Discoid roach laid ootheca rather than live birth?

[VolkswagenBug]

So I just had a female discoid push out an ootheca and leave it on the ground. She didn't give live birth like usual. I was wondering if the ooth would still hatch.

 

[Andee]

Likely not, when my livebearing species of roaches do this, they were either stressed or something went wrong and the ooth never hatches.

 

[VolkswagenBug]

Okay. I doubt she was stressed: she lives by herself right now, so other roaches couldn't bother her. Something must've gone wrong, I guess.

 

[Andee]

If something went wrong it could have been anything from temps or humidity, water sources, food, vitamins/protein content in the foods she has had, her age, maybe the ooth wasn't healthy *shrugs*. If she is acting ok otherwise?

 

[VolkswagenBug]

Yeah, she hasn't eaten in a while, but her temps and humidity were the same as always up until a few days ago when I increased the heat of the room to a more suitable temperature for bugs. I handled her yesterday and she acted normal.

 

[Hisserdude]

Live bearers will abort their eggs when stressed, which can be due to many things, improper temperature or humidity levels, overcrowding, wrong diet, was dropped or handled too harshly, etc.

 

[VolkswagenBug]

Weird. There was a population of fungus gnats in her tank for a little while because I didn't check her hide and it molded on the bottom. Could that have stressed her out?
It was around 80 degrees in here around the time she dropped the eggs, which is a big change from the usual 65 degrees. That might also be a factor.

 

[Hisserdude]

Weird. There was a population of fungus gnats in her tank for a little while because I didn't check her hide and it molded on the bottom. Could that have stressed her out?
It was around 80 degrees in here around the time she dropped the eggs, which is a big change from the usual 65 degrees. That might also be a factor.

Fungus gnats don't stress roaches out, phorid flies could though. However, phorid flies are only present in enclosures with dead roaches in them, are there dead bodies in her enclosure?

65 is way too low for breeding, so her eggs probably weren't developed, so when the temperature rose, maybe she aborted those eggs to create new ones? Don't know if that makes sense from a biological standpoint at all, I ain't no roach anatomy expert, I'm just guessing here.

 

[VolkswagenBug]

Fungus gnats don't stress roaches out, phorid flies could though. However, phorid flies are only present in enclosures with dead roaches in them, are there dead bodies in her enclosure?

65 is way too low for breeding, so her eggs probably weren't developed, so when the temperature rose, maybe she aborted those eggs to create new ones? Don't know if that makes sense from a biological standpoint at all, I ain't no roach anatomy expert, I'm just guessing here.

She's by herself currently, so no dead bodies would be in there.
That would make sense to me, although I'm not a roach biology expert either. I wasn't trying to breed her at 65, since I got her as a pet, but she must've been gravid when I bought her (she was in a colony).

 

[Hisserdude]

She's by herself currently, so no dead bodies would be in there.
That would make sense to me, although I'm not a roach biology expert either. I wasn't trying to breed her at 65, since I got her as a pet, but she must've been gravid when I bought her (she was in a colony).

Alright, just harmless fungus gnats then!

She's probably been fertilised if she was in a colony as an adult, so with any luck she may produce some offspring now that the temps have risen.

 

[VolkswagenBug]

Do they keep producing after being fertilized? I didn't realize that. I actually don't want to deal with roach babies because my parents are paranoid about infestation even though the roaches would die out of their cage, so they won't let me keep any together even if they aren't in the same genus. Is there any way to stop her from having them or at least slow it down to make it so that I don't have to separate 30 roaches into their own containers?

 

[Hisserdude]

Do they keep producing after being fertilized? I didn't realize that. I actually don't want to deal with roach babies because my parents are paranoid about infestation even though the roaches would die out of their cage, so they won't let me keep any together even if they aren't in the same genus. Is there any way to stop her from having them or at least slow it down to make it so that I don't have to separate 30 roaches into their own containers?

Yes, one mating is enough for a female to produce multiple broods, so she'll likely give birth soon now.
I'd go back to keeping her in the mid 60s to try and stop her from breeding, it worked before, it should still work now.

 

[VolkswagenBug]

Okay. I'll keep the temperature low again. Thanks for the help!

 

[Hisserdude]

Okay. I'll keep the temperature low again. Thanks for the help!

No problem, happy to help!