Watering DUbias??Roaches keep dying off

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I cannot find out were to buy cheap water crystals can someone help me out:cry:
I think thats why roaches keep dying off

Still infested with weird black flys

 

[bugmankeith]

Mist them with water using a spray bottle for the time being and give lots of fresh fruit.

 

[Galapoheros]

If you're open to other options, you never had to water dubias directly. I had so many that I gave 1000s of them to a pet store here. At a bare minimum you can feed them only pieces of potato for their moisture but other things for moisture I gave them were bananas, carrots, any greens, leftover avocado, esp. oranges ..any plant humans eat is safe, I'm sure there's a lot more they would eat that we wouldn't though. I kept the doobs over 5 years(?) before I got rid of them and I only cleaned their tub out once! It didn't smell, everything turned to dirt, there were dwarf isopods in there, everything got broken down. I added oak leaves now and then, they ate those too. Instead of crates, I used curled bark for hides. I kept a few, have them in a gallon jug, I may get them going again in a smaller tub.

 

[Tarac]

Same here, I use apples sometimes when they are cheap and in season and otherwise I use citrus too which is bountiful here in Florida (for the time being... Citrus greening, arggg) all times of year in one form or another. They love Ichandarins which taste like turpentine and fish oil to me so I give them those from my tree outside. I keep Discoids of course, no Dubias allowed down here.

 

[Boatman]

I have a small colony and never give them any water, and they seem to thrive. I give them various left over fruits & veggies, chopped apples & lettuce mostly, and sometimes oranges or other fruits. I also give them Gerber dry multi-grain baby cereal, which they love. I save the blue water gel for when I'm away from home for a few days. With fruits & veggies, though, I understand that you should to be careful about pesticides & peel skins &/or wash well.

 

[catfishrod69]

You need to tell us more about your setup. Are you using any kind of substrate? What kind of food? What kind of water? Etc...

How i keep my dubia is in a 110 quart sterilite tub. Ive got 1/8" holes drilled in the top of the sides. Also a few holes drilled in the lid on the ends. I have alot of egg flats that are vertical to allow frass to fall to the bottom. I use no substrate at all. I have 1 6" waterdish with watergel crystals, and 1 6" food dish. I feed them only Dumor chick and duckling starter from the feed store. Its high in protien, and they love it. I never ever give them anything else. They are doing great, and booming. Best way to keep the flies out is to make sure it stays completely dry everywhere except in the waterdish. They flies will still lay eggs in the watergel though. I get my crystals from watergelcrystals.com I ordered 2 pounds and paid like $15. Its lasted over 2 years, and there is still plenty left. Thats even using it to water 3 colonies. I mix up 2 gallons at a time. When it gets down to the bottom i mix up more.

 

[Tarac]

I have a small colony and never give them any water, and they seem to thrive. I give them various left over fruits & veggies, chopped apples & lettuce mostly, and sometimes oranges or other fruits. I also give them Gerber dry multi-grain baby cereal, which they love. I save the blue water gel for when I'm away from home for a few days. With fruits & veggies, though, I understand that you should to be careful about pesticides & peel skins &/or wash well.

Actually, just to clarify, most of the pesticide is found in the tissue of the food items nowadays. Watery items are worse- lettuce, cucumbers, celery, etc. Most of our pesticides used these days are systemic- much cheaper and more effective than constantly coating with something that rinses off with water. Imagine trying to keep pesticides on your plants AND irrigate. So the best way to avoid that is to buy organically grown if you are worried about biomagnification of the chemistry. Washing and peeling gets rid of dirt, bacteria and [some] fungi and bug parts but the pesticide is still there. Peeling helps with superficial pesticides for certain kinds of produce that get these types of application, but the majority of produce also gets or ONLY gets systemic treatment because it's more practical and is now relatively safe for human consumption anyway. Who cares if you eat an ecdysone inhibitor, right? But your bugs may feel differently.

Here is a link- take with a grain of salt because it's just a synopsis from CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/01/dirty.dozen.produce.pesticide/index.html

Example of issues with above is the last statement- buy organic and reduce the pesticides in your body, implying more healthy, according to "some studies." In reality there have been no measurable health benefits ever correlated with eating organic and we do finally have significant long term data on the subject. In fact there is significant health risk in eating organic because it is poorly regulated [in the us] and requires the use of organic fertilizers and such which pose a much greater risk and frequency of contamination with dangerous bacteria and so on.

http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2012/september/organic.html

So what does this mean for feeding your dubia? It suggests that using foods which are known to contain less pesticides in general is probably better than using either organic (to avoid potential pathogens which may or may not be found and may or may not target invertebrates, etc.) or those foods which tend to sequester higher levels of pesticide in their tissues.

 

[Boatman]

Thanks for the info!

Actually, just to clarify, most of the pesticide is found in the tissue of the food items nowadays. Watery items are worse- lettuce, cucumbers, celery, etc. Most of our pesticides used these days are systemic- much cheaper and more effective than constantly coating with something that rinses off with water. Imagine trying to keep pesticides on your plants AND irrigate. So the best way to avoid that is to buy organically grown if you are worried about biomagnification of the chemistry. Washing and peeling gets rid of dirt, bacteria and [some] fungi and bug parts but the pesticide is still there. Peeling helps with superficial pesticides for certain kinds of produce that get these types of application, but the majority of produce also gets or ONLY gets systemic treatment because it's more practical and is now relatively safe for human consumption anyway. Who cares if you eat an ecdysone inhibitor, right? But your bugs may feel differently.

Here is a link- take with a grain of salt because it's just a synopsis from CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/01/dirty.dozen.produce.pesticide/index.html

Example of issues with above is the last statement- buy organic and reduce the pesticides in your body, implying more healthy, according to "some studies." In reality there have been no measurable health benefits ever correlated with eating organic and we do finally have significant long term data on the subject. In fact there is significant health risk in eating organic because it is poorly regulated [in the us] and requires the use of organic fertilizers and such which pose a much greater risk and frequency of contamination with dangerous bacteria and so on.

http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2012/september/organic.html

So what does this mean for feeding your dubia? It suggests that using foods which are known to contain less pesticides in general is probably better than using either organic (to avoid potential pathogens which may or may not be found and may or may not target invertebrates, etc.) or those foods which tend to sequester higher levels of pesticide in their tissues.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

You need to tell us more about your setup. Are you using any kind of substrate? What kind of food? What kind of water? Etc...

How i keep my dubia is in a 110 quart sterilite tub. Ive got 1/8" holes drilled in the top of the sides. Also a few holes drilled in the lid on the ends. I have alot of egg flats that are vertical to allow frass to fall to the bottom. I use no substrate at all. I have 1 6" waterdish with watergel crystals, and 1 6" food dish. I feed them only Dumor chick and duckling starter from the feed store. Its high in protien, and they love it. I never ever give them anything else. They are doing great, and booming. Best way to keep the flies out is to make sure it stays completely dry everywhere except in the waterdish. They flies will still lay eggs in the watergel though. I get my crystals from watergelcrystals.com I ordered 2 pounds and paid like $15. Its lasted over 2 years, and there is still plenty left. Thats even using it to water 3 colonies. I mix up 2 gallons at a time. When it gets down to the bottom i mix up more.

Dog food + apple cores , no substrate , occasionally mist em , Egg crates too live in

 

[spiderfield]

Your dubia will get all the moisture they need from the food you provide them, as the other posters here mentioned. In my opinion, don't waste your money on gimmicks like water crystals.

Regards,
Ryan

 

[poisoned]

Example of issues with above is the last statement- buy organic and reduce the pesticides in your body, implying more healthy, according to "some studies." In reality there have been no measurable health benefits ever correlated with eating organic and we do finally have significant long term data on the subject. In fact there is significant health risk in eating organic because it is poorly regulated [in the us] and requires the use of organic fertilizers and such which pose a much greater risk and frequency of contamination with dangerous bacteria and so on.

Organic food is not only about health, but also about environment.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Your dubia will get all the moisture they need from the food you provide them, as the other posters here mentioned. In my opinion, don't waste your money on gimmicks like water crystals.

Regards,
Ryan

So I should water the dog food prior to feeding??

 

[spiderfield]

You can give them moistened kibble, if it suits you...I do it occasionally. But obvious moisture-containing foods such as fruits/veggies/meats will suffice.

Regards,
Ryan

 

[catfishrod69]

Ok the apple cores are whats drawing in the flies like mad. Dont do that.
The misting is completley not needed. Dont do that.
For humidity, keep them in a enclosure with limited ventilation, like i do with mine. With less ventilation, a water dish full of crystals is plenty enough for humidity.
Egg crates, perfect.
No substrate, perfect.

Now for moistening the dog food. That is a grain mite explosion waiting to happen. DONT DO THAT! EVER! Grain mite eggs are found in all grain foods. Like cereal, dry oats, etc. Where the grains are stored, they have to constantly monitor and stir the grain. If not, it will develope hot spots, which will get moist, and the grain mites will start hatching. When i had mealworms i made the mistake of using dry oatmeal for bedding/food. It works great, until water crystals gets spilled on it. From then on, its been a grain mite battle.

And yes the cereal, oats, other grain products we are eating contains lots and lots of protien (grain mite eggs) .

Dog food + apple cores , no substrate , occasionally mist em , Egg crates too live in

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Ok the apple cores are whats drawing in the flies like mad. Dont do that.
The misting is completley not needed. Dont do that.
For humidity, keep them in a enclosure with limited ventilation, like i do with mine. With less ventilation, a water dish full of crystals is plenty enough for humidity.
Egg crates, perfect.
No substrate, perfect.

Now for moistening the dog food. That is a grain mite explosion waiting to happen. DONT DO THAT! EVER! Grain mite eggs are found in all grain foods. Like cereal, dry oats, etc. Where the grains are stored, they have to constantly monitor and stir the grain. If not, it will develope hot spots, which will get moist, and the grain mites will start hatching. When i had mealworms i made the mistake of using dry oatmeal for bedding/food. It works great, until water crystals gets spilled on it. From then on, its been a grain mite battle.

And yes the cereal, oats, other grain products we are eating contains lots and lots of protien (grain mite eggs) .

It is a Mystery How dogs even survive on dog food , that stuff is toxic (DEATH_) TO human standards

 

[Deac77]

It is a Mystery How dogs even survive on dog food , that stuff is toxic (DEATH_) TO human standards

I feed dog food but the grain free expensive crap because that what my dog eats haha and I use fresh fruits and veggies for water

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I feed dog food but the grain free expensive crap because that what my dog eats haha and I use fresh fruits and veggies for water

YEah seems like God is keeping dogs alive on a Respirator with the horrible diet they currenrtly live on.......
IT defies all science, reason, logic that a 100% carnivore can survive on dog food:
Look at a Big dogs teeth.... it is not a herbivore/Omnivore

 

[Tarac]

Organic food is not only about health, but also about environment.

Yes, and the same principles still apply- still using fertilizer, for example, but now you can contaminate local water sources with bacteria from livestock manure used for fertilization so you not only have same risk for run-off based nitrification of local ecosystems but also vector transmission. Same thing can happen on small scale with your roach colonies in theory, probably no one has done the work to see what kinds of invert vectors are present on organically raised produce especially considering it is such a highly variable product in this regard. Although I do understand that regulations are more stringent in much of Europe compared to the US where they are virtually non-existent in any meaningful way.

 

[Marijan2]

For my dubia colony i use typical setup, eggcrates with no substrate, orange/apple/banana for watery food and dog food for dry one. One addition i do is to put dish full of water and mesh over it, so they cannot drown. It vaporizes slowly and keeps humidity up.

For my g. portentosa and e. javanica i use eggcrates with 2 inch substrate, orange/apple/banana and dog food diet. Substrate on one corner is wet thus keeping up humidity.



Never had any problems with this methods whatsoever. Hope i helped

 

[poisoned]

Yes, and the same principles still apply- still using fertilizer, for example, but now you can contaminate local water sources with bacteria from livestock manure used for fertilization so you not only have same risk for run-off based nitrification of local ecosystems but also vector transmission. Same thing can happen on small scale with your roach colonies in theory, probably no one has done the work to see what kinds of invert vectors are present on organically raised produce especially considering it is such a highly variable product in this regard. Although I do understand that regulations are more stringent in much of Europe compared to the US where they are virtually non-existent in any meaningful way.

Who says livestock manure is not used in non-organic fertilization? Well, at least here, it is.