Dead Roaches

[OxDionysus]

I was feeding my T's and I noticed a strong odor coming from my Dubia colony. I found about 5 dead adults in there and they smelled SOOO bad! So I was wondering how often does everyone else clean out their colony for dead roaches?

 

[Scolopendra777]

wEll i havent kept them so i dont no wana keep roachs one day thou

 

[Rochelle]

Are you keeping them on substrate, and is it moist?

 

[Alakdan]

Yes, I experienced this recently. The colony was infested by flies which laid eggs on the dead roaches. The smell was horrible. I don't use any substrate, just egg crates. The problem started when one of the mealworm containers got infested by those pesky parasitic flies. To further compund the problem, it is the rainy season here in the Philippines, and humidity doesn't go below 80%.

I had to kill some of the infested roaches. Replace all the egg crates. Clean and disinfect the enclosure. Install a fly paper to catch the adult flies and placed a dehumidifier in the enclosure. Fortunately, this solved the problem.

My roach colony is almost 2 years old, some of them are bound to die once they reach their max lifespan.

 

[OxDionysus]

I just keep mine in egg crates with a dry food supply and water crystals. Its really dry here also

 

[arachnocat]

I go through mine about every other week and remove any dead adults. It's impossible to clean it completely though because the nymphs love hanging out in the feces at the bottom.
I use paper towels for substrate and just replace them when they start to look soiled or if they get moldy. Usually every few months or so.

 

[Rochelle]

No substrate is best - if you want to keep it clean and odor free. The nymphs actually eat the frass (feces). Do not mist and offer open water in a clean, textured, shallow dish. We have found that crystals retain not only water - but filth. This attracts flies.
Remove 'deaders' when found and they will not attract the 'coffin' or phorid flies.
What you are likely smelling is rotting carcasses and growing flies. They smell like...well.......ROT!
To make a phorid fly trap; add fruit juice or fruit flavored sodapop in a shallow dish. Add a couple of drops of dish washing detergent to break the surface tension of the juice/pop. The flies will fall in and drown.
We've used this method before and it really works. Sticky fly tape is also helpful; but only kills by accident. We prefer the lure traps.

Hope this helps you!

 

[Tuwin]

No substrate is best - if you want to keep it clean and odor free. The nymphs actually eat the frass (feces). Do not mist and offer open water in a clean, textured, shallow dish. We have found that crystals retain not only water - but filth. This attracts flies.
Remove 'deaders' when found and they will not attract the 'coffin' or phorid flies.
What you are likely smelling is rotting carcasses and growing flies. They smell like...well.......ROT!
To make a phorid fly trap; add fruit juice or fruit flavored sodapop in a shallow dish. Add a couple of drops of dish washing detergent to break the surface tension of the juice/pop. The flies will fall in and drown.
We've used this method before and it really works. Sticky fly tape is also helpful; but only kills by accident. We prefer the lure traps.

Hope this helps you!

Wow...that's a pretty cool tip. Thanks

I have yet to have the problem...*crosses fingers*

 

[dtknow]

Also, with smaller colonies it is easy to keep a general idea of the age of the adults. When feeding them off any with tattered wings, broken antennae, enlongated bodies in the females, etc. should be fed off first. This really reduced the number of deaths I saw from old age.

 

[Rochelle]

Also, with smaller colonies it is easy to keep a general idea of the age of the adults. When feeding them off any with tattered wings, broken antennae, enlongated bodies in the females, etc. should be fed off first. This really reduced the number of deaths I saw from old age.

Also very good advice.