Adult B. Lateralis length change

[BrockiePelma]

so heres the thing,ive noticed that the length of my adult b.lateralis are getting shorter and shorter by the generation, i got my 1st gen since dec. 2016,as nymphs. what i have atm is probably the 2nd or 3rd generation of adult lateralis and they're very short.their sizes are almost twice shorter than the 1st generation of lateralis that i got.

any idea how come this is happening?could it be a cause of in-breeding?any solution to bring their size back?more importantly,could there be a negative effect for feeding them to my Ts?thanks!!

 

[Randomjoe]

How crowded is your colony. I don't have B. lateralis but I've read that if dubia get to crowded the adult size starts to decline. I can't imagine it would negatively effect your Ts.

 

[Tleilaxu]

@Hisserdude @Elytra and Antenna @Lucanus95

I'm guessing you need to start aggressively culling your stock, a long with adding in fresh larger stocks, also increasing food types and amounts may help... Making sure they get plenty of high quality protein and veggies and fruits.

 

[Hisserdude]

This is a normal sign of somewhat crowded conditions, once a culture reaches a large size and you have tons of roaches, they will end up smaller as adults, as they are each getting less nutrition and they all have to fight for food more. Culling them in large numbers or increasing the enclosure size may help a bit.

 

[BrockiePelma]

I see,thanks for the replies guys!!

Yeah,the colony got too crowded,to the point that a full dish of chicken feeds(what they usually eat) is eaten overnight. I started culling last week and i've lost around 1/2 of the colony.maybe ill try and to cull some every week to avoid over crowding.thanks!!