Giant Burrowing Cockroaches (Macropanesthia rhinoceros) are Australia’s largest and heaviest cockroach species, available in-store at our small animal specialist location, 684 Botany Road, Alexandria. Known for their calm nature, impressive size and surprisingly long lifespan of up to 10 years, they’re quiet, odourless and low-maintenance, making them a fascinating and easy-to-care-for display animal for families and invertebrate enthusiasts alike.
What You Need to Know
They need a secure, well-ventilated enclosure with deep, moisture-retaining substrate for burrowing, leaf litter and bark for food and enrichment, and a shallow water dish. They’re calm, slow-moving and best kept as a display species rather than a hands-on pet.
Why Keep a Giant Burrowing Cockroach?
Giant Burrowing Cockroaches make a truly unique display pet for anyone fascinated by Australian invertebrates. They’re quiet, don’t smell, and require very little day-to-day attention once their enclosure is set up correctly, making them ideal for apartments, offices, or busy households. With a lifespan of up to 10 years, they’re a long-term companion rather than a short-lived novelty, and watching them burrow and forage is genuinely fascinating for kids and adults alike. Unlike many cockroach species, they can’t fly or climb smooth surfaces, making them a surprisingly approachable pet even for those normally wary of insects.
Great Pets for Apartment Living
Giant Burrowing Cockroaches are one of the best pets for apartment dwellers wanting something a little different. They don’t bark, meow, or make any noise your neighbours would ever notice, and they don’t need daily walks, litter trays, or open outdoor space. Their enclosure sits quietly on a shelf or in a corner, taking up minimal floor space compared to larger pets, and they won’t trigger noise complaints, smells, or issues with strata or rental agreements the way a cat or dog might. For anyone in a unit or apartment who still wants a genuinely engaging pet to observe and care for, a Giant Burrowing Cockroach ticks all the boxes without any of the usual apartment-living headaches.
Are Giant Burrowing Cockroaches Legal to Keep in NSW?
Good news for anyone considering one of these as a pet: Giant Burrowing Cockroaches are a native Australian species and don’t require any special licence or permit to keep in NSW. That’s not the case for every pet cockroach out there. Species like Madagascar hissing cockroaches and dubia cockroaches aren’t legal to import, keep, breed or sell in Australia, since they haven’t passed an environmental risk assessment and pose a biosecurity risk to our native wildlife. Dubia cockroaches in particular are commonly kept illegally around Sydney, often as reptile feeder insects, without owners realising they’re prohibited. When you buy a Giant Burrowing Cockroach from us, you can enjoy a genuinely fascinating pet with complete peace of mind that it’s a fully legal, native Australian animal.
What Could Happen If You Own an Illegal Cockroach?
Keeping a prohibited exotic cockroach like a Madagascar hissing cockroach or a dubia cockroach isn’t just a technicality, it carries real consequences. Authorities have prosecuted and fined people thousands of dollars for illegally keeping prohibited exotic animals under NSW biosecurity law (one recent case saw a person fined almost $5,000 for illegally keeping a Burmese python), and illegally held exotic insects that are seized are typically euthanised rather than returned to their owner. Choosing a Giant Burrowing Cockroach means you get all the appeal of a fascinating pet cockroach without any of that risk, since it’s a fully legal, native Australian species.
Giant Burrowing Cockroach vs Other Pet Cockroaches
Giant Burrowing Cockroaches are often compared to Madagascar hissing cockroaches and dubia cockroaches, but they’re a very different pet, and importantly, a legal one. As mentioned above, both Madagascar hissing and dubia cockroaches can’t legally be kept in Australia, while our Giant Burrowing Cockroaches are a proudly Australian, fully legal alternative. They also behave quite differently: our cockroaches burrow into deep substrate and aren’t good climbers, so they’re far less likely to escape a properly set up enclosure, and they live considerably longer too, up to 10 years, making them a real long-term companion rather than a short-lived novelty.
Availability
Giant Burrowing Cockroaches are available in-store, and we can also arrange bulk orders on request, just ask our team.
Package Deals
At Birdsville, we offer great value package deals when you purchase your Giant Burrowing Cockroach together with a complete enclosure setup, making it easy to get everything you need in one visit. Our team can help you choose the right size enclosure and substrate depth, and answer any questions you have in-store. We also stock a full range of enclosures, substrates and accessories suited to Giant Burrowing Cockroaches.
Full Care Guide
For the full details on housing, diet, environment and health, visit our How to Care for Giant Burrowing Cockroaches page on this site.
Visit Us
Keep an eye out on our Facebook and Instagram for Giant Burrowing Cockroaches for sale, or come visit them in store at 684 Botany Road, Alexandria NSW.
