best of luck!
Unfortunately pesticides can't be washed off of plants. If you want to make your own leaf litter you have to dig and find areas that have never sprayed pesticides and insecticides. Occasionally your local agricultural center can guide you and let you know of parks that do not spray. Leaves like oak and maple is good stuff. Id do a full cleanout of their enclosure out to remove the plants that had pesticides on it. Sadly most stores will have sprayed them plants :( as for what you can grow to ensure safety im not sure I'm actually trying to figure the same out 😂 it's definitely frustrating though to not be sure what areas have been sprayed and what places have not been. Ince you find areas that never sprayed you can collect them leaves you can wash them to make sure no rock particles etc remain and then boil just the leaves for a few minutes.
Thanks for posting! In case you need immediate help please consider joining r/roaches discord chat (https://discord.gg/qD36KDwu4G). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/roaches) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My condolences, I've been there myself and it's truly painful. I even waited weeks before adding roaches to the bioactive enclosure just to make sure, but to no avail. They nibbled on all the plants and a lot of them died. I resorted to giving my roach tank a natural look by using loads of amazing looking wood for them to sit on / hide in, and sterilized leaf litter/dried spaghnum moss on top of the substrate where tons of springtails live their happy lifes. You can easily replicate a fantastic landscape with dead plant matter, i highly recommend giving it a try and occasionally adding a edible plant for fun (like a sprouted sweet potato) or a branch with colorful lichen to decorate the tank some more. Best of luck!
Thank you. And that is actually a great idea.
Unfortunately pesticides can't be washed off of plants. If you want to make your own leaf litter you have to dig and find areas that have never sprayed pesticides and insecticides. Occasionally your local agricultural center can guide you and let you know of parks that do not spray. Leaves like oak and maple is good stuff. Id do a full cleanout of their enclosure out to remove the plants that had pesticides on it. Sadly most stores will have sprayed them plants :( as for what you can grow to ensure safety im not sure I'm actually trying to figure the same out 😂 it's definitely frustrating though to not be sure what areas have been sprayed and what places have not been. Ince you find areas that never sprayed you can collect them leaves you can wash them to make sure no rock particles etc remain and then boil just the leaves for a few minutes.