# Do Cockroaches get sick?



## bugmankeith (Jan 4, 2008)

Do/can captive cockroaches get illnesses or medical problems? I mean is there a roach flu or disease that can be present and spread from some individuals or by mating?

Like these mabye?

Blindness
Soft exoskeleton (never properly hardens)
Digestive issues
Extra limbs
Allergic to certain foods
seizures/paralysis
Issues with nerve function/brains not functioning right
Sudden death syndromes?

It seems weird but it makes me wonder if roaches and other insects just dont get sick?

Reactions: Like 1


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## KyuZo (Jan 4, 2008)

I think that you might need someone with a PhD to answer all these questions


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## bugmankeith (Jan 4, 2008)

So many people breed roaches, so I thought somebody here must know some answers.


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## arachnocat (Jan 4, 2008)

They can get sick but unfortunately I don't think anyone has really studied why. I know some people have had problems with a "bloat disease". Usually with blaberus species but sometimes dubia. It could be a fungus, parasite, infection or something else. The roaches seem to get really fat then die.


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## cacoseraph (Jan 4, 2008)

yes they can

i am reading a paper right now "Bacteria as Insect Pathogens" or something like that for an article i am preparing to write

http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.mi.29.100175.001115?cookieSet=1

it is somewhat high level but absolutely fascinating (and terrifying!)


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## RoachGirlRen (Jan 4, 2008)

I actually had one of my small female colonies ravaged by an unknown disease recently. It involved them leaking large amounts of a very thick, sticky, foul-smelling yellow substance from the cloaca. It was about the color of an ootheca, which makes me wonder if it wasn't some kind of reproductive infection. Quite devastating, I've lost five females and the rest are in QT.


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## lucanidae (Jan 4, 2008)

Insects are susceptible to all kinds of diseases. Most are internal parasites/parsitoids, but also mites, bacteria, and viruses. 

THE book on insect pathology is this:
http://www.amazon.com/Insect-Pathology-Yoshinori-Tanada/dp/0126832552


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## bugmankeith (Jan 4, 2008)

I know some people have had problems with a "bloat disease". Usually with blaberus species but sometimes dubia. It could be a fungus, parasite, infection or something else. The roaches seem to get really fat then die.

No kidding, I think one of my B. Giganteus had that. It was a really fat last instar nymph that ate great and appeared healthy, then it got so fat it could barely climb. Turns out it molted into an adult on the ground, and had issues like delayed reflexes (meaning it wouldnt even walk so it couldnt molt on a vertical surface only on the ground) That was actually a few days ago. The roach is alive but it's body is taking forever to completly harden, though it's about 90% hard just the end of the feet are a little soft, but it's eating,walking and it;s wings are relatively good. 

But it passed a long,yellow, worm-like thing. Could be poo left over from the nymph stage, or something else, but the roach is fine now eating and pooing normally.

Most of the others I got with this one had died so no doubt the breeder is selling sickly roaches, they either dropped dead overnight for no apparent reason, or they starved themselves when plenty of food was available (I think that is from parasites). But my others from another order are 100% healthy and had no health issues.

lucanidae if I could buy that book I would but it's just too expensive.


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## bugmankeith (Jan 7, 2008)

I contacted someone who works in a lab with roaches, I guess for pest eradication?

But a little of the information gave some insight on cockroach illnesses, so here is what was said.

You ask whether any of these infections carried by cockroaches affect  
the cockroaches themselves.  Also, are there particular diseases that  
affect cockroaches specifically?

The answer is yes, but we have only limited understanding of those  
diseases.  Some entomologists are certainly looking for a magic  
bullet disease that will kill only cockroaches.  I worked with a  
company Eco-Science which developed a strain of Metarhizium  
anisopliae that was selected to attack cockroaches selectively.   
There are strains of Metarhizium anisopliae that are selectively  
lethal to other insect groups as well.

When I mass reared cockroaches there were bacterial diseases that  
could spread through a culture and kill them in a short time. One I  
called the 'red death' was actually a commonly known bacterium  
Serratia marcescens.  It is not clear if all strains of Serratia  
marcescens  are lethal to cockroaches or if there are particular  
lethal strains, similar to our toxic E.coli strains.

I also had experience with another unknown bacterium/virus that I  
called 'black death' in which the roaches would turn black and die.   
I never identified the organism but it happened often enough that I  
believe it could be identifiable and might be a useful control.   
However, I am not a microbial specialist and my main interest with  
cockroaches was simply keeping them as healthy and disease free as  
possible so that I could do experiments on their reproduction and  
development.  The protocols that I developed for synchronizing the  
growth and development of cockroach cultures could be used as a basis  
for studying the microorganisms and roach diseases that the suffer.


Pretty interesting but a little hard to understand.


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## Stylopidae (Jan 7, 2008)

Now...that is interesting. _Serratia marcescens_ is a somewhat common pathogen of humans which can be found in most households.


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## bugmankeith (Jan 8, 2008)

Yeah, so mabye WE can get roaches sick?


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## Xaranx (Jan 9, 2008)

Maybe that's why they hate being touched by us dirty humans.


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## Matt K (Jan 9, 2008)

Ha ha !!  A joke but maybe true....

While most of the above text in red seems.... offhand a little suspect, I can say that I have seen roach colonies get infected with Serratia sp. bacterium and die out.  As the infection developes the red is not even noticeable, but when the roach dies it rapidly developes a reddish or dark pink color.  How it infects a colony and not others on rare occasion I can only wonder.  My room is full of transients (springtails, mites, gnats, and others).


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## bugmankeith (Jan 9, 2008)

I hate it when there are non-believers, I mean why would I make a topic to post lies?

It is true but I myself dont know much about it, everything in red is NOT MY writings it's someone elses.


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## Matt K (Jan 9, 2008)

bugmankeith said:


> I hate it when there are non-believers, I mean why would I make a topic to post lies?
> 
> It is true but I myself dont know much about it, everything in red is NOT MY writings it's someone elses.



? ? ? ? 

Yeah...I understood that.  What's with your weird-o post, Bugmankeith?  Nobody's pointing fingers or making accusations here.

Perhaps I was misunderstood... ? ? ? ?  Sorry if I was unclear.


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## bugmankeith (Jan 10, 2008)

Ha ha !! A joke but maybe true....

I mean by that. I dont see why you put joke in that sentence thats what threw me off? 

I guess it was just unclear forget about it.


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## Xaranx (Jan 11, 2008)

bugmankeith said:


> Ha ha !! A joke but maybe true....
> 
> I mean by that. I dont see why you put joke in that sentence thats what threw me off?
> 
> I guess it was just unclear forget about it.


He was referring to my semi-joke post about roaches hating being touched by us dirty humans.  Then you flew off the handle :?


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## bugmankeith (Jan 11, 2008)

I would have understood if he put the joke in a quote or something.


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## Xaranx (Jan 11, 2008)

No worries it happens.


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## WeirdlyWonderful (Feb 13, 2020)

*When I mass reared cockroaches there were bacterial diseases that could spread through a culture and kill them in a short time. One I called the 'red death' was actually a commonly known bacterium Serratia marcescens. It is not clear if all strains of Serratia marcescens are lethal to cockroaches or if there are particular lethal strains, similar to our toxic E.coli strains.*

I know this thread is old but it makes me wonder now if this is something similar to what my Roaches have. Two males are both in a bad way at the moment, and the smaller one is currently secreting a smelly foul bile from both ends. I've taken necessary action; quarantined them both in separate tubs, wiped up a whole ton of mites from their bodies, they have clean bedding and a bit of food. Both are "active" to a certain degree, responsive in a minimal way, but they're really sick and it breaks my heart.

Reactions: Sad 1


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## The Snark (Feb 13, 2020)

I once heard a lab tech describe the roach as a constantly evolving petri dish. I believe by that he meant the roach is the dish housing a near ideal pathogen culture medium.


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## Albireo Wulfbooper (Feb 14, 2020)

The Snark said:


> I once heard a lab tech describe the roach as a constantly evolving petri dish. I believe by that he meant the roach is the dish housing a near ideal pathogen culture medium.


The same could be said for humans. Or pretty much any other animal, really.


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## aprilmayjunebugs (Feb 14, 2020)

I was reading the other day about giving mantids raw honey to help with gut infections, may be worrh a try for roaches too?


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