Madagascar hissing cockroaches not molting

Amblyn Reisetter

Arachnopeon
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Jul 5, 2018
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I have had a breeding colony of MHCs for about 6 weeks. I have a mix of adult and juvenile cockroaches. I have a few questions.
1. I have not seen a single cockroach molt yet. Is their habitat too dry?
2. I have not heard a male hiss yet. I have several adult males.
3. One of my females is missing parts of her legs and is lethargic. Is it just age? I included a picture.
 

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pannaking22

Arachnoemperor
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1. They tend to eat the molts.
2. Eh, sometimes males are really hissy, other times not so much. If your adults were semi-frequently handled before they may not hiss as quickly because they're used to that.
3. That does look like age, but how are you keeping them? This way we can cover all bases.
 

Amblyn Reisetter

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1. I check on them every day and I have never seen one that was white - I know their coloring is different after they molt, which is the main reason I think they aren't molting.
3. I am keeping them in a large plastic bin with coconut husk bedding. They have a source of water, dry dogwood, fruit and veggie scraps, and egg cartons.
 

pannaking22

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Hmmm, that's interesting then. While they do darken up pretty quickly, you'd still notice even a lighter roach since you're checking daily unless they're really good at hiding away after they molt.

All the care looks good. What temps?
 

Amblyn Reisetter

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I know my temps are low - about 75. I plan to add a heat mat soon. Do you think they need more moisture? I read somewhere to spray them every day, but I have already been having some issues with the dog food growing mold quickly and don't want to make it worse. I also adjusted their egg cartons so it will be harder for them to hide away and I can better monitor whether or not they are molting.
 

Galapoheros

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It kind of sounds like a moisture and heat issue to me, if there even is an issue. That female is old like pannaking said. Even a small place that has heat is enough like 5 watt heat mat on a side where they could hang out. The whole container doesn't need to be real warm. Sometimes I cut a raw potato and drop the halves in there, they can eat on that and get moisture that way. That's good for going out of town for a couple of weeks too if you needed to. They will lettuce, oranges, carrots, things like that. They have generation die-offs also. At that time sometimes it looks like there is disease attacking them all but it's the natural disease of aging, gets us all!
 

Miguel Jay

Arachnopeon
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Apr 13, 2019
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Can you tell me what’s wrong with my Hisser? She’s been in that position for almost 14 hours already. Is it bad molt?
 

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