Did I doom my colony?

[gmrpnk21]

So yesterday I got home from work and checked on my Blaberus discoidalis colony. I removed the carrots that were left over, and gave them half of an orange that I sectioned up. I woke up this morning and realized that I didn't scrub off the orange peel before I gave it to them. I removed the orange (they had eaten some already) and wiped the dish with a damp paper towel. I gave them some flukers water gel and I am at work now. What are the odds that there were enough pesticides on the orange to affect my small colony? I am really getting paranoid

 

[Rob1985]

So yesterday I got home from work and checked on my Blaberus discoidalis colony. I removed the carrots that were left over, and gave them half of an orange that I sectioned up. I woke up this morning and realized that I didn't scrub off the orange peel before I gave it to them. I removed the orange (they had eaten some already) and wiped the dish with a damp paper towel. I gave them some flukers water gel and I am at work now. What are the odds that there were enough pesticides on the orange to affect my small colony? I am really getting paranoid

that's why I buy the organic stuff and wash it even if I never intend to throw in the peel.

keep an eye on it. I use organic oranges.

 

[gmrpnk21]

I am hoping I am worrying too much. I bought them from Walmart and I know they were cleaned and probably waxed before being shipped, so that cuts down on risk. The peels were on the bottom, so the roaches were less likely to touch them. I had my gf remove the dish and throw everything oit, and I will scrub it with soapy water before I refill it with clean food and water gel.

 

[xhexdx]

Don't worry about it.

 

[gmrpnk21]

Lol. Joe, telling me not to worry is like telling water not to be wet. I'm amazed I haven't had a heart attack yet.

 

[BQC123]

For some reason I never thought about this. My B.dubia have always been given unrinsed fruit and I have had no problems. I will try to rinse in the future though.

 

[gmrpnk21]

That Actually? Makes me feel a lot better. Someone else said the same thing so maybe I'm being way too paranoid. I will keep an eye on them and let you guys know!

 

[Rue]

I always rinse my fruits and veggies too...but mostly to get any larger 'dirt' particles off...

But unless someone goofed up seriously during the farming...pesticide residues are very low...I wouldn't worry. And if someone really did goof - even rinsing won't nec. help...and they'd be dead already - or showing symptoms...

 

[burmish101]

Ive forgotten to wash food items containing pesticides before and have had losses but nothing sufficient to be detrimental to my colonys. If you have a few deaths itll be no big deal imo, just maybe stop using them as feeders for a few days just to be extra safe.

 

[Midknight xrs]

that's why I buy the organic stuff and wash it even if I never intend to throw in the peel.

keep an eye on it. I use organic oranges.

You should look up usda's definition of organic.

To the OP, listen to Joe.

 

[ZephAmp]

Don't worry about it.

+100000

I feed mine with unwashed oranges all the time. If it looks really grungy then I will wash the peel, otherwise, into the container it goes.

 

[Matt K]

I have never cleaned fruits or veggies or peeled them either and have had successful colonies for some years now without die-offs. Concerns like are unnecessary unless the food was not intended for human consumption ever. If you could have eaten it at one point, they can eat it at any point.

 

[H. laoticus]

Like mentioned, don't worry about it because nothing will happen.

 

[gmrpnk21]

Well I am not going to worry about the oranges... what do I do if they don't eat the food I made? It is 2 cups of chicken feed, 1 cup Purina kitten chow, 1 cup Quaker oats all ground up.

 

[BQC123]

Again, don't worry. They will eat it.

 

[gmrpnk21]

I'm just a worrier lol. I have a 75 watt infrared heat lamp above their egg crates to bump up the temps. I didn't plan on feeding off them for at least a month. I want them to start breeding so I get a good colony going . I just got these guys last week...

 

[cacoseraph]

pesticides penetrate, there is not just residue. i don't feed high surface area to volume stuff unless it is certified organic AND PESTICIDE free. that's, you know, kind of the important part, actually

---------- Post added at 09:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:45 PM ----------

you might want to look up that chicken feed though. some are medicated and/or otherwise dosed with stuff






the point to all this is not keep your roaches shiny, btw. it's to avoid bioaccumulating in bugs that you are hoping live 20-30 years in some cases. that you feed your roaches to. that is why i worry about it. plus, some roaches are so freaking tough they can carry toxin/pesticide loads that can stamp a predator from just eating one roach.


the effects in our real pets would most likely not show up unless you keep perfect records of all your animals. something like a 10% reduction in fitness or fecundity won't show to the average hobbyist but would be a bummer to be working under. plus, most of the hobbyists don't keep their pets the full lifespan to actually observe that the effects are going to be. good thing someone (you know, me) is thinking about stuff like this



edit: also, stuff intended for human consumption can still not be great for bugs. we aren't bugs. i thought that would be fairly self evident, but there i had to go and say it. amazing.


edit again: all the ppl saying that they have never seen any effect. that.. might be true in the sense you didn't perceive it. but do you keep records of how long your roaches live? do you let them die naturally or feed them off before? cuz uh, it's not like anyone is saying one "bad" serving of fruit is going to kill the bugs. (well, no one but op and he's asking). that's not generally how these type of chemicals work in the dosages we are talking about. it just slowly, over time, makes things a bit worse, like

 

[gmrpnk21]

No the chicken feed isn't medicated, and neither is the cat food. I have been feeding them a diet of dry food and naval oranges that I wash, peel, and give in pieces. The water gel is helping to keep humidity up, and I spray a piece of egg crate every once in awhile. They are doing awesome, and I have seen some mating recently. They are molting fine, and I am waiting to get some babies before any are fed to my tarantulas.

 

[winwin]

For my lats i feed them anything but I once fed my newly arrived dubia colony a piece of banana and around 13 females died the next day...

 

[cacoseraph]

it's likely those dubia would have died regardless. bananas are not good candidates for pesticide transfer since their skin is relatively thick and i don't think anyone feeds bananas to bugs with the skin on.


if you got them shipped to you in the hot time of year my guess would be the roaches were heat damaged