B.dubia problem, experienced keepers needed!

[Kimo]

I had B.dubia for few years and 5-6 months back I started having some problems with them. There were some sudden deaths, not normal(corpses were not solid and dry,but were like composing and smelling bad, like rotten stuff). That happened mostly to adults,but some nymphs was struck also. In that time I go almost no babies from my colony, which counts surely 500-1000 adults... that was really strange, cose I kept them about 30 degrees and not moist nor humid, only fruits and veggies every day, as much as they eat. I have experience cose I keep other roaches and insetcs, so I thought something invaded them. I also saw some females with some strange white, soft stuff out instead of ootheca. I did throw them away even they were alive...I will send you the picture tommorow. I heard from a friend he has something similar and he doubt on some flies, like fruit flies, but maybe something like Phorid flies...like they lay something in those dubias...apart from no babies, they are ok and some are dying as I did tell before.

Thanks for any input in advance!

 

[Frédérick]

hey you know what, i've noticed that with my lateralis colony!! the corpses are very soft and reddish! they tear apart easily, and the oothecas are sometimes white and small, don't seem viable and often i just see no oothecas but some sort of hardened fluids with dirt coming out of their abdomen....i'd be very interested to know whats going on, strange thing it,s the same for dubias! :?

 

[equuskat]

You're only feeding fruits and veggies? I don't know if it is causing your problems, but maybe - dubia need protein in their diet. Most people give dog food, fish pellets, and such. Chicken feed works, too.

 

[AbraxasComplex]

I actually had the same problem and it was Phorid flies. They were laying eggs on the adults, and when they died they stayed soft and squishy.


I was losing about 10-20 adults/subadults every day until I cleaned out the entire container and kept the lid open. I also did every trick in the book to wipe out the Phorid flies. After several weeks and half my colony gone it finally stabilized. I only lose about 5 a week now out of 1500 individuals. And babies are being born again.

 

[CT9A]

hey you know what, i've noticed that with my lateralis colony!! the corpses are very soft and reddish! they tear apart easily, and the oothecas are sometimes white and small, don't seem viable and often i just see no oothecas but some sort of hardened fluids with dirt coming out of their abdomen....i'd be very interested to know whats going on, strange thing it,s the same for dubias! :?

Same thing happened to me with the soft and reddish bodies.There were around 30 nymph deaths, all being soft and some being red. No adult deaths. The SAME thing happened to a meal worm pupae that i was feeding to some small scorpions. A few days later saw that it was not consumed and that it was red and soft. After that there was a phorid outbreak in the container, I threw away all the substrate and the deli cup. The scorpion survived with no visible damage. The phorid flies were not seen again.

 

[CT9A]

I actually had the same problem and it was Phorid flies. They were laying eggs on the adults, and when they died they stayed soft and squishy.


I was losing about 10-20 adults/subadults every day until I cleaned out the entire container and kept the lid open. I also did every trick in the book to wipe out the Phorid flies. After several weeks and half my colony gone it finally stabilized. I only lose about 5 a week now out of 1500 individuals. And babies are being born again.

If it were actual phorid flies, then it is probable that they were actually feeding/laying eggs on the dead dubias. They are found in humid places where there are some sort of dead matter. Follow his advice and take out the colony, remove any dead bodies, throw away egg crates, wash the bin, and make sure you have ample ventilation (screened vents would be best).

 

[Vulgaris]

I've had the same problem with my cricket colony in the past. Someone on bugguide told me it was a fungal infection or something like that (in other words it was fungus killing them)

 

[Kimo]

Ok guys, I did throw out dead I see, should I throw out those with white stuff out instead of oothecas? Those are alive...I give them protein food ofcourse, I just mentioned what I do to keep them enough humid, nothing except some veggies and fruits in limited amounts. Anyway, so you think phorid flies are comming to wet areas, so how did I got them as it isn't humid atall there with dubias? Anyway I will clean the colony again today. Thanks!

What are those tricks for Phorids AbraxasComplex?

 

[Matt K]

The problems with all of the above in this thread are simple. There is a bacterial infection in the colony. When the roach dies and the bacteria bloom in the corpse, the bacteria are dense enough to see thier red color.

The solution is to wash your hands before and after you get into the roaches or handle thier food.

To begin a solution for this problem, remove all the healthy roaches into a clean bin. Leave behind any roach that appears to move more slowly than the rest. Destroy remaining roaches alive or dead, any substrate if you use it, and any egg carton or board that they live/climb on. If you have plastic watering or food dish, disinfect it by placing in bleach solution that is 2 ounces bleach per one gallon (3.5 liters) of water. Do Not use any more bleach as too much bleach will be inneffective because it is the right pH to destroy the bacteria at this ratio. Also use the same bleach solution to thoroughly wipe out and clean the bin or tub they are in. Replace any substrate (if used) and any climb or hide material with new. Then replace roaches into tub. For the first couple of weeks you may still see a few losses/dead, make sure to remove them very quickly so as not to have other roaches taste or consume them. If using a water source add 1000mg Vitamin C per liter of water. If not then make sure to wash fruit and vegtables well before feeding. Reminder to wash hands before and after attending to the roaches as this bacteria is similar to E coli and very easily transferred by human skin (though seemingly no effect on humans). Dry foods like fish food are a helpful addition to the diet but not necessary.

After a couple or three weeks of clean regimen you should see no more deaths and all will resume back to normal as it was in the past.

 

[Kimo]

Well, I really wash my hands often and care about everything you said, but I had those problems for more then 3 weeks now, today I did remove one by one whole colony to new desinfected bin and put new egg crates and stuff. I hope I won't have anymore problems, but I was curious what was the ignition spark for those phorid flies or whatever it was, cose it wasn't bacterias you talk about(I suppose, cose no red corpses...maybe some other sp. bacteria)...

Thanks!

 

[AbraxasComplex]

Phorid fly removal... dry out enclosure, stop using cricket gel. Replace all cardboard/climbing surfaces with new ones. Do not use substrate on the bottom of enclosure. Manually kill adults often if you can (it's easy, they are not called skuttle flies for nothing). Get "Gold Stick" and scented fly paper and use around the enclosure. Attracts a few but not all. Leave a shallow bowl with half water, half fruit juice (such as apple juice), a drop or two of dish detergent to break the surface tension, and maybe a bit of honey mixed in. Leave that near or on top of the roach cage, Phorid flies are attracted to it and will drown.


Now my problem was Phorid flies... when I removed dead adults everyday, many of them already had larvae crawling between their joints or out of their mouth. These were adults that died that day, and in that one day had very large larvae on them. There were no humid spots or substrate for any larvae to hide at that time, so they were not coming from other sources I made sure I checked their enclosure every time. They were covered with Phorid fly eggs as well of course. I even found live, healthy, active adults covered in eggs. Once I kept the enclosure dry and kept all the fly traps nearby I have no deaths due to flies. Only deaths due to bad molts (which is rare), or my sudden explosion of males with no way to feed them off fast enough killing each other due to territory.

 

[AbraxasComplex]

Of course my Phorid flies may be a different species than what most are used to. I ended up getting some phorid flies in 4 shipments. One from the Philippines, one from Tanzania, one from Hong Kong and one from Chile. That's a possibility of 4 different species. Mine could have even been a hybrid between 2 different locales. I did recieve 3 of these orders within a week of each other.

 

[Kimo]

Just wanted to tell that now, few months after this thread, my colony is again doing great and there are many nymphs that already matured and breed again. They key was, as usual, just clean and monitor the colony for dead ones and remove them. It was pain in the ass to remove all of them few times to clean box, but it was the only way to do. Thanks anyone for the input!

 

[Leopard geckos]

Did the infected dubias you all have look like this?